Dear Family and Friends,
Returning to Zimbabwe after a short time away, it doesn’t take long to know you’re home after landing at Harare International Airport. First it’s the colours: the golden grass, the hints of red spring leaves in the Musasa woodland, the red rust on roofs of the airforce buildings, the green grass creeping into the tarmac all along the runway. Beauty and the beast: nature and neglect by side.
Wide eyed you can do nothing but wait and watch the frenzied scramble by passengers to get off the plane first; the perfect opportunity to appreciate the warm sun on your face and the startling blueness of the Zimbabwean sky; you begin to feel alive again!
It takes nearly an hour to emerge from the slow, long-winded process of immigration and baggage scanning, all overseen by a portrait of President Mugabe taken many, many years ago. The feeling of big brother watching you is already evident and surreal images of everyday life in Zimbabwe are waiting to bombard the senses. On the main airport road huge billboards show pictures of President Mugabe and his Chinese counterpart smiling and shaking hands and underneath are the words: China our all weather friend.
Following events in Zimbabwe from outside the country gives you a hint of what’s happening but it’s not the same as being here in person and experiencing what ordinary people have to deal with every day. Banks without money; a corrupt, bloated government; companies collapsing every month; workers being laid off or forced to take pay cuts; the pending introduction of a made up currency called Bond notes which will be as exchangeable and trade-able as Monopoly money. Over and above everything else however, is the fierce brutality against ordinary people by men in uniform wielding truncheons.