World Vision resumes feeding

A relieved World Vision (WV) on Wednesday said it had resumed its feeding programme in the Beitbridge area in southern Zimbabwe following a month-long delay in the delivery of food aid from the United States. WV Zimbabwe said its operation was suspended in Plumtree and Beitbridge because consignments of food aid from the United States had not arrived on time. WV Zimbabwe Director Rudo Kwaramba said feeding had resumed in Beitbridge on 6 January. The programme in Plumtree would resume early next week in the Bulilimamangwe district. "There was a logistical delay, which meant we had to suspend operations for the month of December. We have received 7,000 mt of cornmeal and 920 mt of kidney beans. We still had in stock vegetable oil to make up the full ration. The programme will continue to target the most vulnerable in the affected districts including families with chronically ill people," Kwaramba told IRIN. Kwaramba said WV fed close to 200,000 people in Beitbridge and Plumtree. The current consignment was expected to last four months, however, Kwaramba said a further delivery later in January would go toward extending the organisation's feeding programme in the two areas. Aid agencies estimate that almost seven million people in Zimbabwe require food aid until the next harvest around March 2003.