Zimbabwe Refugee Crisis

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.


Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day, 2007. I spent the morning listening to the horrific first hand accounts of survivors who lived through the most heinous, morally repugnant regime known to man. I spent the afternoon at the Central Methodist Church in Johannesburg, South Africa, listening to first hand accounts that sounded eerily similar to the stories of the Holocaust. Stories of ruthless beatings, senseless killings, homes destroyed, and hunger pains. Stories of families ripped apart, motherless children, torture, and a fear that you can see in the whites of eyes. What is happening right now in Zimbabwe deserves your utmost attention. The country is in a state of political and economic despair due to a corrupt and evil dictator named Robert Mugabe. People are fleeing Zimbabwe either because they fear for their lives or because they seek food for their families. They are refugees in the truest sense of the word. If you live in America, you should write to your Congressman asking why they deposed a ruthless tyrant in Iraq but not in Zimbabwe. If you live in another country, write to your UN delegates asking why they continue to allow the Mugabe regime a seat in the United Nations. Largely due to the policies of one man, over 4 million refugees have left Zimbabwe with nothing. 3 million alone are estimated to be in South Africa. Such injustice has no place in the world today, and until the world does something to stop it everywhere and anywhere, the ghosts of the Holocaust will not sleep.

My story on the plight of the Zimbabwean refugees in Johannesburg will be on Current TV soon. I spent most of my time filming at the Central Methodist Church, where Bishop Paul Verryn has opened his doors to anyone who needs a roof over their heads. There are about 1000 refugees there from all over Africa, the vast majority from Zimbabwe. The place is so crowded people resort to sleeping on top of one another, on staircases, or next to wretched piles of garbage. Food they must find on their own. For many, this is a challenge. I met a young man named Kennedy who really touched my heart. He is studying electrical engineering at Wits University but is struggling to pay for tuition and books and school supplies and food for himself. He confessed to me that he sometimes goes days without eating. He studies on the stairs of the Church when he can but has trouble concentrating in this crowded refugee camp environment. He needs money desperately or else he will have to drop out of school. If you would like to help Kennedy or the Central Methodist Church, please contact me.


Kennedy trying to study on stairs