Our small pledge for Zimbabwe

Apologies to those looking for a Staveley update but today I am passing up on my usual Italian-themed trifles to write about something important...

Kumi Naidoo, Honorary President of Civicus and the Global Call to Action Against Poverty, has embarked on a 21 day hunger strike to highlight the plight of ordinary Zimbabweans as they suffer a passive genocide through mass starvation.

As we sit here in a beautiful nunnery in Tuscany, warm and safe, we are reminded just how truly privileged we are to have freedom, rights and a plentiful supply of food. So many in Zimbabwe are deprived of those basic rights and are suffering untold poverty, loss of liberty and starvation at the hands of an evil man. 11 million (I repeat, 11 million) people in Zim eat only one meal a day or less. 5 million are starving. Hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, children included, are being forced to go without any food for 10 days or more.

Enough is enough. Like countless others around the globe, we are pledging to fast for at least one day in a show of solidarity. I know we are late in doing this (the official day of fasting was last Sunday) but until Zimbabwe is peaceful and plentiful once more, we need to keep up the pressure.

While one voice may be small, many voices together are like thunder. If you would like to join Kumi and others and be a part of something bigger, please go to http://www.savezimbabwenow.com/ and http://www.avaaz.org/en/fast_for_zimbabwe and pledge to give up one day's food, or even just one meal. Because you have that choice and others don't.

Thank you.

Juliet and Peter XXX
The mother-hen in me urges you to read the health advice on the weblink above before undertaking this fast.
If you are doing it, or have already done it, please let us know in the comments section!