Have we become frogs in a pot my friends

I have been thinking a lot about my home country, Zimbabwe. Even though i am away from it, I am quite certain there isn’t a single day i have not thought about it. The Knight in shining armor took over from Robert Mugabe, as Zanu Pf, (the ruling party) The Herald, (the government main news paper) and the Zbc (the government broadcasting services) constantly remind us. The country rumored to be on a recovery path has borne the brunt of knee jerk decision making by blundering technocrats who are better suited for beer hall economy discussion groups.

A few months ago after many years of having the US dollar as the main currency, the Finance Minister announced that the country was now going to use its own currency as it were and that the pegging of the country’s currency to the dollar at 1:1 to the US dollar was over. Up until then the average civil servant earned $500 usd per month or 23 usd a day. Quite respectable. Way above the ghastly figures we hear from around the world of living on less than a US dollar a day. Most were content although not happy with that salary.

A few months down the line that amount has stayed the same in terms of figures but the figure is now in Zimbabwe dollars. The Zimbabwe dollar did lose value and is now trading at about 1:10. The government in the last week gave the civil servants a pay rise and the lowest wage will be about 1000 Zimbabwe dollars. In reality about 100 US dollars. $4,50 a day. Its an insult to the talent and education that is represented by the biggest single work force in Zimbabwe. The saddest thing is that outside of government the wages are far worse and it is in my mind impossible to visualize how life is bearable to the average family.

Looking in from the outside i am horrified at how people have to live. Healthcare is inaccessible because of the cost of it and a lot of the recorded deaths now are because people just cant afford the medication to manage what would ordinarily be easy to manage health conditions like HIV, Diabetes, high or low blood pressure and so on. Simple surgeries are now out of reach for the majority while the top officials have access to private jets and hospitals in many places outside of Zimbabwe.

Food is available but priced out of reach of many people and transportation is expensive and if a family has to use public transport then it can get very expensive especially if the family is big. Schools are expensive when you consider disposable incomes and it remains to be seen how the new school term will be in terms of parents who will be able to pay.

Speaking to many friends and family they tell me they adjust and make plans on a day to day basis. I know i would find it extremely difficult to try figure a way to live in the current environment. The frog in a pot experiment reminded me how in a similar way those residing in situations are able to better put up with very difficult conditions.

It shouldnt have to be like that. There is no political will for the two main leaders to speak and find a way of uniting and charting a new way for the country. Its unlikely the new president will rescue the country given the current direction. Things will get worse. For him, maybe his party will let him finish his 5 years and go into the next election. I wouldnt put my money on it though.

The day our tv died

I am embarrassed to say our tv died. Yep thats right. Its a basic necessity pretty much everywhere in the known world and yet, here we are. We were getting some takeout last night and my son, it being a Friday, was starting to tell a story about how when we got home we could watch 2 full length movies. I let him pick his choices and could see the excitement in his eyes and I had to be the one to ask him the uncomfortable question. “On what tv? remember our tv is dead..”

Earlier in the week I told the kids that starting that moment, our  tv was now dead to them. That from that moment there were no more electronic devices to play with. They had all been replaced with fun stuff like board games and exciting new books!

Oh, for a moment I had forgotten he says. Fair enough. I had a conversation with my kids about too much Tv and electronic devices. My take is that these foreign agents, “tvs and electronic devices” have invaded our homes and abducted whole families, taken away conversation, replaced card games and monopoly as well as many other board games that for centuries have knit families together.

Growing up I was no book worm but i absolutely loved reading a good book. Reading novels was an enjoyable thing and for years I have tried to pass that on to my kids. For the first time, I see a light filtering through. My kids slept quite late, around midnight, my wife tells me and they were enjoying their reading.  That could have been Tv.

I am looking to the next few months and years and hope I can look back to this week to be grateful for when our tv died! Only time will tell but, as long as it makes sense and shapes my kids, our Tv is DEAD

Heart broken after my two and a half week visit home

I haven’t written in such a long time I almost feel like a stranger lives in my body. Having lived in the Cold North for 2 years, gained 3 different skills that enabled me to do 3 completely different jobs, I do feel like a different person.

