|PIC1|Zimbabwe's churches are working hard to keep ordinary Zimbabweans from starvation in a country with the world's highest inflation rate and shortest life expectancy.

"Without church donations we would be dead," one grandmother, who earns less than £1 a month street-sweeping, told Barnabas Fund.

With shop shelves virtually bare and the currency almost worthless, the charity is supporting churches as they continue to distribute food among the most desperate in their congregations.

The ministers of the churches organise the distribution of the monthly food packages to the poorest families, who often share what they have received with other families outside the church struggling without food aid.

The packages are designed to feed a family of seven to ten people for one month and include 10kg maize meal, 2 litres cooking oil, 2.5kg bread flour, 6 packets dry yeast, 2kg rice, 2kg lima beans, 2.5kg sugar, 800g peanut butter, and 500g salt.

Zimbabwe's main opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) headed to court on Saturday to force the release of the presidential election results as President Robert Mugabe made clear he would fight to hang on to power.

The MDC's leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who claims his party won the elections, will ask the high court in Harare on Saturday to issue an order compelling election officials to release the results of last Saturday's election immediately.

International aid agencies, including Tearfund and Christian Aid, voiced concern this week that the delay is due to vote rigging.

The Zimbabwe Christian Alliance, which works closely with the agencies, is sending a delegation to address the election issue.

Delegation member the Rev Albert Chatindo said, "We don't want any bloodshed so this is an effort that we are taking as church leaders to ask SADC and the AU [African Union] to intervene.

"The church stands for the suffering people of Zimbabwe and they are continuing to suffer as they wait for the results. We are concerned that the possibility of violence is increasing."

Barnabas Fund is appealing for donations to help churches with their feeding programmes.

To donate click here quoting project reference 91-721