List serve members, I have received some very good responses and questions about volunteer security and Zimbabwe and below please find CNFA's response:


CNFA believes it is important to maintain its commitment to the people of Zimbabwe in light of the heightened difficulties that many of the rural poor are facing in the country. We understand and welcome your questions about our decision and ability to guarantee volunteer security Zimbabwe. We understand those concerns and wanted to reply to you all immediately.

Whilst I and our field staff and our previous volunteers to Zimbabwe can all assure you that the information from the State Department website is not at all representative of the on the ground conditions in the country, I can appreciate that many of you may be feeling unsure. The area in which this assignment is based is near a small town called Nyanga (Eastern Highlands) and the volunteers will be supported throughout the assignment by our field staff  and the Zimbabwe Farmers' Development Trust (ZFDT) staff whilst they are on assignment. Once again, I can tell you that CNFA would not send our volunteers in to a place that was dangerous or where volunteers would be unnecessarily at risk. Our program is a volunteer program and depends heavily on ensuring the safety and well-being of our volunteer experts. However, Zimbabwe is a country with a great deal of poverty and that affects how the country and its' people live and work. I would say please try and contact recent previous volunteers (I have listed them below) and speak to American agriculturalists like yourselves that have first hand experience of the country. You can also contact me directly and I can help out with any concerns you may have- if after that, you still feel uncomfortable with our decision to send volunteers to the country please let me know. I prefer that volunteers that travel to the region on CNFA assignments are entirely comfortable, the last thing I want is to have a volunteer feel uncomfortable or afraid whilst their in country - they wouldn't enjoy the experience.

I hope everything works out and many of you will still consider the volunteer opportunities! If you need to discuss the country and our program in southern Africa (South Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique) in more detail please feel free to contact me directly at 1-888-872-2632 (toll-free).

Kindest regards,

Eleanor Musarurwa

Eleanor S. Musarurwa
CNFA
Program Coordinator, Small Enterprise Development
1111 19th Street NW, Suite 900
Washington, DC 20036
1-888-872-2632
202-296-3920
202-296-3948 fax

-CNFA VOLUNTEERS TO ZIMBABWE:

Previous Project Volunteers:

Smallholder Beekeepers Association of Zimbabwe (SBAZ):(the beekeeping Project)

Volunteer                      Home Phone                           E -mail
Gerald Burchett          270-928-4003                 [log in to unmask]
Dave Brown                    410-742-0902                   [log in to unmask]
Terrill Christensen        208 357 3704               [log in to unmask]
Dr. Zacch Olorunnipa       850-599-3729         [log in to unmask]
Bob Cole                      336-877-1321                   [log in to unmask]

Recent Volunteers to Zimbabwe: FY 02

Volunteer       Home Phone      Office Phone    E-mail
Gerald Burchett 270-928-4003            [log in to unmask]
Dave Brown            410-742-0902              [log in to unmask]
John Semida          301-894-8265                     [log in to unmask]
Sterling Brown  801-334-8946          [log in to unmask]
Betty Houbion   847-913-0501            [log in to unmask]
George Paris    334-727-9443            [log in to unmask]

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and  other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::