A day before our 2 year anniversary of having landed in the north we were back in Zimbabwe for the first time as family. It was wonderful to meet the family and friends that we could meet. The biggest challenge was the fuel queues. That meant even though we had a vehicle to use, we weren’t guaranteed of getting fuel when we traveled. We also knew that we couldn’t do a door to door visit to our friends and family.

There is a new government in place and there isn’t a Mugabe to speak of anymore, however It just felt a little depressing when I looked around me. The Doctor’s were on strike, The biggest beverage manufacturer had stopped making my favorite drink, coca cola and I was not too happy about that. The pricing for those who could least afford it seemed high for me and just the ride fares the groceries the fast food seemed to be way too high for the wages that people get.

Passing through my favorite seafood restaurant had me raising an eye brow. The price of two platters and a round of soft drinks for 8 was $370 bond including the tip and in my mind it makes no sense that one night’s comfortable sit around the table should be equal to what one person might consider a monthly wage. How does a junior medical doctor spend half their salary for a night out. These are the people saving lives, literally on a day in day out basis! There is something wrong with that. On the other hand people with no exciting skills starting out in parliament would like to get brand new Toyota Land Cruisers 3 course meals with ice cream and many other benefits to have senseless fights in parliament.

On 3 separate days I spent about 3 hours each time to get a full tank. I was fortunate. I know people who have spent longer because they didn’t have the fuel to drive around for a shorter queue. I couldn’t believe fuel queues were back again but sadly that’s what was there.

I passed through 3 airports each way and it was a good experience either way. More importantly to not have missing bags was such a wonderful joy. I have respect for each and every single person living the life in Zimbabwe. It takes a special type of person and yet the truth is that life should not have to be such a struggle. I walked around the streets of Harare and Mutare and it was quite evident that life has become that much harder for a section of society. How are we back where we started. How is it that we all thought the source of the problem was Mugabe and yet over a year later people are no better off economically.

I came I saw I left and all I have left is a broken heart for my broken country.

 

Choosing between what is right and what is necessary: The ghost will haunt you

Sometimes in life you come to a place where you must choose what is necessary over what is right. It is never an easy decision but is always life transforming. In November 2017, the army went into the streets and removed Robert Mugabe. The people were ecstatic! His wife had become a scourge in the papers and on the news. Social media couldn’t even keep up as Grace was spewing out vitriol faster than people could debate it. Was it right for the military to take over (knowing that a precedent of a coup was being set) and kick out the president and a few of his hangers on. Some would say it was necessary.  We will live with the ghost of that coup forever. That ghost may very well come back as a poltergeist in the future.

Morgan Tsvangirayi passed on and left his once powerful opposition party without a clear direction. There was no clear succession in place resulting in the mess that brought about a new leader in the form of Nelson Chamisa. It left a bitter taste in the mouths of many who would rather have had common decency of waiting for the funeral process to conclude. Some preferred a higher ranked Thokozani Khupe by virtue of  time in the office of vice president to take over and there were those who would have preferred a battle of ED against a woman challenger from a region where a section of people believe the very ED was responsible for the deaths of 20 000 people. What a battle that would have been!

For some strange reason, Thokozani khupe does not have the crowds that Nelson commands and that is important only in as much as the fact that the looming election is about the person who can get 50% plus 1. While she may be the right candidate Nelson, it would seem may be the necessary candidate. There are always consequences to choices and no good deed goes unpunished! Our beloved Thokozani takes with her a protest vote, a part of the population that would have loved to see what was right happen. The fact that the opposition vote is so splintered is a cause for concern.

