ONE tonne of humanitarian aid, collected by a Poole church congregation, is set to be shipped to drought-ravaged rural Zimbabwe.

President Robert Mugabe declared a state of disaster in February this year, and the ruling government says half the rural population faces starvation.

Poole reverend Alan Clarredge, who established the Rivers of Living Water charity to help people in rural Zimbabwe, is set to fly to the capital Harare in the New Year.

A £30,000 shipment of aid including food, blankets, water purification systems, medicines and medical supplies, should start making its way to Africa in the coming weeks - arriving one month before Mr Clarredge, who will then work to distribute the aid.

But the reverend needs around £4,000 to help get the aid to the people who need in most on the ground, and has appealed to kind-hearted Dorset residents to dig deep.

Mr Clarredge, aged 76, from Rossmore Gospel Church, Poole, said: "At the moment there is so much trouble over there.

"They've got no clean water, they've got cholera, there could be a state of emergency declared - there's just so much going on.

"By January, if I haven't put in the three new water purifiers we'll have thousands of people dying of cholera again."

According to reports, opposition parties have expressed concern that Robert Mugabe could soon declare a state of emergency, in a bid to stop the increasing number of violent protests that are intensifying in Zimbabwe.

Harare has been the scene of running battles, fought between police and opposition supporters who are pushing for electoral reform.

Mr Clarredge said: "The last time I was in Zimbabwe was January this year, but the situation has got a lot worse since then.

"I hear virtually every day about the situation out there, and there will be cholera in January and February - that is why its important to get these water purification systems installed.

"We've got more aid going out this year than we've had over the past three years."

The reverend hopes to install water purification systems at Beitbridge Hospital, St Luke's Hospital, and Binga Hospital.

It was during 1982, while Mr Clarredge was working in the country as a medical technician, that he regularly treated the Zimbabwe's first lady, Sarah Francesca Hayfron - known as Sally Mugabe - with kidney dialysis. She died a decade later.

He has been running mercy missions to rural Zimbabwe for the past 34 years.

Visit riversoflivingwater.co.uk to find out more, including how to donate.