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A MeDRA Day reflection on our journey of faith, service and sustainable development As we prepare to mark MeDRA Day, we look back at the story of the Methodist Development and Relief Agency (MeDRA), a Christian-based local non-governmental organisation owned by the Methodist Church in Zimbabwe. MeDRA’s history is rooted in the Church’s commitment to […]

When Anesu Pedzisai looks at the small shop she helped build with her husband, Collen, and the fowl run beside it, she sees more than just structures made of brick and wire. She sees a turning point. The counter of Anesu Pedzisai’s tuckshop rarely stands quiet for long. Neighbours and the MeDRA-supported Mbizvo community garden

For 35-year-old Nelia Jongwe, every morning used to begin with exhaustion. In the dry landscape of Rambanepasi, securing water meant enduring a gruelling two-kilometre walk to a distant river or standing in endless queues at a heavy manual hand-pump borehole. The challenges went beyond water in Nelia’s family and community. The scarcity affected every aspect

With her four-month-old baby strapped securely to her back, 27-year-old Anna Mafire walks confidently through rows of thriving vegetables at Kugarika Kushinga Garden in Madzivanyika Village, Ward 8 of Buhera District. The lush green leafy vegetables, onions, tomatoes, carrots, potatoes and beans are more than crops; they are proof that when communities take the lead

In Mxochiwa Village, Gokwe South, life had not always been easy for Francis Tafirei (59) and his wife, Joice Zungura (56). The couple, who care for their two young grandsons, depended largely on small-scale farming and irregular income to meet their family’s needs. Like many households in the area, they often struggled to buy enough

At 74 years old, Lydia Shamhu knows what it means to carry responsibility long after most people would have rested. A grandmother caring for two primary-school-going grandchildren, Lydia’s days used to begin before sunrise. Preparing meals meant one difficult task after another, slow walks to fetch firewood, aching joints, and the constant worry of whether

Kwenda Primary, a Methodist Church in Zimbabwe school, has entered a new season of hope and transformation through the Safety and Inclusion Project funded by UnitingWorld. Not long ago, the children walked nearly 2 kilometres to the Chikunzvi River to fetch water for drinking, cleaning toilets, washing their hands, and watering their small garden. The

In early October 2025, the community of Mbizvo Village in Ward 13, Gokwe South, came alive with a sense of pride and purpose as Bread for the World (Brot für die Welt) sent a two-member media team—a journalist and a photographer—to document how improved access to water is transforming lives. The visit formed part of

On 2 October 2025, Zimbabwe witnessed a transformative milestone in its humanitarian landscape with the official launch of the Local Humanitarian Actors Forum (LHAF) at Kentucky Hotel under the theme “Local Leadership First: Advancing Local Knowledge and Adaptive Management to Unlock and Strengthen Local Humanitarian Solutions.” The launch, chaired by communications consultant Emelda Takaona, brought

A quiet revolution is taking place in the heart of Zimbabwe, in the districts of Buhera and Gokwe South, where communities once fraught with environmental degradation, food insecurity, and social division are now charting a new, sustainable course. This transformation is the fruit of the “Fostering Community Activism in Advancing National Climate Adaptation Policy Priorities