Dear Family and Friends,
This week Zimbabwe made international news almost every day as the English
cricket team hovered over the border while the politicians and assorted
spokesmen argued and threatened, issued ultimatums and huffed and puffed
about who would and would not be allowed into the country. Finally, by
Friday, it looked as if the cricket matches were going to happen and the
reporters were going to be there and while it was good that Zimbabwe was
in the world news, as far as I was concerned it was for all the wrong
reasons.
To the best of my knowledge most people in Zimbabwe don't give a damn
about cricket anymore. Our inspirational players are gone after their
black armband protest; our national team has been politically cleansed and
anyway, most of us don't have time to worry about cricket - we've got far
more important things on our minds. I was asked this week how bad things
are now compared to four years ago. At the time of the question I was in a
meeting and we were talking about the desperate conditions of hundreds of
people who live in wooden shacks in the back streets of Marondera. Their
houses, if you can call them that, are made of rough timber off-cuts,
lined with cardboard boxes for insulation and roofed with pieces of broken
asbestos, rusty sheets of tin or old plastic fertilizer bags. In these
dreadful hovels which have neither water nor plumbing, whole families are
literally living on the floor which is just compacted dirt. They have no
money and do not work because there are no jobs for 8 out of 10
Zimbabweans. They have only the food given to them by charities, churches
and well wishers because they cannot afford to buy any of the food in the
shops. The children do not go to school. HIV is common as is TB and it is
the most abominable way for any human being to have to live. To make
matters worse, our local hospitals and clinics are desperately short of
money. This is now the second month in a row when our local hospital has
not even been able to dispense phenobarb to unemployed epilepsy
outpatients.
These are the real things that ordinary people are worrying about in
Zimbabwe. Long after the shouting, batting and bowling is over and the
cricket players have gone home, nothing will have changed for the ordinary
people of Zimbabwe. We will still have 80 % unemployment, 209% inflation
and a life expectancy of just 35 years. I don't now how many multi
millions or billions of dollars these cricket games have involved but for
sure they could have got people out of rickety wooden shacks and into
decent brick houses with water and electricity are maybe, luxury of
luxuries, a flushing toilet.
Until next week,
love cathy
Copyright cathy buckle 27 November 2004
http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available in the UK from: orders@africabookcentre.com ;
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I would like to share with you all the fact that I have been friends with a wonderful woman. She was so kind, considerate, always there if you needed a hand. Nothing seemed to be too much for her to do for her friends. She was tall, slim and attractive. She had two children whom she adored and was so proud of . They married and then there were her grandchildren that she loved dearly. My friend had a wonderful husband and they shared many interests together. I have known her for many years and I am so grateful for the friendship that she gave me, she will be remembered with love and affection as she died last night.
Posted by: Mara at November 21, 2004 20:04 |
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Dear Family and Friends,
On Friday afternoon the long, hot dry spell which had lasted for five
weeks in Marondera, finally broke in true African fashion with the most
ferocious storm. In the middle of the day it grew very dark, a fierce wind
arrived from nowhere and lightning streaked down the blackening sky every
few minutes. The power went off almost as soon as the rain started and
while my son and his friend played cards at the table I surveyed all the
bounty on the floor around me.
For almost three months I had been tracking a donation which had been left
on the other side of the country. Three boxes, one suitcase and one bucket
was the description of the donation and at last, thanks to the kindness of
a whole string of people, it had finally arrived in Marondera.
On the side of an 8 kg bucket in big print it said "Old Fashioned
Blueberry: Frozen gourmet muffin batter." Inside the bucket there was
something far more valuable than muffin mix though and I pried open the
lid to see scissors, tweezers and toothbrushes. While the storm outside
raged, the piles of treasure for the Christopher Campaign grew - soap,
disinfectant, linen savers and antiseptic - whatever could be used to give
some comfort and dignity to desperately poor people living with HIV and
AIDS in Marondera.
There are over 700 unemployed and virtually destitute people with HIV and
AIDS in Marondera. In addition there are over 900 orphans in the town and
21 child headed households. In all cases these men, women and children are
almost entirely dependant on the goodwill of strangers, on food and
clothing handouts and charitable donations from NGO's (Non Governmental
Organizations) like The Red Cross or The Rotary Club under whose umbrella
our little Christopher Campaign operates in Marondera town.