Nelson Chamisa does show a disturbing lack of research and appears to not have learnt anything from his time at the ICT ministry. In this digital age, nothing you say or do ever disappears. People are going to fact check and mock you if you do not do your homework. That the people who surround him do not give him a credible, repeatable and verifiable message to stick to is most regrettable. At 40, as a practicing lawyer, with at least 3 terms in parliament he shows a surprisingly pedestrian approach to selling his candidacy. Totally disappointing given the fact that the vote is his to lose. His opponent, a 75 year old liberation veteran is compromised as he can do little to prosecute those he surrounds himself with who have wealth that can not be explained or wished away. He represents a continuation of the last 38 years and the gains that people talk about him accomplishing are at best what is expected in a normal society. It is normal that the opposition should not be beat up and thrown in prison for trumped up charges. It is normal that a country is open to investment without excessive red tape. In my view, a 40 year old candidate is a far better candidate for the highest office than a candidate who is 75 years old.

Young Chamisa has just had a grilling on the BBC program HARDTALK. In my view the best thing to ever come across the young man. Believe it or not that interview is the best eye opener for Chamisa. It’s up to him to learn and transform or stay on a path that everyone to some degree agrees is not the best. I wish him luck and If I had a choice and if I could vote, I would vote for him. not because he is the best but that he is necessary. ED for me does not bring anything new. Everything he promises he could literally do today at the stroke of a pen. But he wants to wait until after the election and that is of concern. I have been sold that story too too many times. I don’t believe ED will deliver. Chamisa wont have the entanglement of the defense forces. He represents a clean and necessary break from a system that relies on the army to stay in power.

Ultimately the people will choose who leads Zimbabwe. Apathy will be the biggest winner. But maybe Zimbabweans will finally show up, and Zimbabwe will rise. Who knows. Only time can tell.

Rumblings about coming elections

I haven’t written in a while as I wanted to give the newly self installed government of Zimbabwe time to prove me wrong. There are various views about how the new president must be given time. Well he has been given lots of time albeit contested! The generally agreed view is that the hot seat of president is currently occupied, for all the rantings of Zanu supporters, illegally. There was no election that was held so if anything the current holder of the office of president has at most until the next election. The office he holds was always going to expire when the 5 year term concluded. So well tried comrades, but your time in government, for this term at least, comes to an end in a few months. It was always borrowed time.

The events of November 2017 were indeed a necessary evil, a means to an end and that was to dislodge that one individual who had lost the moral authority to rule, if for nothing else, dereliction of duty. Grace our infamous former first lady had by all indications taken over the office of president and was well on her way to becoming the first female president of Zimbabwe.  We all were so happy to have that family out of State House. Those that filled the vacuum created had an opportunity to change the course of Zimbabwe and perhaps not only redeem their past but maybe even earn the benefit of doubt for the coming 2018 elections. My view is they failed and terribly so. The same faces that have been in government presiding over the ruin of the country were promptly installed back into government. No meaningful arrests were done and the government leaders haven’t changed their way of doing business. You would be hard pressed to differentiate how Mugabe ran the country and how Mnangagwa has ruled the country.

It points to a well known fact that you cant teach an old dog new tricks. The only way of doing business that our government knows is how they have run it in the last 38 years. For 38 years election after election Zanu has promised many things and the poor citizens have been disappointed in each and every election as promises have never been kept. Token symbols have been passed out but for the most part ruining of the country is what has happened over the last 38 years. The people of Zimbabwe have to say:

Fool me in 1980 shame on Zanu and Mugabe

Fool me in 1985, 1990 and every other election since then shame on us!

Fool me in 2018 and there is no reason to ever complain again about how God has forsaken us. The choice is simple, either trust Zanu to continue on its path of looking out for its inner circle while the country lies in ruins and sinks to unimaginable depths. The hospitals, schools, roads and pretty much every other sector are in shambles. The other option is to go the way of an imperfect opposition but nevertheless viable second option.

