Life as a Zimbabwean

http://www.sokwanele.com/

"As suburban children we floated at night in swimming pools the temperature of blood; pools the colour of Earth as seen from outer space. We would skinny-dip, my friends and me - hip-chick Stacey with her long yellow hair and Malibu Barbie body; Mark, our silent strongman; Kristy, our omni-freckled redheaded joke machine; voice-of-reason Julie; with the "statistically average" body; honey-bronze ski bum, Dana, with his non-existent tan line and suspiciuously large amounts or cash, and Todd, the prude, always last to strip, even then peeling off his underwear underneath the water. We would float and be naked - pretending to be embryos, pretending to be fetuses - all of us silent save from the hum of the pool filter. Our minds would be blank and our eyes closed as we floated in warm waters, the distinction between our bodies and our brains reduced to nothing - bathed in chlorine and lit by pure blue lights installed underneath diving boards.

Afterward we towelled off and drove in cars on roads that carved the mountain on which we lived - through the trees, through the subdivisions from pool to pool, from basement to basement, up Cypress Bowl, down to Park Royal and over the Lions Gate Bridge - the act of endless motion itself a substitude for any larger form of thought. The radio would be turned on, full of love songs and rock music; we believed the rock music but I don't think we believed in the love songs, either then, or now. Ours was a life lived in paradise and thus it rendered any discussion of transcendental ideas pointless. Politics, we supposed, existed elsewhere in a televised non-paradise; death was something similar to recycling.

Life was charmed but without politics or religion. It was the life of children of the children of the pioneers - life after God - a life of earthly salvation on the edge of heaven. Perhaps this is the finest thing to which we may aspire, the life of peace, the blurring between dream life and real life - and yet I find myself speaking these words with a sense of doubt.

I think there was a trade-off somewhere along the line. I think the price we paid for our golden life was an inability to fully believe in love; instead we gained an irony that scorched everything it touched. And I wonder if this irony is the price we paid for the loss of God."

- Douglas Coupland (Life After God)

My happy travels

Manchester was a lot of fun! Liverpool was an absolute partay. London, always when I arrive there for the first half an hour or so I keep questioning myself why do I choose to come to a city as big and as fast as it is. On Saturday afternoon the tubes were packed and not long after trying to get where I wanted to be an announcement came up saying "Trains between this and this station are not running due to a people incident." I wandered why they didn't actually say what happened, ie if someone committed suicide, and then maybe people feel a little something for a stranger rather than be far away in their own little worlds. Or maybe I'm too nosey.

So by then I was feeling a little flustered, people everywhere, backpacks on my back and chest, rush, rush, rush. Then walking up to the escalator I spotted two Asian men, one in his fifties - maybe the father - and a guy in his teens who quite obviousily had a learning disability and deformed hands. The two walked arm in arm to reach the first step then the teen unraveled his arms and stretched them out, let his head fall back, closed his eyes, smiled and he 'flew' up the stairs. What I would have given to be him for those few moments!

Then when walking out the station a beggar shouted to me 'Hey lady' so, me being me, went over to him and responded, 'Hey Mister!!! What's up?'. He gave me the biggest flash of teeth and then cheekily responded, 'Wanted some Toblerone?' and broke off a few triangles of the chocolate. Oh I told him 'A second on the lips, years on the hips', took one piece off then handed the rest back. 'Yeah look at me hips' he chuckled. That piece of was chocolate was sweeter than the usual!

Anyways, as normal, I did have an absolutely wonderful time in London!

The Zimbabwe protest went well! Here are my photos from it.

Jaysus!

Mugabe has really gone mad now. There are reports that he's recruiting para-military police from Angola to beef up his own security forces. Excuse my language, but, shit!!! For some reason I do not think Angolan military are very nice people. Luckily there is hope that it's a rumour ... there is confusion of what is really happening.

If you care to join the protests listed below then please do! I'm heading down to England on Thursday so will try do my bit too.

Wednesday, 28th March, 11 am - join MDC-UK at the Zimbabwe Embassy, London. There are plans to toyi-toyi to the House of Commons via the South African High Commission. For more information, contact: Jaison Matewu, 07816 619 788.

Thursday, 29th March, 2 pm – join Free-Zim Youth to lobby the Angolan government following reports of sending troops into Zimbabwe (meet Baker Street tube station). For more info contact:Alois Mbawara 07960333568, Wellington Chibanguza 07706868955, Bridgette Maphosa 07784111755

Saturday, 31st March, 2 – 6 pm – Special Vigil outside the Zimbabwe Embassy, London, in solidarity with victims of political violence in Zimbabwe. We are going to pull out all stops at the Vigil in support of the brave activists at home facing such appalling dangers. We know from phone contacts as well as news reports that many people are being sought out from their homes and beaten up for their political beliefs. This is what we hope to bring out more clearly to the British public – the deliberate attempt to crush any dissent.