There are thought to be in excess of 3000 NGO's in Zimbabwe employing over
20 000 people who in turn help literally millions of people in need in
Zimbabwe. There are NGO's working to help the very young and the very old,
the sick, the hungry and the downtrodden. There are NGO's working in the
cities, towns and remotest of villages. This may well be the last week
that a large number of these NGO's continue to operate in the country.
This week parliament began forcing the NGO Bill through the required
stages. Despite an adverse report by the parliamentary legal committee
which said the Bill contradicted the constitution on 12 counts, it now
seems inevitable that the NGO Bill is about to become law. NGO's are
frantically making preparations as I write. Some say they will go
underground, others will relocate to neighbouring countries and many more
will simply cease to exist. Welshman Ncube, the Chairman of the
parliamentary legal committee described the NGO Bill as a "pervasive
attempt to curtail and extinguish the fundamental freedoms of the people
of Zimbabwe". He said the Bill "does not seek to regulate but to control,
to silence, to render ineffective and ultimately shut down
non-governmental organisations."
These are the darkest of days in Zimbabwe. So many people get from one day
to the next thanks to the kindness of strangers and the goodness of
charitable organisations. How they will survive once these organizations
are outlawed lies only in God's hands. Please remember Zimbabwe in your
prayers. Until next week, love cathy Copyright cathy buckle 20 Nov 2004
http://africantears.netfirms.com
"African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available outside Africa from:
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At last the African Night arrived, and we drove into town to the very large supermaraket to fill up with petrol and buy the fruit juice that we could not get in our local shops. On our tickets we were to be at Discovery Quay for 7.30. We decided to leave car in the car park and walk along the riverside of the dual carriageway. After a short time we saw in lights the words Discovery Quay on a new Hotel that had been built. My husband, Charlie, said as it was so near and there was parking at the hotel, I was to go in and he would bring the car along to leave in the hotel car park. So he left to do that and I went inside to a complete lack of anything happening. On asking where the talk was being held I got blank faces. "No talk here tonight, you have better try the boat Discovery further up the river". I went outside to try and catch Charlie on the other side of the motor way and inspite of me waving my arms frantically, he did not see me. With the result he had to drive a good way into town to a roundabout before being able to come back to where I was. I hurriedly got into the car and we had to drive back to the shops to be able to turn around and come back into town, and then back down a short way to the Discovery Quay. It is a dry harbour where Captain Scott of the Antartic's boat Discovery is moored. Needless to say we were late in taking our seats for the African Night!
We were treated to a slide show of many of Southern Africa's wonderful sights, a number we knew and some we didn't and some places we had been to as well. It was being run by South African Airways, and they were giving a tourist promotion of several areas including Botsawna, the Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe, Nambia and South Africa. After the slide show there were to be drinks and snacks and time for chat. However immediately after the slide show a gentleman stood up and annouced that he had been given five minutes of our time for him to tell us of his forthcoming project. He was a retired Banker, and with his friend who ran a Bicyle Shop, their main hobby was riding their bikes and raising money for charity. He told us that their next project was a Charity Trail Bike Ride in Malawi. I immediately sat up to attention, as I had been born in Malawi. Naturally I went up to him and introduced myself to him as soon as I could. We got to chatting about Malawi and I asked him when the trip was actually going and he told me, and I realised that the day they would all arrive in Malawi would be on my birthday. I started to feel stirrings in my heart and mind. How fantastic it would be if we could go as well, and for me to go back to the land of my birth and arrive on my birthday. There were a few places still available on the trip, but every one had been raising money to pay for their trip for quite some time, and Charlie and I would have less than three months to try and raise the money needed, not to mention getting in some serious bike rides on dirt roads. Last time I had been on a bike, well I really don't want to say......
Alastair felt it would be a wonderful adventure for us, and especially for me and then he suggested if we could donate an amount of money to cover the flights and digs, and try to raise some other money between our bike runs, he thought it might be possible for us to go with them. He told Charlie and I that he would speak to the others and get back to us, and also see if we were still keen to take part in the Charity Trail Bike Ride in Malawi with them. I came home that night very excited indeed and realised that I desperately wanted to go on the trip.......
