Masvingo
Masvingo (before 1982 known as Fort Victoria) is a town in south-eastern Zimbabwe and the capital of Masvingo Province. The town is close to Great Zimbabwe, the national monument from which the country takes its name.[1]
Great Zimbabwe
Great Zimbabwe is a ruined city in the south-eastern hills of Zimbabwe near Lake Mutirikwe and the town of Masvingo. It was the capital of the Kingdom of Zimbabwe during the country's Late Iron Age. Construction on the monument began in the 11th century and continued until the 15th century.[1][2] The most widely-accepted modern archaeological theory is that the edifices were erected by the ancestral Shona.[2] The stone city spans an area of 722 hectares (1,780 acres) which, at its peak, could have housed up to 18,000 people. It is recognised as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.
Great Zimbabwe is believed to have served as a royal palace for the local monarch. As such, it would have been used as the seat of political power. Among the edifice's most prominent features were its walls, some of which were over five metres high. They were constructed without mortar (dry stone). Eventually, the city was abandoned and fell into ruin.
The earliest known written mention of the Great Zimbabwe ruins was in 1531 by Vicente Pegado, captain of the Portuguese garrison of Sofala, who recorded it as Symbaoe. The first confirmed visits by Europeans were in the late 19th century, with investigations of the site starting in 1871.[3] Later, studies of the monument were controversial in the archaeological world, with political pressure being put upon archaeologists by the government of Rhodesia to deny its construction by native African people.[4] Great Zimbabwe has since been adopted as a national monument by the Zimbabwean government, and the modern independent state was named for it. The word great distinguishes the site from the many hundreds of small ruins, now known as "zimbabwes", spread across the Zimbabwe Highveld.[5] There are 200 such sites in southern Africa, such as Bumbusi in Zimbabwe and Manyikeni in Mozambique, with monumental, mortarless walls; Great Zimbabwe is the largest of these.[6]
SolidarMed
For Health in Africa
SolidarMed is the Swiss organisation for health in Africa and improves health care for 1.5 million people in Lesotho, Moçambique, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
SolidarMed strengthens and expands existing medical services sustainably and meaningfully. SolidarMed concentrates on five thematic focal areas:
- Protecting mothers, children and newborns
- Combating infectious diseases like malaria, HIV/Aids or tuberculosis
- Improving the quality of hospitals and health centre
- Training and further education of health staff
- Sensitizing village communities to improve their health
The health of mothers, pregnant women, newborns and children is a central concern and receives particular attention in the projects. In cooperation with local partner organisations, hospitals and villages, SolidarMed promotes help for self-help.
In Switzerland, SolidarMed advocates for the health concerns of people in Africa. As a non-profit organisation with the ZEWO certificate, SolidarMed works efficiently, conscientiously and transparently.
Zimbabwe
Once southern Africa’s big hope, Zimbabwe has fallen into an unprecedented crisis. SolidarMed supports two rural hospitals in the south of Zimbabwe in upholding primary health care services.
Due to the enormous poverty of the population, hospitals in rural Zimbabwe lack the income to finance running costs. To ensure that patients can nevertheless depend on medical help, SolidarMed improves the working and living conditions for staff, places medical experts at their disposal, supports nursing schools and makes sure that medicines and medical consumables are available.