With Zanu we have lost fortunes, savings, pensions, livelihoods, homes, families and so much more. What plan do they have that is so amazing and it turns out, they haven’t tried it in the last 38 years. They hand out bags of grain and fertilizer and sometimes rice! But if the economy was working who would queue up to get any of these for free? The most glaring fact that comes to light is that Zanu prefers an impoverished populace that looks to government for help with farming inputs and food to eat for a few days. They don’t believe in teaching people to ‘fish’ instead opting to throw the occasional fish to the poor folks that have nothing. It is reckless, immoral and irresponsible to give them one more day more than the current term. They must go where Mugabe has gone, the history books!

An opposition government to dislodge the current government through elections would allow new blood and possibly recovery of stolen loot. But more importantly it would allow growth, confidence and hope for some who will not last another 5 years under Zanu as life has just become too unbearable. Zimbabwe can be beautiful and amazing but not with Zanu. They Failed.

My hope is for a better future for every hard working Zimbabwean. We all have a responsibility to fix this mess. We have this one chance to do it. Lets see how votes will go. We hope those who are trigger happy will not resort to the gun to cling to power. Until then we watch the drama, eyes wide open, mouths wide open and hearts heavy from years of abuse. Until then, keep praying, keep hoping and if you can, please vote wisely. We are days away from being told when elections will be! I am hopeful and fearful. But i know Zimbabweans are hard working and capable of turning our country’s fortunes around.

Good luck and God bless!

I have become a middle aged man that listens to radio at work

So just started our tenth month. Time has flown by so fast and winter is so close now. Already a couple of days have given us a glimpse of what cold really is. Each passing day that has some sun and little wind is the most beautiful thing you can imagine. Fall weather has been really good on the back of a summer that never really showed up.

I remember when I started working way back in 1990’s, on construction sites you would always have the older men who had families they had left back in their villages. They never forgot their beautiful homes where they had a few cows and goats and a place that was really home. The big city was just a place of work. As they worked they always listened to old songs that made me so mad. They weren’t the kinds of songs i liked. They were always songs of untold misery and suffering. I could never understand their need to be in touch with that side of things when they had a good job and money on every pay day.

They always looked forward to the long weekends and the annual shut downs when they could go back to the village. I realized just the other day that I listen to Zimbabwean radio at work (thank you internet!) and I even enjoy talk shows. A lot of it breaks my heart when you hear about kids who are forced by circumstance to do the unthinkable. You hear about ‘men of some god or other’ who can command blessings your way for a fee of course. The shenanigans in politics and I cant help but wonder how low do we as a people need to sink before we realize as long as we are divided nothing will change. There seems to be no end in sight to the suffering. You wonder how people are paying for anything from their lift to and from work to anything else where they cant use plastic money.

My little phone keeps me some what in touch with reality and yet I know I have no clue how stressful it must be for a vast number of people. The politicians make their plans. The citizens don’t know if anything will ever change. How can leaving the country be the best news for anyone. How is it that home feels like it isn’t best.

These cruel people we see now, these who are greedy can not do the right thing, my prayer is that they be able to see this land restored. It would be easier to wish fire and brimstone on them, but it would be far better for them to see Zimbabwe in all its glory. Happy registering in readiness for voting in 2018 folks!

The battle of weary old race horses

It’s the final battle. The two horses can not be changed as it would cease to be the horse race that people have talked about for the last 2 decades. There is no way you would dare to introduce new horses in this race. It would almost be cheating as any new horse would have far too much energy.

Looking at either horse, you cant but shed a tear for the shells that represent the powerful horses they both once were. It’s a race of pride and and it will probably be a crawling race to the finish. The cheering Calvary of apparently very loyal supporters will be running and screaming and the saddest thing is that the loudest cheerers will probably be hoping their favourite horse drops dead on winning the race. Quite horrible but honestly true. Any one with real love for either of these horse would long have retired their horse and set it out to pasture to enjoy a somewhat peaceful ending to a no doubt glorious past.

Many would like to place their bets on a newer fitter horse but the mafia that runs this race on either side of this race are merciless and will not tolerate such sacrilege. They are so fanatical they have cowed a lot of people into not actually betting on either horse. Still the race draws nearer and nearer and it seems there is no way out. Perhaps there is but I will not share what I think  as I too maybe be called to account for this apparent treasonous thought. How do you wish either horse well in the race. It is painful to watch as I know every step each horse takes causes them to wince in physical pain.

