Zimbabwe -- Cathy Buckle -- Until we meet again

Letters written by Cathy Buckle ^ | 23rd October 2004 | Cathy Buckle (and her mother)

[Clive]

Dear Family and Friends,

My letter this week has been written by my Mum who came to this country in the mid 50's. I have added nothing to her words as they speak for themselves and express the pain that 3 million other families have gone through as they too have been forced to leave Zimbabwe.

My name is Pauline and I am proud to say that I am Cathy Buckle's mother and the grandmother of her son about whom she has written so movingly in many of her letters and in the two books which describe the horrors of the past four and a half years in our beloved Zimbabwe.

In two weeks time I am very reluctantly leaving Zimbabwe. There is such a turmoil of feelings going on inside me but above all there is sadness at all the goodbyes. Goodbye to the country which has been my home for so long. Goodbye to the people, the wonderful ordinary people of Zimbabwe that I shall miss more even that the beauty of the land. Goodbye also to all the hundreds - if not thousands - of students I have taught over the years and particularly in the past ten years since I have been living in a small rural centre some one hundred kilometres from Cathy's home in Marondera.

There are so many memories that I shall take with me, some happy and some sad and painful. Like everyone else, I have watched in disbelief as this beautiful country has became entrapped in a web of violence and hatred as if a huge and all-pervasive evil had spread over the land. Every morning I would wake early and stare out at the soft grey gomo behind my house and wonder how it was possible that a landscape so beautiful could contain such evil. I would watch as the kids trotted happily to school and wonder what the future held for them in a country which was rapidly falling into total ruination around them. Friends and students would come to the house, for tutoring or just to share friendship and laughter and discussion and ideas. They stopped coming for a while when things were really bad and we spoke only in lowered voices for one never knew who might be listening. It's always like that in the run-up to or aftermath of an election but now we seem to be in permanent election mode in Zimbabwe. In spite of the problems, there are good memories and I shall always treasure the absolute acceptance all those friends showed me, a woman of a different culture from their own.

Now that I am leaving I am overcome by a deep sadness that Zimbabwe should come to this. I have lived through and fought in my own way the hideous racism of the Smith regime which swore ' never in a thousand years' would the people take over power in their own country only to see now the savage cruelty of a dictator and his party, apparently drunk with power and determined to hold on at all costs regardless of the suffering of their people. Politics dominates every sphere of life in this country. It seems that we have learnt nothing from history.

I want to thank all those dear and special friends who have made the past ten years so memorable for me. I shall never forget them or Zimbabwe which remains forever in my heart. It is the they, the people of Zimbabwe who hold the power to change their lives for the better. I pray that they find the will and the courage to do that. Stay well, my Zimbabwean friends until we meet again.

Until next week, love cathy

[Clive]

-

[imintrouble]

Ah yes, another U.N. "Success Story"....

While Kofe fiddled

[Lion Den Dan]

The bottom line here is that Smith was not such an evil dog but surely knew whereof he spoke. We, in America, need pay close attention to the horror described by Mrs. Buckles as this will be the end result here if Kerry and his successors have their victory and their way. These communists preach the politics of division and the supremacy of the State. They must be forever stopped lest we suffer as they do in Zimbawe.

[Capriole]

So where are they going? Does anyone know?

[Max Combined]

"In two weeks time I am very reluctantly leaving Zimbabwe."

Better late than never.

[Max Combined]

"I have lived through and fought in my own way the hideous racism of the Smith regime"

As you sow, so shall you reap.

[Mears]

What a horror story this once beautiful country has become. Sad!!!!!

[Max Combined]

Malibu.

[GeronL]

While Kofe fiddled

Just like Rwanda and now Sudan. If the US doesn't do something. NOBODY will.

[imintrouble]

I want the U.S. out of the U.N. or the U.N. out of the U.S. - which ever can be accomplished.

Now Bill Clinton is making mumbles about being Kofe Annan's successor which means destruction of the world as we know it.

The organization (or cult) is filled with corrupt thugs and should never have power as the world has assigned it.

It should be dismantled for a year and re-opened with democratic countries only having a vote and discretionary powers.