Zimbabwe elections put damper on Jersey charity expansion

Monday 17 April 2017

Ruff's Kitchen, a charity that feeds children in Zimbabwean schools, is finding it difficult to expand its activities as elections approach in the country.

The charity is currently running kitchens in a dozen schools and is looking into increasing that to 30 by 2018. That'll mean they'll be feeding more than 20,000 children each day.

Jonathan Ruff, owner of Tamba Park, told Express: "We are just doing the same thing we always do. We are trying to reach more schools but the government is causing a lot of issues because of the elections next year. They way they see it, the more children we feed, the more 'control' we will have in the area. They are suspicious and they want to know our 'motives' for helping the children."

Set up in 2012, Ruff's Kitchen currently runs a dozen schools, which all are about 200km from the country's capital, Harare. Funded through the profits from Tamba Park and Mr. Ruff's personal savings, it delivers food, cups and drinks monthly to the schools. The pupils' parents are able to cook the maheu, a porridge-based nutritious meal, the night before and the kids get to have a meal every day at school, as the infrastructure wouldn't allow it otherwise. Mr Ruff explains: "I don't think it's right that a child should go hungry. They need food to learn."

The latest report from Ruff's Kitchen field officer, Pierre - "a local guy who has the same background as the children we help, and who has a great passion for the programme" as Mr. Ruff describes him - shows that the 5,000 children who benefit from the feeding programme every day are doing well. He wrote: "It was really an impressive visit to all schools as I saw much healthier kids."

Those good results are encouraging the charity to grow even more, but even if they are currently hitting roadblocks, they're not letting the situation deter them.

Mr Ruff told Express: "We are finding a lot of red tape in our way but we are not going to wait. We will keep on pushing them on the case. We are also looking at starting the programme in different regions and maybe in satellite schools, where the government does not have that much control."

There are no plans for Ruff's Kitchen to develop its actions to other areas. They prefer to focus on the feeding programme and on helping out schools with little to no infrastructure or which are in rural areas. They frequently visit schools to make sure children receive the right amount of food and that the cups they use are properly cleaned. They also monitor the food supplies to make sure none goes missing. If found in breach of the rules, schools know they can see the feeding programme withdrawn.

Ruff's Kitchen operate in the field with the help of Sharon Thompson from Zimbabwe Children. The charity helped get the feeding programme off the ground and since then, Ms Thompson has been overseeing the administrative work.

Mr Ruff said: "Sharon is a good partner to have. Her charity was the only one who offered physical help rather than just asking for us to give them money. We contribute to her charity but we work together as she focuses on improving the schools' infrastructure and the way classes are run."