Charitable Donation of the Month

This month's charitable ten quid went to Oxfam UK' Zimbabwe cholera crisis appeal.

I didn't make the donation on line but in person at the Oxfam bookshop on Turl street, where I stopped in to buy my mother a birthday card (and was tempted by a book about the history of the Orient Express).

What's cholera? It's a bacteria which spreads through contaminated water supply, and gives you severe diarrhea. It starts out watery brown and goes to just being a pale fluid - until you're drained dry. Death can occur from 12 to 18 hours afterwards, but can also persist for days. The principal treatment is oral rehydration therapy, and maybe a bit of antibiotics to shorten the course of the illness. Topher would like to add that it is essentially a disease associated with government breakdown, refugee camps etc. - where there is no public sanitation, and raw untreated sewage is allowed to run into the water supply (usually the river). It's completely avoidable given adequate investment in basic sanitation.

To me cholera is almost too horrible to contemplate in detail (a normal stomach upset is bad enough). I live in Britain, where there is almost nil chance of catching cholera, and oral rehydration sachets (blackcurrant flavoured) are available at every chemist's. In Zimbawe there are people who have no access to clean water, no public sewage works, and no healthcare.

According to the Oxfam website this is how they are responding to the humanitarian crisis:

Oxfam has launched an appeal to provide support to 1 million people in Zimbabwe. We have been responding to the growing crisis since October by rehabilitating water sources, carrying out hygiene promotion and providing soap, disinfectant and clean water.

So far our response has been focusing on three worst hit areas: Beitbridge on the South African border; Budiriro, a suburb of Harare; and Mudzi, an area bordering Mozambique. We also plan to start moving into areas where cholera has not hit, to proactively prevent the spread of the disease.

The thought of clean water sounds pretty good to me. So, if you wish to make a donation towards this appeal, visit the Oxfam website, or pop into one of their shops.