Posted by: Mara at November 17, 2004 20:04 |
link | comments |
Dear Family and Friends,
I met a very brave woman this week. Heather is 42 and married with two teenage
children. Her 18 year old son has recently left home and her daughter is at
boarding school and about to write public exams. These are about the only normal
things left in Heather's life after almost five years of hell. As we sat and
talked Heather's phone rang almost incessantly, but we had time to have a cup of
coffee together. It was very special coffee, home grown on their farm in
Chimanimani.
Heather is the wife of an opposition Member of Parliament and she and her
husband have lost everything in their determination to bring democratic
governance to Zimbabwe. Being married to an MP hasn't meant chauffeur driven
limousines, exotic weekend retreats and lavish dinner parties for Heather. It
has meant rape, torture, murder, arson, looting and theft All of these horrors
have become personal experiences as they have happened directly to Heather and
Roy Bennett and their friends and employees in the last five years. None of the
crimes committed against the Bennett's and their employees have been resolved.
None of the perpetrators have been sentenced or imprisoned and none of the court
rulings issued in favour of the Bennetts have been upheld or obeyed by
Zimbabwe's police.
Being married to an MDC MP has meant fear, anguish and enormous personal
sacrifice for Heather but amazingly, even now with her husband in prison, she is
not angry and bitter or baying for blood and revenge. It is unlikely, but not
yet clear, if Roy Bennett will be allowed to stand for Parliament again now that
he has been convicted for pushing an MP to the floor and sentenced to a year in
prison for the offence. Heather told me that even if Roy could never represent
the people of Chimanimani in Parliament again, the five years have not been
wasted. The Bennett's have stood up for what is right, spoken for those who
cannot and helped build the New Zimbabwe we are all fighting for. Heather says
at the moment she feels like she's flailing in a raging waterfall with demands
tugging at her from all directions. But her focus is entirely on her husband,
his safety and his health in prison. Heather can only visit Roy once every two
weeks for ten minutes. All she can take him is a 50ml tube of toothpaste, a bar
of carbolic soap, a small jar of vaseline and 6 individual pieces of fruit. This
ten minutes every fourteen days has become the focus of Heather's life and she
said it takes every ounce of her self control to get through those ten minutes
without crying.
For pushing an MP who was shouting abuse at him in Parliament, Roy Bennett is
sharing a four man cell with 17 other people. He is dressed in rags and working
all day in the fields at Harare Central Prison. When I left Heather I drove
past the Harare central prison this week so that I could describe the view. In
temperatures of over 30 degrees C, men wearing ragged white shorts and short
sleeved tops, trudge barefoot, without hats, in the burning sun carrying
buckets. They walk to the river, bend, fill their buckets and carry the water
back to pour on the vegetables. Others carry hoes and they bend and weed between
lines of straggling greenery, watched by a bored prison official.
For almost five years I have been writing this letter to the world about events
in Zimbabwe. It is men and women like Roy and Heather Bennett whose unceasing
bravery and determination have given me the courage to keep going. When I left
Heather this week I was ashamed that all I could offer as thanks for their
example and inspiration was my words. Roy Bennett did not steal or loot, burn,
torture, rape or murder, he pushed a man to the floor. If you would like to know
more or would like to be involved, please email: freeroybennett@yahoo.com . If
you are able to contact your local MP please ask them to expose this situation
and lobby support for a fellow parliamentarian. If you could just help with
signing a petition, please do so. Every name is wanted and needed as soon as
possible, just write PETITION in the subject line and contact
freeroybennett@yahoo.com. This letter is for Heather Bennett, a very brave
woman who asks only for our voices. Until next week, love cathy. For full
information on Roy Bennett please also visit my website :
http://africantears.netfirms.com
Copyright cathy buckle 13th November 2004.
