My name is Abdoul and I am working at Medecins Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders in London. I would like to get in touch as we launch a campaign of appeal to Zimbabwe.

Indeed cholera has spread all over the country now and Zimbabwe is experiencing an unprecedented outbreak. The situation is even worse for the lack of sanitation and water. There are also concerns with the start of the rainy season and the shortage of drugs.

We obviously want to spread this message as far as we can and I know that for this particular place, mainstream media isn’t necessarily the place to do that and that the online communities who care about the situation is big and very active. I was basically wondering if you would like to cover this issue on your blog.You can get more information about our involvement in Zimbabwe at http://www.msf.org.uk/msf_reponds_beitbridge_20081127.news

I apologise for contacting you out of the blue – I found you through various online networks and through your blog itself and I have only contacted you because I thought you might be genuinely interested in this topic.

Thanks for taking the time to read this far

Abdoul,

I currently live in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania where municipal tap water, if you are lucky enough to have it, is too dangerous and filthy to drink with the result that one has to drink bottled water. This might seem an obvious solution but the resultant pollution and contamination from the empty plastic bottles of rivers and the sea is a disaster in itself.

So what if Dr Turton uses shock tactics to galvanize fellow lethargic South Africans into action before it is too late. Sara’s comments of “the truth in this case will be able to speak for itself” on this blog flies in the face of this whole issue – someone seems to be trying to hush up the truth, even the Minister has admitted that 60% of municipalities are understaffed in their water departments. What will it take for people to wake up and realise that resources or rather the lack thereof causes friction in society. We South Africans should realise this by now. When the chips are down people will look after their own interests. That is the time when the truth generally emerges but always a little too late for remedy.

Dr Turton, don’t be put off by this hiccup – you have faced far bigger challenges in your past – and continue your good work that began in the good old days of the Muldersdrift se Loop.