Posted on 12/14/2002 2:04:32 AM PST by Clive
Dear Family and Friends,
Opposite two of the main banks in my home town there is a little park where I often used to push Richard on the swings when he was a toddler.
The swings and see saw have long since disintegrated and the surrounding fence is a mess of rusty, falling down, patched wire. The hedge around the park is full of holes and litter but towering high above the ruin of our once beautiful park the pine trees are still standing.
It's a hive of activity up there and a sight so majestic that I simply stood and stared up in open mouthed delight this week. Hundreds of birds have taken over the trees and decided to breed there this year and the branches are crowded with Egrets and Sacred Ibis. The birds are constantly on the move, arguing and squabbling for the best spot amongst the branches which are littered with nests of sticks and twigs.
The pine needles, hedge, sidewalk and street below are grey with their droppings and you have to shout to hear above the noise of their fidgeting and complaining. Normally this natural wonder would attract many human spectators but I stood alone and watched the birds this week because the rest of our town is too busy looking for fuel and food.
Zimbabwe has completely run out of petrol. In Harare there are queues stretching for up to 5 kilometres at the few filling stations which have supplies. In Marondera this week only one gas station had fuel and this attracted a queue which stretched 5 blocks and then doubled back on itself to the beginning. At the pump head at least 100 men jostled with plastic containers they wanted to fill and the police had to be called to try and keep some sort of order.
Across the road at the only bakery still functioning at least 3 dozen trucks waited for bread, their vehicles spilling out into the road and causing even more chaos. At the door of the bakery a line of about 200 people waited on the off chance of buying just one loaf.
In the nearby high density suburb there was black market sugar to buy at 5 times the normal price and maize at 4 times the normal price. This news caused another flood of desperate humanity to pour down the road but two friends who were there came away empty handed as they could only buy the produce if they had a membership card for the ruling political party.
On the other side of town over 100 people queued outside the passport office waiting not for a passport but for a number which would entitle them to queue for an application form the following morning.
Everything is falling apart in Zimbabwe and there is a huge and overpowering sense of public rage everywhere you go. The little Christmas song this year must be: "All I want for Christmas is a tank of fuel" - no point asking for two front teeth because there's nothing to eat anyway.
With such enormous suffering everywhere, I sat glued to the local ZBC TV to watch the opening of the ruling party's annual congress in Chinoyi. In a moment of utter insanity I had decided that surely our 78 year old President would stand down and let someone else try and sort out this mess.
Not a chance !
3000 delegates were at the congress and they sat on white plastic chairs under a huge white tent which was decorated with gold tinsel. The delegates had two things in common - 90% of them were wearing clothes (dresses, shirts, trousers and scarves) which had President Mugabe's face printed on the fabric and 95% looked more well fed than anyone I've seen for many many months.
Every single speaker began with slogans which, when translated mean: "up with Zanu PF, up with Mugabe, down with MDC" When President Mugabe himself took the podium his slogans were " down with the MDC, down with Blair".
Unbelievably, even Mugabe was wearing a pea green shirt with pictures of himself on it.
For the first 40 minutes of his speech Mugabe slammed whites, Britain, Australia and America. He shouted about "crushing the Blair monster" and went on at great length about things that happened between 1965 and 1979. The delegates fidgeted and fanned themselves and wiped the sweat off their faces as Mugabe went on and on and on about things long since past.
When he did finally turn his attention to the present it was about land, empowering peasants and giving Zimbabwe back to it's rightful owners.
Not at any point in his 70 minute speech did Mugabe mention 6.8 million starving people; 144% inflation; 70% unemployment; 5 kilometre queues for fuel or the fact that there is no bread, milk, maize, sugar, flour or cooking oil to buy. Neither did he comment on the fact that one dozen eggs cost Z$480 seven days ago and today they are Z$660.
After President Mugabe had finished speaking a little boy was brought up to the front and he looked terrified as he stood at the microphone. With glazed and expressionless eyes he shouted out what he said was a poem entitled "THE LAND".
My eyes filled with tears as this boy, the same age as my own 10 year son, used words he could not possibly know or understand, including "repression, arrogantly, colonialism, rebellion and juxtaposition" to explain why Zimbabwe was for Zimbabweans and Africa was for Africans - whites are not welcome.
While the child shouted out his litany of hate, President Mugabe was being served tea in delicate white china tea cups by a waiter, dressed all in white and wearing white cotton gloves. The child finished and stumbled slightly on his last sentence which was: "Down with Tony Blair and his wife Tsvangirai."
All I could think, through the tears and the lump in my throat was: Dear God, what are they doing to the children.
Until next week, with love, cathy
Likewise, if she can get to the USA, I believe I can arrange accomodations for her here, and something in Australia can likely be managed should she be able to get there.
From what I've read, I doubt she even tries, and I expect her to be lost to the massacres. But should she get out and require a haven for a while, the offer stands.
-archy-/-
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