My books "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available from:
orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ; www.amazon.co.uk ; in
Australia and New Zealand: johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa:
www.kalahari.net www.exclusivebooks.com
Oh dear, I did not realise how much my new interest in garden birds was going to cost me. As Winter is fast approaching, and with my new bird books giving me all sorts of advice on what the birds now need for food, I have been to two local shops that stock bird food, but they did not have what I needed. So I have had to resort to mail order. I need to give them niger seed, fruit, raisons, and meal worms. Live worms.!!! How was I going to handle this?, where was I going to keep them? do I need to feed them as well? Would I in fact be able to pick them up even? I'd need to get a new food container for them, and so it went on.. I was thrilled, therefore, to find that I could get dried mealworms, so one problem sorted thank goodness. As I glanced through the pages of what I could buy for my birds, I discovered I would need to be quite selective, as the cost, with Christmas just around the corner, would have been alarming. So I sent off for a few items and some niger seed, the worms and now I await impatiently for them to arrive. My books tell me that the birds need food in the early mornings as they have had to struggle through the night, and then they need food to keep them going through the night. People remark that some birds, starlings and sparrows to mention a couple, are very greedy birds, but this is not true as they do need the food. I dont see as much of the birds as I would like now, as the days are getting shorter, but they still give me a great deal of pleasure.
Posted by: Mara at November 16, 2004 21:36 |
link | comments (1) |
I have recently discovered the beauty and diversity of birds who come into my back garden. I have set aside an area in which I have put a bird table, above which I have an arch which the birds can fly on to. I have a bird bath and the hedges close by attract the small birds and are a refuge if something disturbs them at feed time.Up to now I have had around a dozen different birds, including a Sparrow Hawk come to visit. I can spent hours just watching them, as time literally just flies by......... Any tips to help me over the coming Winter months would be very much appreciated.
Posted by: Mara at November 08, 2004 11:29 |
link | comments (2) |
Dear Family and Friends,
While the eyes of the world were on America this week, Zimbabwe seemed to
be completely uninterested and totally unconcerned with the US election.
When asked by the Zimbabwe Independent newspaper if President Mugabe was
going to comment on the re-election of George Bush, official government
spokesman George Charamba said: "What has Mr Bush's win got to do with the
Zimbabwe government." That short comment summed it all up for Zimbabwe's
ruling party which seems far more concerned about China. Day after day
this week, radio and television headline news in Zimbabwe has been about
China. It appears that China is now Zimbabwe's closest ally and all week
we've seen film footage of acres of Chinese goods that have just arrived
in the country. These products include electricity transformers,
agricultural implements and defence and security equipment. Not to mention
the tons and tons of other Chinese products like cheap clothes, luggage
and electrical equipment that have flooded our shelves and flea markets
lately and are suffocating Zimbabwean companies and driving our own
manufacturers out of business.
This week our agriculture minister Joseph Made also climbed onto the
Chinese bandwagon. Despite being repeatedly and grossly mistaken about
crop harvests and food security in Zimbabwe, Doctor Made has just
announced that our growing relationship with China is imperative for his
new "35 year agricultural programme." This is the same Doctor Made who
struggled to see a year into the future not so long ago. In April 2001
Doctor Made said that he'd flown all over Zimbabwe assessing the crop
situation and as a result of what he saw he was convinced that there would
be no food shortages in Zimbabwe and no need to import any wheat or maize.
Less than a year later 7 million Zimbabweans were being fed by the World
Food Programme
I cannot imagine how any Minister of Agriculture could put together a
three and a half decade plan in a country where farm ownership changes
almost every season, where title deeds are worthless and where police
disregard court rulings if they involve land, white skinned Zimbabweans or
anyone who doesn't support the ruling party. Dr Made talks about a
dramatic increase in trade with China and exports of all sorts of
agricultural products, including, of course, tobacco. Dr Made seems to
have forgotten that this year's tobacco crop was the smallest ever to have
been produced by Zimbabwe.
While America looks to just the next four years of Bush's term in office
it seems Zimbabwe 's government can see much, much further into the future
and seems to think it will be in power for ever and ever. Perhaps George
Charamba is right after all when he asks what Bush's victory has to do
with Zimbabwe?. Like it or loathe it America is at least the real world
whereas Zimbabwe daily loses touch with reality. Until next week, with
love, cathy
Copyright cathy buckle 6th November 2004
http://africantears.netfirms.com
My books "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available in Europe & the UK
from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ; in Australia
and New Zealand: johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: www.kalahari.net
www.exclusivebooks.com
Cathy Buckle's latest letter from Zimbabwe
Dear Family and Friends,
This week Zimbabweans watched with shock and amazement as our government
seemed determined to score an own goal. It has been a week of roller
coaster rides with hopes soaring one day and then plummeting back to earth
the next day.
