February 2008
35 posts
“We are probably the only band that played Madison Square Garden that is...”
– Bongo Love
bongo dinner
We just had dinner with Bongo Love, a great band from Zimbabwe that flew to NYC and played the Dispatch MSG show. [Editor’s note: The picture is from the Bong Love website but the people pictured don’t look like the guys who played the concert.]
January 2008
54 posts
Gas
Today we got gas. (or, we started the process) Our steps: 1. Drive 10 km out of town to the fuel trader. We ordered 200 liters of fuel and received an invoice with a bank account number 2. Tomorrow morning we will go to the bank in the center of Harar and deposit forex into the account of the fuel trader. 3. Then, we will take our reciept and return to the office of the fuel trader. The fuel...
January 31, 2008: Johannesburg, South Africa: Early Morning CNN.com article… about South African Church that Jeb visited last Thursday. The Church was raided early this morning. A quote from Jeb’s visit to the church: This church. Next door to the Supreme Court. And refuges live there: 1,500 – 4000 at a time. Yes, the church was next door to the Supreme Court. It doesn’t seem...
dinners
Just had dinner with a family that used to run one of the largest farms in Zimbabwe. The husband was on the “Kill List.” They were thrown off, lost everything, no compensation and the land has produced nothing since. The electricity was out throughout dinner. Tonight’s dinner and last night’s both were in beautiful homes; tonight’s dinner host had no water for eight...
Met with a surgeon who is the last left in the country in his speciality. Said his business wasn’t “financially viable” but wasn’t sure what was next. He is very busy with patients, but refuses to charge more than insurance will cover.
“We are a peaceful, resilient, resourceful people. We have already gone through...”
– Country Head of an international NGO on the possibility of election violence
“I once ate raw Impala liver. We hunted it through the bush for 24 hours. the...”
– robby, our guide.
more farms
A phone call from the town where we just left. There is an Army General standing in the living room of the wealthiest landowners/farmer in that town. The general was waiting for the farmer in the farmer’s house … with automatic weapons. He wants the farmer’s house. He is there now.
status
We had dinner tonight with friends who lamented the state of foreign aid in Africa. She said that no project will last when the funding dries up. She has been in Zim for decades. And when we left her house, she gave us bread and offered us eggs. Those are both difficult to come by. We drove around today and saw incredible houses, big, beautiful million dollar homes. We drove through a prep...
Harare
We are in Harare. Long drive in with 5 of us. Two friends came; one is flying to Mozambique tomorrow and needed a ride. One is the wife of a white farmer; she and her husband were forced from their farm in 2003. The first invasion of the farm was 2001. We drove by the farm, no crops are planted and the invaders have cut down trees and live in mud huts. We past several of these farms,...
“One can tell the state of a nation by the number of people walking.”
– overheard as we drive; road is full of students, workers, mothers, grandparents, families walking. we see almost no private cars, a few buses driving and as many broken down on side of road.
WatchTo Harare. Very few private cars. Lots of buses broken down on the side of the road. Some large trucks carrying goods. Several ox carts, including one that stopped us short
“Do you remember the place where we were almost robbed and they attacked the car?...”
– Our host, the Doc, speaking to his son, our guide, on directions to the house in Harare.
The power has been out all day, but the water came on this morning for an hour. The generator is on as we pack the car. People have been coming to the house, looking for food and help. This morning, we met with the headmaster of a local school today. The school had sugarcane fields that offset the cost of tuition, but those were seized by an army general. The school fees change twice a semester...
Doctor?
Back home for dinner with friends, and our host, a doctor, was called to take care of a patient. He is the doctor for a local company, and the wife of an employee was rushed to the local hospital with internal bleeding. She is pregnant, and ready to give birth. The local hospital received her, and was unable to operate. They have no supplies – no gloves, no pills and there is no extra blood in...
January 27, 2008 - 3:35 PM Question: (from Holly in Middletown, CT) Are you on Safari? Answer: Not on safari, just staying out in the bush. My room is low, which means I need to watch out for scorpions and centipedes. When we went swimming yesterday, we had to be wary of cobras which slip into the pool to get the frogs and toads. Question: Maybe you shouldn’t swim? Answer: But if we...
WatchThen had tea and crackers overlooking the lake on one side (everyone saw the crocodile but us) and the bush (for miles) on the other. Also stopped the truck to see Robby play with a baby African rock viper (he started the snake club at university). Bedtime.
timing
the country had had the most rain in 127 years. Maize is turning yellow (mold) and the sugar cane is bending over to the ground. Our hosts have a funeral this morning. A friend passed away a few weeks ago, but the only working crematorium is in Mutare. And, there has been no gas, so the delay. also, we keep seeing hulls of cement sailboats. Big ones. the boats were built around liberation...
WatchThe main road is too potholed so we took the shortcut dirt road through sugarcane.
Chiredzi
We have been without cel since Musina. And the water has also been off. But, we have plenty of reserves and the pool is refreshing. The electricity has been off for half the day but is on now. ———————— Then had tea and crackers overlooking the lake on one side (everyone saw the crocodile but us) and the bush (for miles) on the other. Also stopped...
“Beware of the people walking in the road, donkeys, the potholes that take you to...”
– Mo, as she hands over the keys
Almost Through
we had finished paying custom duties on the fuel, paid for our Zim visas (in US$), and prevented the truck from being confiscated. One last hurdle. We pull up to a guard booth and he suggests to us that we are not allowed to bring in so much fuel. (we are). Mo suggests we are. (She is right, according to Zim law). He suggests we can work it out. (Bribe?) Mo suggests we are not breaking the...
“Life is a journey. Keep it Safe. Travel Legally. Use Condoms.”
– Sticker on car at Beitbridge.
January 25, 2008: 6:08 Border Crossing We are parked in a non-parking space. And a security guard walked up, his name is Tiperwa. And said: “I claim this car.” Or we could move to the back of the line. But we don’t want to move, because we parked at the front of the line. Turns out he is also from Chiredzi and so is Mo … so we talked about where will go fishing this...
The Border: Zim side
January 25, 2008: 5:48 - Zimbabwe We are at the border. Zim side. Baboons on the bridge on the way over. We are with Mo. She lives in Zim. Elias is her gardener. She is waiting in line to pay vehicle duty. Here people are walking around with plastic bags of money. Zim dollar is 1 usd to 4 millon on black market. People are parked everywhere. On the curb. Manchester, NH parking regulations are...
“I was able to get milk last month. We haven’t had meat in 3 weeks.”
– our friend. Milk cost 43 Million Zim $; or about $8.50 US$.
The Lion King: On the bus going to Zimbabwe
January 24, 2008 1:00 EST Note: This update comes from my bus ride from Johansburg to Zimbabwe. There are two hours left on the ride, if African bus rides are your thing, check back often. ————————————— Right now we are driving through the Lion King. To my left there are two sets of electric fences with BEWARE...
WatchShort Video from inside the church. No one lives in the chapel of the church; we sat and watched choir practice. People live just outside the doors, so, they are constantly opening and closing and voices wave in an out. also, looking through the stained glass windows to the left of the altar, you can see the lines of drying clothes. Question: What did you do in Johansburg last night? Answer: We...
