U.N. envoy says Zimbabwe's crisis is deepening
By MacDonald Dzirutwe
Wed Dec 7, 4:41 AM ET
Reuters - U.N. humanitarian envoy Jan Egeland left Zimbabwe on Wednesday after a four-day tour and said its humanitarian crisis was deepening, with millions in need of aid.
"The humanitarian situation in Zimbabwe is very serious. The need for international aid is big and growing," Egeland, the U.N. humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, told journalists late on Tuesday after talks with President Robert Mugabe and government officials.
"Millions of people are struggling with their back against the wall to fend off hunger, to fend off AIDS and a lot of other things," he said after visiting people living in shacks since they were evicted during government demolitions of shantytowns.
On Tuesday Mugabe rejected a U.N. offer to provide temporary shelter for victims of the slum clearance program but did accept an offer of food aid.
The U.N. says Zimbabwe needs emergency aid including tents to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of homeless but the government says it only needs help to provide permanent homes.
Egeland said there was progress on aid, especially for people suffering with HIV/AIDS.
"The people of Zimbabwe are suffering under several big problems. I am hopeful that we will have a more positive partnership in 2006 than we have had in the past," said Egeland.
EVICTIONS SHOULD STOP
Egeland said the government crackdown could have been avoided and urged authorities to halt further evictions after reports in the past month that families already living in the open were being forced to move again by authorities.
"I am again appealing for the eviction campaign to stop, there is not enough shelter ready to house those who have been evicted," said Egeland.
The evictions, which Mugabe argues were meant to root out illegal trade in scant basic commodities, left 700,000 people homeless or without a livelihood and affected 2.4 million others, U.N. estimates show.
A U.N. report criticized Harare and said the demolitions were carried out "with indifference to human suffering."
Egeland, who visited settlements where families have lived in makeshift plastic tents since their houses were destroyed in Harare and Bulawayo, said he and U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan stood by that report.
The demolitions added to the woes of many Zimbabweans facing shortages of food, fuel and foreign currency, high unemployment and one of the highest rates of inflation in the world.
Mugabe denies responsibility for the crisis and says domestic and international opponents have sabotaged the economy in retaliation for his program of seizing white-owned commercial farms for redistribution to blacks.
Mugabe also accuses the United States and Zimbabwe's former colonial power Britain of trying to use the United Nations to settle political disputes.
Egeland said the U.N. would be feeding in excess of three million people by next February in Zimbabwe, where the country's agriculture output has fallen by more than half in the last five years.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Thursday, December 01, 2005
Plight of Zimbabwe Jews reaches a new low
Pessimistic: Peter Sternberg. (Guy Raivitz)
from www.haaretz.com
Plight of Zimbabwe Jews reaches a new low
By Charlotte Halle
Some receive a monthly pension that is less than the price of a loaf of bread, others rarely attend events because they cannot obtain the gasoline needed to get there and there was barely a minyan of ten men for prayer services on the second day of Rosh Hashanah this year.
The picture that Peter Sternberg paints of the Jewish community that he heads, as president of the Zimbabwe Jewish Board of Deputies, is more than a little bleak.
"When you look in the cold light of day at what we're putting up with, it is unbearable," Sternberg told Anglo File this week during a visit to Israel.
Zimbabwe's Jews, a thriving community of 7,500 at its peak in the mid-1960s, now number less than 300. Like the rest of the country's population, they are struggling to get by in a devastated economy. Inflation is nearly 400 percent, there is an acute fuel shortage and supermarkets often lack even staples.
In the last few years there has been a steep rise in the number of Jews and other Zimbabweans who have left the former British colony. President Robert Mugabe has come under harsh criticism for his human rights record and his policies are blamed for bringing the country to the brink of economic and social collapse.
The remaining members of the Jewish community, many of whom still reside in large homes that reflect their former economic status, have been reduced to a standard of living that few could have imagined even a decade ago.
Sternberg reports on the difficulties of burying an elderly member of the community recently because there was no petrol for the hearse to transport the coffin to the cemetery.
Those who had hoped to retire on their pensions "haven't got a hope of surviving with the increase in prices because a monthly pension won't buy a loaf of bread," Sternberg says, quoting this week's exchange rate of one US dollar to 66,000 Zimbabwe dollars (black market rates are of course higher).
