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Zimbabwe, South Eastern Africa The
visit to my land of birth - May 2007 Having spent two years away from my land of birth nested comfortably in a foreign land that I now call my second home, Melbourne, Australia, I decided to visit my mum, brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews back in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe. I left my small family behind, my partner and a 10 months old daughter after getting cautions to be careful, not just from my small family but my co-workers and other acquaintances in Melbourne. I was looking forward to going to Zimbabwe, after all this is where I was born, grew up, partly educated and started my human rights and development career. I missed my family and friends that mattered to me most. The two years I have not been back to Zimbabwe, a lot of things happened, the government implemented “Operation Drive out Trash” destroyed homes of over 700,000 people in urban areas with the justification that the structures were illegal, unemployment has risen to over 80%, there is over 20% HIV/AIDS rate, inflation is now over 3000%. The situation in Zimbabwe is now so bad that: • Between 2002 and 2006, the population is estimated to have decreased by four million people. • Infant mortality has doubled since 1990. • Average life expectancy for women, who are particularly affected by Zimbabwe's AIDS epidemic, is 34 - the lowest anywhere in the world. Officials from the World Health Organization have admitted that since this figure is based on data collected two years ago, the real number may be as low as 30. • Zimbabwe has a higher number of orphans, in proportion to its population, than any other country in the world, according to UNICEF. Most of these cases are a result of parents dying from AIDS. As I flew into Harare on the 9th of May I was aware of all this and having talked to my family on the phone on a weekly basis in the two years I have been away they assured me that everything was ok even though they were affected by the demolition of houses by the ruling government. I didn’t know what to expect in Harare and especially the conditions my own family was living in. Before I left for Australia with my partner in 2002 we helped to build three extra bedrooms for my mum’s house as she is looking after some of my brothers and sisters who are unable to get jobs. Ten grand children, five from my deceased elder brother and his wife and five from my elder sister whose husband died and remarried another man who refused to take in her children. I also have a cute great niece thrown in as a bonus for my mother to look after from one of my nieces who got pregnant and the boyfriend refused it was his. These are some of things that motivate me to work hard where ever I am and help my extended family. My mother relies on whatever money I can afford to send her and in turn she looks after 16 other people. I was looking forward to catching up with everyone. At the airport I was met with my two younger brothers and their two friends and they took me home. I grew up in a high density suburb called Tafara and this is one area which was most affected by the government’s house demolitions. As I arrived home, I could hardly recognize the place, the three extra bedrooms that we built in 2002 were no longer there, a storage that I built to store my mother’s grain was also destroyed. What was left was just the core house built by the city council in the early 1960’s that comprise of three rooms and an outside toilet. This is what the government expected the 17 people living there to do with. I was depressed from day one as my family is living in squalid condition. I did not understand why family didn’t tell me the truth from the beginning that this was the situation they were living in, perhaps they were trying to protect me from depression. This situation is not synonymous to my family only but to the hundreds of thousands of families in the community and surrounding high density suburbs. I was angry with myself partly because I was living a modest life in Australia while my family suffered. The two weeks I stayed there were quite stressful, I worked with the sculpture group and bought brick moulds and started a brick making project to occupy some of my younger brothers and a few neighbours. Work is not available in Zimbabwe, starting income generating projects is one way to alleviate poverty and curb crime in Zimbabwe. This project if it gets necessary support will be able to employ at least ten young people, a bigger mould, inputs like cement, wheel barrows, shovels and a piece of land at a strategic location will be able to see this project viable. This is a beginning and I will do all I can to see that this project succeeds with the help of friends, people of goodwill and other organizations. My other vision is to help the young women get into fabric printing and tailoring and create a community based organization that will respond to the needs of the community. As I spent the two weeks I got to experience the reality of the inflation in the country now pegged at over 3000%, when I got there 1USD was fetching around 28,000 Zim dollars on the black market and by the time I left it was fetching 40,000 Zim dollars, this was only in two weeks. Everyday commodities changed prices and it broke my heart that most families where going with out meals, if one is lucky they would have one meal a day. The people in Zimbabwe are living in the moment, when they get food they eat as if there is no tomorrow, perhaps there is no tomorrow if there are no jobs with the over 80% unemployment rate in the country. What I also noticed is that if you are coming from outside it feels as if everything is normal, the country is safe to travel into and I did not experience any repression but I guess people are now living in fear and they are now afraid to speak out against the government policies. I do have a lot of differences with the current government’s policies but I have to acknowledge that I felt safe apart from petty crime that is on the rise. The people of Zimbabwe are the most humble, patient and are now adapting to the current environment by finding other means to survive in the unpredictable economy. I noticed that a lot of people sell goods on the black market at very exorbitant prices. When I tried to understand why the black market was growing, a trusted source told me that there is a lot of goods in Zimbabwe but manufacturers create artificial shortages and then give the goods to people to sell on the black market because if they sell the goods through the normal market, the government control the prices and with the inflation they are not able recuperate their expenses. On the black market they are able to make up to 10 times their profits and pay a small amount to the people who help them sell on the black market. This is how a lot of people are now surviving. At least they can make enough for one meal a day. A friend of mine said “Zimbabwe has the cheapest labor in the whole world.” This summed up how desperate the situation in Zimbabwe. The whole point is, “what is the world doing about it?” I saw a lot of hard working people who if helped can help develop their communities and I can only do a tiny little bit but with the help of others who have a vision to empower communities we can achieve a lot in helping the people of Zimbabwe. As I left Zimbabwe I vowed that I will do all I can to help in a small way and maybe others will notice and also help the situation. At present I want to find ways to build a proper house for my mother as she is looking after a lot of people and work with the projects to help build the motivation in the community. |
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