I know what I will do. I will close my eyes and say a prayer or make a wish. Who knows how it will end? It will be what it will be. Sigh

Dining out gone wrong then righted

Last night my family was invited out to dinner by a really good family friend. Fridays are end of the week for us and so cooking and dishes are not anything we like to do. We were happy to see someone we had not seen for close to 10 months. So we left for Pizza Hut. The place had a really beautiful ambiance with seductively warm yellow light dropped down to head level that when i got up later to leave my head brushed against a lamp shade. The warm light was enveloped by a velvety red on the walls I may be wrong on the color as yellow light does transform color magically.

The place as expected was clean and in a reasonable amount of time someone took our drinks order. Having started the week with unbearably hot temperatures where I found myself soaking wet during the day I was ill prepared for last night as late in the day it had started to rain and temperatures had dropped unkindly as if to remind us again that winter is making its way. Sigh.

We had lots of catching up to with our host and so we talked about home and all the beautiful people back there, the heart-breaking reality of a broken country that should work just as well as the land we currently reside in. We talked about the beautiful taste of maize (corn) sweet potatoes, our chocolate and our coffee. It was about at this time that we realized our order was ridiculously late in coming. We had spent over an hour waiting and my coffee was actually cold now. On inquiring why it had taken so long we were told that there were an overwhelming number of take out orders and we had to wait our turn. This did not go down well with us and we protested most furiously.

To her credit, the young lady remained calm but was quite noticeably upset that her kitchen was failing her. We should have been told about a longer than normal waiting period when we arrived and at that moment we could have chosen to dine elsewhere. We were offered a discount but replied that we would rather have the food and pay for it in full! That episode was not enjoyable.

The young lady returned with good news a few minutes later. Our order was now making its way through the oven. There was more good news! Our complete order was now on the house, we would not have to pay a cent. Drinks, pizzas, chicken and dessert were all going to be for free! Not only that. However much the order came to, we would get a credit of the same amount meaning that the next time we called in for an order we would get a second free meal to the tune of the the first meal.

An evening that had gone terribly wrong and then was righted. So many situations back home in Zimbabwe can be righted in the same way. The politics is wrong the business ethics could definitely be better. I would definitely recommend Pizza Hut as a beautiful place to dine in. The food when it came in was insanely delicious  and where as I wont go so far as to say ‘it was well worth the wait’ on account of the time taken, it was without a doubt a beautiful meal.

Let this dead baby go already!

When a monkey loses a baby through death it can be the most heart wrenching thing to watch. I have seen this before and there was no way to help. The unfortunate mum did not know her child was dead. When I witnessed this incident the little monkey had been dead a few days. The smell from the dead baby was terrible. The mum didn’t seem to notice or care. She just seemed to think this baby would wake up from her sleep. The other monkeys didn’t really like sitting next to the smell of death, the greatly troubled monkey hobbled on using three of her limbs while the fourth held the baby.

As much as I wished she would let go she didn’t. However probably a week after the baby had died, the mother finally left the foul smelling baby and moved on.

The story I have just related closely resembles the relationship of Zimbabweans with the ruling party. The ruling party as it was previously known, died just after the mid 80’s. When it became important to keep power at any cost and it resulted in a moment or period of madness that ended the lives of an estimated 20,000 people that were referred to as dissidents. The people didn’t realize that their much loved party had died. As with all dead things with time they reek of stench and Zanu does have a stench. We may not see it because as mothers of the party we cant believe our baby is dead. Everyone around us can see the baby is dead and we should bury our baby. We hobble along carrying this dead weight and as much as people feel sorry for us, we continue to carry Zanu.

Well the elections are coming in 2018. Perhaps we will finally let go of this baby.

Register to vote if you are in Zimbabwe, If you are not, then help someone else to register to vote. Time to let the dead be with the dead.