By Robert Tapfumaneyi
VISITING Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Rev Dr Martin Junge has pledged his church’s support towards alleviating intense suffering being experienced by a lot of Zimbabweans as a result of the devastating drought.
He was addressing journalists at a press conference in Harare Wednesday.
He said his church will do its best to assist affected communities.
“What I observed is that the drought has exposed something which was already a challenge which is the overall economic situation of people and it has made it hard for so many families particularly in the rural areas,” said Junge.
“Our visit here has helped us to understand and has also helped us to identify for us how we could possibly in future work close together with the church and its structures to contribute in assisting.
“We cannot solve it. I think the issue is bigger than that and the primary responsibility for the people of Zimbabwe is with the structures and the government of Zimbabwe.
“We are willing and able, and we have been coming to support and help villagers, communities and we have identified ways and will be discussing how to contribute and increase our contribution in this regard.”
He added, “We could hear about the impact of the drought, we could hear what it means to the people, how hard it is for the communities and their families to find food.”
“We could see that this drought is exposing economic hardship which has been there already and we are so concerned to see how will the day impact for the future.
“In all of that, I was grateful to the church offering their ministry working with the communities.”
The Lutheran cleric said peace brought development in any country.
“I was so pleased to hear a strong call from young people towards peace and dialogue and they were repeating it daily,” he told journalists.
“And I know from the other parts of the world that we must remind ourselves of the need of dialogue and peace it is because there is tension and fragmentation.
“So, I was grateful to see the church leading call because we know from all over world that the harder the issue, the more you need to talk.”
