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Zimbabwe - paradise with many sides

This is how the country name Zimbabwe can be translated: large stone houses. They are silent witnesses to an early civilization. Today, Zimbabwe is one of the poorest countries in the world - and repeatedly suffers from serious disasters. But it is also a country with paradisiacal aspects!

Cultural wealth and paradisiacal nature

At the majestic Victoria Falls, the Zambezi plunges over a length of 1,700 metres into the depths - making the Victoria Falls one of the largest waterfalls in the world.

Zimbabwe is home to five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, three in the World Cultural Heritage category and two World Natural Heritage Sites.

The World Heritage Sites include the extensive Stone Age art with cave paintings in the Matopo Mountains. The second is the stone evidence of "Great Zimbabwe", a fortified town that flourished between the 11th and 15th centuries. The complex in the province of Masvingo, whose name means "large stone houses", is the largest "pre-colonial" stone construction south of the Sahara. The third World Heritage Site is located in the south-west: the ruins of Khami from the 15th to 17th centuries.

In addition to the fantastic Mana Pools National Park, which is home to lions, elephants, buffalo and leopards, the Victoria Falls, named after the former British Queen Victoria, are also a World Heritage Site. Here, the Zambezi River thunders 108 metres into the depths. This creates a spray that rises up to 300 metres and gives the falls its name in the local language: thundering smoke.

With a length of 2,574 km, the Zambezi is the fourth longest river in Africa and the largest river that flows into the Indian Ocean (Photo: Pixabay)
Zimbabwe's national parks are home to species of the Big Five, including the African elephant. (Photo: Pixabay)
The baobab (baobab tree) is widespread in Zimbabwe. According to a study, the oldest specimen is 1,800 years old. (Photo: Pixabay)
The country repeatedly suffers from natural disasters: Periods of drought alternate with floods. (Photo: JJA/Ziegler).

Hardship and hunger determine everyday life

Gruppenbild einer simbabwischen Familie. Ein junger Mann sitzt im Rollstuhl.

The majority of people in Zimbabwe live below the poverty line and suffer from malnutrition. Persons with disabilities are particularly at risk of being ignored in emergency situations.

Despite its mineral resources, tourism potential and fertile soil, Zimbabwe is one of the poorest countries in the world. The authoritarian Mugabe regime also contributed to this. Mugabe's time in office between 1980 and 2017 was characterised by land expropriations, repression against his own people, hyperinflation and corruption. The country also repeatedly suffers from severe droughts, which lead to severe famines and an unstable supply situation for the people. In addition, severe flooding occurs time and again, such as in 2019, when Cyclone Idai caused severe destruction and claimed the lives of 700 people.

Persons with disabilities particularly affected

There are currently no up-to-date studies on the proportion of people with disabilities in Zimbabwe. However, physical and visual disabilities are very common. Disabled people are particularly at risk of being neglected in emergency situations. In addition, medical care is hardly guaranteed in rural areas, meaning that disabled people have almost no access to healthcare systems.

CBM in Zimbabwe

The focus of CBM's work in Zimbabwe is on eye health. The paediatric eye clinic in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city, which opened in 2016, is exemplary in this regard. Since then, thousands of children have been treated here! The eye department has a lighthouse function: it is the first children's eye clinic in a catchment area of 4.9 million people, 2.2 million of whom are children. To ensure that people outside the urban centre also receive eye care, teams regularly travel to rural areas and carry out screening examinations. Children who require treatment are referred to the paediatric eye clinic.

Help in emergency situations

In disaster situations, such as after the severe cyclone Idai, CBM provides emergency aid. We work closely with local partners to ensure that aid reaches the most vulnerable quickly: people with disabilities.

Simbabwe im Überblick

Die simbabwische Hauptstadt Harare mit ihren Wolkenkratzern.

Nach der Unabhängigkeit von Großbritannien wurde die simbabwische Hauptstadt nach einem Häuptling der Shona benannt: Harare.

Fläche: 390.580 km² ¹
Einwohner: 15,1 Mio. (4)
Hauptstadt: Harare
Klima: größtenteils subtropisch¹
Sprachen: Englisch, Shona, Ndebele und weitere 13 Sprachen ethnischer Minderheiten¹
Religion: 87,5 Prozent Christen (davon 75 Prozent protestantisch), traditionelle afrikanische Religionen und eine muslimische Minderheit¹
Lebenserwartung: 62,7 Jahre² (Deutschland: 80,6²)
Kindersterblichkeit: 54 von 1.000³ (Deutschland: 3 von 1.000³)
Human Development Index: Platz 166 von 191²

Quellen:
¹Auswärtiges Amt; ²Human-Development-Index 2021/2022; ³Länderdaten der Weltbank 2020; (4) Länderdaten der Weltbank 2021