Saturday, 31st March – 11 am - 3 pm - The Bristol Vigil meets under the covered way, just near the Watershed, Canon's Road, Harbourside

Tuesday, 3rd April, 7.30 pm - Frontline Club, 13 Norfolk Place, London W2 1QJ - Zimbabwe in Meltdown - to be discussed by a panel consisting of Lord Triesman, Minister for Africa at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Wilf Mbanga, Founder, Publisher and Editor of The Zimbabwean newspaper, Gugu Moyo, Zimbabwean lawyer of the International Bar Association and Bill Saidi, Deputy Editor of The Standard in Zimbabwe – via phone link. Tickets £7 available online at www.frontlineclub.com.

Wednesday, 4th April, 12 – 2 pm – join ACTSA (Action for Southern Africa, the successor to the Anti-Apartheid Movement) and the Trades Union Congress for a demonstration outside the Zimbabwe Embassy in solidarity with the Zimbabwe Congress of Trade Unions who have called a general strike for 3rd and 4th April. Check: www.actsa.org for information about how else you can be active on behalf of Zimbabwe.

Saturday, 18th April, 2 – 5 pm – the second Belfast Vigil (to mark Zimbabwean Independence Day). Venue to be advised.

www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Zimbabwean news

As reported by The Herald, a leading (government run) newspaper in Zimbabwe ....

Violence flares in Glen View

AS MDC escalated its violent campaign in Glen View 3 yesterday morning barricading roads, destroying property and stoning vehicles, the United Nations, United States, Britain and New Zealand joined in the fray by condemning the Zimbabwe Government for breaking up the violent protests.

The orgy of violence, which started last Sunday, continued early yesterday morning as commuter omnibuses operating in Glen View started ferrying people to their workplaces.A commuter omnibus was stoned before being overturned along Glen View Way, just opposite Glen View 3 High School, at around 5am. At Tichagarika Shopping Centre, the rampaging youths uprooted and destroyed a phone shop cabin, which they later used to barricade Willowvale Road.

Sources said the violence was part of a broader campaign by the youths to cause chaos in the suburb. Police quickly moved in to quell the violence and by around 6am, the situation was generally calm with residents going about their normal business. However, riot police maintained a heavy presence in the restive suburb.

Police spokesperson Chief Inspector Andrew Phiri confirmed the outbreak of violence and said three people had been arrested. While the MDC youths were on the rampage, a spokesman for UN Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-moon said the UN boss was concerned about reports that opposition leaders were beaten up in police custody, and called on the Government to release them and guarantee their safety.

Contacted for comment, the Government said it had taken note of the statement attributed to the UN chief concerning the arrest and assault of opposition leaders and would issue an appropriate response in due course. Said Presidential spokesman Cde George Charamba: "We have noted the statement attributed to the spokesperson of the UN Secretary-General. We have also noted its contents which we are studying and quite soon the Zimbabwean Government will respond to the statement attributed to the Secretary-General."

The MDC unleashed violence on Sunday in Highfield after the party attempted to hold a rally at Zimbabwe Grounds in defiance of a police ban on rallies, political gatherings and demonstrations in Harare for three months.

The rally was disguised as a prayer meeting, convened under the auspices of the so-called Save Zimbabwe Campaign.

Continued article here.

And for international news, here.

For the love of one's country

It's always good to have a plan but it's not worth worrying about, worrying is something you do to make yourself feel like you are in control, but you do not truly know what is going to happen tomorrow. Well ... if you do then I hope something exciting happens to surprise you.

I am unbelievably excited about going back to Africa! For various reasons ... I shall get to see my best friend (with an added bonus of being her wedding photographer), my brother, my gran and my good friend Alice, amoung others. Sunshine. Time to relax. Photography. Travel. Backpacking, etc.

An old place with new eyes. I can't believe how much I've changed since leaving Zimbabwe. Something I'm so looking forward to is being an equal to the black Zimbabweans. Growing up in a white colonist community gave me this false belief that we are somehow superior to them, and when you're living in that mindset it's difficult to know differently. This time I certainly don't want to feel that way. And the typical 'right-wing' attitude towards money has gone out the window too. I'm going back to Zimbabwe with a well-earnt 'flexible' mind and attitude.

This trip is going to be a peace offering in some ways. It's unbelievable what a relief it has been having my parents over here - they aren't out of the woods yet but atleast they are safe and in a less stressful environment. I will always be a proud Zimbabwean despite the moments when this country made me want to scream with the deepest and darkest despair that I know. But somehow I do not see the point in examining a situation without looking at the bigger picture. Therefore not only am I going home to make peace with this place, but I'm going home to say the biggest thank you for making me a 'free' person.

The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. --M. Scott Peck