Kiwi couple sees first hand Covid-19 devastation
A Waikato couple are seeing first hand the economic impact coronavirus has on a third world country.
Will and Narelle Henson have run Shongewe Lookout Lodge in the Zimbabwe town of Victoria Falls for nearly two years.
While only 34 cases of Covid-19 have been reported in the African country thus far, the country is still feeling the impact.
‘‘I think we have 25 active cases at the moment...and four Covid related deaths. It’s not a high infection rate but that could also be because of lack of testing,’’ Will said.
‘‘The greater concern seems to be the joblessness and the rising poverty which in coming weeks is going to lead to more hunger and serious famine. I think we will see that in a month or two months time.’’
He estimates in the town of Victoria Falls, with a population of about 33,000, about 90 per cent of people have lost their jobs.
The town relies heavily on tourism from nearby wildlife parks and Victoria Falls.
However, with most western countries in lockdown, and the prospect of tourists not returning anytime soon, the town is looking at extreme hardship. And unlike New Zealand, there’s no social welfare to fall back on.
‘‘It’s the perfect storm and unfortunately in this part of this world people don’t seem too concerned about (getting) coronavirus but a lot more people are concerned about the future, about jobs, about hunger and feeding their families.’’
While the town has been in some form of lockdown for five weeks, high density suburbs made social distancing difficult.
‘‘You may have 100 even a 1000 families sharing one water point, so they are all going to the one tap to fill up their buckets.’’
The town has fundraised and got four ventilators for the hospital but Will said they aren’t a priority.
‘‘I think a truck of food at this point will save more people, a ventilator can save one or two lives.
‘‘It’s a different story altogether here the health issue is almost a secondary concern to hunger and almost hopelessness.’’
The pair have two young children Kepler, 5 and Elodie 5 months. Despite that, Narelle said there was never any thought of coming back to New Zealand when Covid-19 first hit.
‘‘I am not feeling afraid or worried about our lives. It’s more around our town and what is going to happen to the people around us,’’ Narelle said.
Their business closed, like many, when the World Health Organisation declared coronavirus a global pandemic.
‘‘It was then we really started seeing the economic flow on here.
‘‘And that changed very, very rapidly. We felt the situation changed every couple of hours for a few days.’’
They are fortunate enough to be able to afford to pay their 23 staff a percentage of their wages, which will have a roll-on effect of supporting around 500 extended families.
The country is now in level two allowing some businesses like mining and construction to return.
They’ve seen people moved to tears when they’ve been paid or given a job.
‘‘Grown men are very, very, emotional because they know if they don’t get that payment, or hadn’t been given that job, they’re not sure how they would have fed their families,’’ Narelle said.
They hope those planning holidays once borders open again consider travelling to countries that heavily rely on the tourism dollar to survive.
Anyone wanting to donate to the Victoria Falls community could head along to the Jafuta foundation, a registered charity which is passing on 100 per cent of donations to the community.