The South African trade union movement was coming to Zimbabwe on a fact
finding mission to see for themselves what was happening inside our
country. They were to meet their counterparts in the ZCTU and
representatives from a wide range of civic society organisations. We were
delighted and felt sure that COSATU would say it like it is. They are not
the sort of organization who would be intimidated or harassed or who would
wrap their findings in diplomatic words. With bated breath we followed
every step of the saga. COSATU were told by our government that their
visit was unacceptable and that they would not be welcome but the Union
representatives said they were coming anyway. Everyone was convinced that
the COSATU delegates would not be allowed into the country and it was
touch and go for a while. The 13 member COSATU delegation arrived in
Harare but were detained by state security agents at the airport for
almost two hours. It seemed that the COSATU delegates were being told that
they would only be allowed in if they agreed in writing not to meet
certain Zimbabwean groups on the grounds that these organizations were
opposed to the Mugabe government (one of the groups mentioned was the
Council of Churches!). The COSATU delegation stood firm, refused to sign
anything and were eventually allowed into the country.
The COSATU visit did not last long. The next morning CIO agents
descended. They were soon joined by riot police who helped enforce a
Cabinet ruling to deport the COSATU team. And that was it, as easily as
the light of hope had been ignited, so it was extinguished. Then it was
all over bar the shouting and propaganda. Our Ministry of Information
attacked the COSATU''S visit describing it as ' a treacherously calculated
assault..a challenge to (Zimbabwe's) sovereignty... a provocative visit
(by a group) with alien interests,' ZBC TV news said the COSATU delegates
had been sent by British prime Minister Tony Blair and described them as:
"aristocrats who were pro capitalist."
While the propaganda fumed and spat, the COSATU delegation were being
shoved unceremoniously out of the country. There were no farewells from
the airport but a six hundred kilometer drive in the middle of the night
to literally dump the Union leaders at the Beit Bridge border. Exhausted,
hungry and stressed, the COSATU vice president said it had been a "nasty,
horrible experience " and that "There is simply no law and order in
Zimbabwe." Just for one day COSATU held the torch high for us and for
that we thank them. We hope that what they saw in their very brief visit
will not be forgotten but used to help all Zimbabweans who have been
desperately struggling to get this message across for almost five years.
Zimbabweans are also holding up a torch this week for MDC MP Roy Bennett.
Parliament has just voted to jail the opposition MP for 15 months with
hard labour for pushing and knocking down Justice Minister Patrick
Chinamasa in Parliament in May. Roy Bennett did not deny shoving the
Justice Minister and apologised to the Speaker of The House. There is no
doubt in anyone's mind that the incident was the culmination of almost
five years of extreme provocation. Events which represent a litany of
horror and abuse which include repeated violent farm invasions, illegal
arrests; murder of one man, shooting of another, rape of three women,
slaughter and theft of cattle; theft and sale of over 150 tons of coffee;
the looting and trashing of his home, six court orders that had been
ignored. and the death of Mr and Mrs Bennett's unborn child. ZANU PF did
not waste any time debating these horrors, their parliamentary majority
turned them into judge and jury and already MP Roy Bennett has been locked
up. Zimbabweans are with you Roy Bennett. You have shown us all the
meaning of courage and of true patriotism and we thank you for the hope
you have given us for the last five years. When the New Zimbabwe is born,
Roy Bennett will be hailed as the man who gave us inspiration, hope and
courage and showed us the way. We salute you. Until next week, with love,
cathy. Copyright cathy buckle 30th October 2004.
http://africantears.netfirms.com
"African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available from:
orders@africabookcentre.com ; www.africabookcentre.com ; www.amazon.co.uk ;
in Australia and New Zealand: johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ;
Africa: www.kalahari.net www.exclusivebooks.com
