Hoping work will result in smiles

11:28am Tuesday 25th March 2008

A charity set up in Orpington in 1999 now provides aid to 20 developing countries. THOM KENNEDY finds out about its work in crisis-hit Zimbabwe.

FOOD shortages, disease and a lack of education are major problems in Zimbabwe.

‘It is a stunning country, which is being ruined through political problems.’

CLIVE DOUBLEDAY ON ZIMBABWE

Smile International, a charity set up by Orpington Baptists, has representatives in the southern African country and is helping to combat some of the problems there.

Smile International's chief executive officer, Clive Doubleday, is currently in the country looking at the charity's work.

It has been helping people there since 1999.

Before flying there, he said: "Anyone who has been there will know it is a stunning country, which is being ruined through the political problems they have at the moment.

"There is huge poverty, and the Aids pandemic which is claiming one in three lives at the moment.

"The average age is less than 40 years old."

He added: "It is a wonderful country, with rich resources, which has sadly disintegrated into political, economic, and health problems.

"This is not putting us off from going there, as the people need the help, and our work is to go where there are problems."

Smile International began when Mr Doubleday, then pastor of Poverest Road Baptist Church in Petts Wood, decided to help Baptist colleagues in Macedonia cope with an influx of Kosovan refugees.

Since then, the charity has been helping in 20 countries around the world, including Ghana, Gambia and India.

More than 1,000 volunteers have been involved in the project in its nine years of existence, mostly coming from the Orpington, Sidcup, Bexley and Bromley areas.

Mr Doubleday is currently in Zimbabwe for the sixth time, looking at the progress made by the charity in the run-up to elections on Saturday.

The charity's representative in Zimbabwe, the Rev John Matiza, learnt about Aids while studying at Kingston College in England and provides direct contact with the problems faced in the country.

Money raised is used to provide education for 680 children in the country, to buy food for the needy and to provide help for those with Aids.

Mr Doubleday said: "We are not interested in the political situation, we are interested in helping children and widows, and those struggling health-wise.

"It is certainly a difficult situation with the current inflation, and it is always the most vulnerable who struggle."

The charity organises sponsored treks to help raise money.

This year, two Bromley-based volunteers are set to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

Although most aid has reached those for whom it was intended, the charity's work in Africa has not all been plain sailing.

On one occasion, Mr Doubleday was surrounded by gun-wielding police officers as he sat eating a sandwich in Victoria Falls, where Smile International had been giving food to street children.

He was carrying a video camera without realising President Robert Mugabe was in the area, leading the officers to threaten him with arrest.

Food is so scarce in Zimbabwe, volunteers have to consider buying it in neighbouring countries.

Zimbabwe is currently facing massive inflation, leading to people requiring armfuls of cash when going grocery shopping.

For more information, visit the website smileinternational.org

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