Wilderness Zimbabwe distributes emergency food relief amid severe drought

Wilderness Zimbabwe has donated 4,100 food parcels to children in 24 schools across Matebeleland North since November 2024. The initiative, aimed at alleviating food insecurity in the communities Wilderness and Children in the Wilderness (CITW) partner with, has benefitted 8,300 people who were especially vulnerable during the peak of the country’s recent drought.

“We are extremely grateful for the generous donation made by the Michael and Karen Stone Family Foundation, which allowed us to respond to this food crisis quickly by implementing Wilderness’ Drought Relief Nutrition Programme, bringing relief to thousands of primary school children in some of our hardest-hit partner communities in Zimbabwe”, noted Sue Goatley, CITW and Communities Co-ordinator. 

Together with local headmen and school development committees, Wilderness decided to focus on assisting school children, as many were malnourished and battling to walk up to 6 km to school. “Children who are hungry cannot learn effectively. There are 24 schools involved, located across the Tsholotsho, Hwange, Victoria Falls (outskirts), and Lupane districts in the Matabeleland North region of Zimbabwe – an area that has been significantly affected by the recent drought”, she added.

Starting in November 2024, the intervention saw over 1,350 food parcels delivered to the schools each month during term time, offering much-needed relief to over 8,300 beneficiaries during the worst of the drought.

Sue says that Wilderness also supported the schools in planning ahead for the drought: “We provided seeds to our 40 Zimbabwean Eco-Clubs in April 2024, and worked hard on our school gardens to ensure there were enough vegetables, in addition to the staples that have been provided in the food-relief parcels”.

The fast rollout of the food parcel deliveries to the communities in November 2024, and then again in December 2024 and January 2025, ensured that the programme brought relief to those most in need as soon as possible, delivering nutritional support through the peak of the drought, until the most welcome arrival of the rains this month. 

“We believe that the communities Wilderness partners with are intrinsically connected to the wild areas and wildlife we help protect. As custodians of these affected regions, we remain committed to helping our partner communities in their time of need”.

“We are thankful to have finally received the blessing of rain, allowing farmers to plant crops, and for livestock to recover. That said, it will be some time before local farmers are able to harvest in order to support themselves and their communities, making these deliveries of food staples that much more important”, concluded Sue.