Tside » Student’s family dies of Cholera

Student’s family dies of Cholera

By Benjamin Glass Added 05.51pm, 27-January-09

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A UNIVERSITY of Teesside student spoke of his heartbreak today after discovering his aunt and uncle and seven-year-old cousin died in the Zimbabwe cholera epidemic.

Kuda- who has asked that we do not include his surname for fear of reprisals against his surviving family members by Mugabe supporters – had to make the agonising decision not to attend his Uncle John, Aunt Mary and little Tinashe’s funeral for fear he would be unable to return to the UK.

The dad-of-one, who is currently studying Media Studies , wanted to go back to his homeland for Christmas too, but the volatile situation in the divided country made it impossible.

Kuda, 30, said: “When I heard about my Aunt and Uncle and baby cousin I was heartbroken. No one can imagine what it is like to lose so many members of your family at once.

“They lived in a town called Glenora which was right at the heart of the cholera epidemic, and so many of their friends and neighbours died too.

“I just don’t know what to do for the best. I wanted to go out there for the funeral, but just before my flight in the week leading up to Christmas, my family in Zimbabwe decided I couldn’t risk it.

“The situation out there is so dangerous, and no one knows exactly what is happening, it is just too much of a risk to go there. But I have just heard that my parents have managed to flee to South Africa, so at least I know they are safe.”

The worsening conditions in Zimbabwe under Robert Mugabe’s dictatorship have left hundreds of thousands of people without clean water and enough food.

The hyper-inflation of the Zimbabwe dollar – which has risen to over 2,200,000% – means that food costs are so expensive even those who once earned a decent wage are struggling.

Kuda said: ” The water system is contaminated and whatever comes from the tap is not safe. The authorities can’t help because the health care system has completely collapsed now and there are no staff to treat the water or provide medicine to the ill.

“The UN have sent aid agencies to purify the water, but it is really to0 little, too late.”

Kuda, who has been unable to return to Zimbabwe since 2003, says that many terrified people in Zimbabwe are desperatly hoping that Britain will come to their aid. But they are so frightened they don’t even speak out against Mugabe during phone calls to the outside world.

“Even when I speak to my Mum on the phone she is very careful about what she says in case someone is listening to the phone,” he said.

“As Zimbabwe is a former British colony the people keep expecting the UK to intervene. But so far they have done nothing to help.

“ I suppose there is no other reason why they would want to over throw him. Maybe if Zimbabwe had oil like Iraq the UK Government would have done something by now. It feels like the world is turning a blind eye.

“South Africa is Zimbabwe’s neighbour, and it could do so much more to help. But one reason they do not is that they have benefited from the problems by accepting all of the professionals that wanted to flee. Until just over a decade ago Zimbabwe had the best education system in Africa and the skilled have gone to neighbouring countries.

“Soon the only people left in Zimbabwe will be the very poor, the sick, children and the elderly. Every one who can leave the country is doing so.”

Since 1998 – when Mugabe started clearing land owned by white farmers – many people in the country have been living in fear and watching with horror as the economy broke down.

However, Kuda reveals a cloak of fear has surrounded Robert Mugabe’s regime for far longer.

He said: “Even when I was a child you did not talk about the president unless you were in a secure room. But growing up we heard of things that he did during the war and how he got into power. Things that the West either didn’t want to know or never ackowledged.

“There were some people that were killed and his name has always been attached to their deaths”.

John and Mary two weeks before their death.

Now as Kuda comes to terms with the loss of his family, and mourns the decline of his home land, he has decided to risk speaking out against Mugabe in the hopes that someone in this country will listen to him.

But even now he knows that doing so could put his family in danger.

He added: “Even in the UK there are times when I don’t feel safe. A few months ago I bumped in to a man I grew up with in Zimbabwe while in Manchester and I know for a fact that he works for the Government.

“A regime like Mugame’s has the ability to reach across the world. None of us are safe. We have been abandoned, and all I can wonder is, what will it take for other countries to help us?”

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