"It's amazing how people do manage to survive though, cobbling together money from here and there," Sternberg adds. `Here and there,' he explains, usually means investments, relatives abroad and part-time work - some members of the community continue to work well into their seventies. Only a handful receive welfare funds, whether from the local community or Jewish organizations abroad.
The institutions of the community, which are now concentrated in the capital city, Harare, and the second-largest city of Bulawayo, continue to limp along with heavily depleted numbers, says Sternberg. The two synagogues in the capital, the Harare Hebrew congregation and the Sephardi Hebrew congregation, began joining together two years ago for Shabbat services led by laymen.
The only rabbi who lives in Zimbabwe is an Israeli who leads the only other congregation the country, in Bulawayo. It holds its weekday services in the country's only Jewish old-age home, Savyon Lodge, which is currently at full capacity with 32 residents. Sternberg reports that a kosher butcher comes up from Johannesburg a few times a year to bring meat to the home and to the handful of households in the country that keep kosher.
Harare's Jewish primary school, he says, caters for some 200 children, including the offspring of some of the country's elite, but only about six Jewish pupils attend. "They keep it going for the sake of that half dozen," says Sternberg, adding that although there is only one Jewish teacher (an Israeli who teaches Hebrew), Jewish studies are taught. At the nearby Jewish nursery, just one Jewish child joined this year's intake; next year there will be none. The community's once thriving Zionist youth movements of Habonim and Bnei Akiva are now defunct.
The country's two Jewish women's organizations, WIZO and the Union of Jewish Women - of which Sternberg's wife Hermoine is national president - still function, but with heavily depleted numbers.
"Because of the number of people leaving, people are asked to take on more and more positions all the time," says Sternberg, noting that a couple of years ago he returned from vacation to find he had been made national treasurer of the community's umbrella organization, the Jewish Board of Deputies. Subsequently, when the national president left the country, Sternberg took on that position too.
Sternberg describes the profile of the Jewish community as mainly ex-businessmen, and to a large extent retired. For the last 25 years, the community's youth have travelled abroad for university studies - traditionally in South Africa, Britain or the United States - and have not returned.
"Offhand, I can't think of a single one who has come back, except for a brief period," says Sternberg, who has two children in the U.K. and one in the U.S. He adds that the community does have a few younger members who work in business and are earning enough to make it viable for them to stay.
He stresses that the problems facing the community are not exacerbated by anti-Semitism, but rather reflect the situation faced by the rest of Zimbabwe's population. "What hits them, hits us," he says.
Sternberg grew up in Gatooma (now know as Kadoma) in the Zimbabwean midlands, a town which once had a Jewish community of 70 people and where his father held the position of mayor. Sternberg and his wife relocated to Harare seven years ago, when the town's white population became negligible, a fate which is on its way to being repeated in the capital. As for the future of Zimbabwe's Jewish community, Sternberg cannot muster any optimism: So, is he thinking of leaving?
"Everyone has something like that in mind and most people will admit to giving it a thought," is all he will say. "Most of our friends have left over the last two or three years. It's a very frustrating place to be. Virtually everyone suffers from extreme stress. Nobody knows what tomorrow will bring, but not everyone [in the Jewish community] can leave. There is not always somewhere to go to. When you leave the country, you can't take anything with you because Zim currency is not cashable anywhere and it's been like that for 25 years. So you leave with no money - legally at least - which means you start off wherever you are with nothing. Not wanting to be a burden on your children has kept a lot of people in the county. Sure, there are plenty who regret not leaving earlier, but a lot of people felt there was a future in the country. It's not only the Jewish community, but everybody feels is this ever going to come to an end and when? It's a bleak future. That is definitely the case. There is no light at the end of the tunnel."
Tuesday, November 22, 2005
Zimbabwe national airline grounded for lack of fuel
Zimbabwe national airline grounded by fuel shortage
Tue Nov 22, 2005 7:48 AM GMT
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By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's state-owned national airline has grounded its entire fleet after running out of fuel as the southern African country's economy continues to crumble, company officials said on Tuesday.
Critics blame President Robert Mugabe's controversial policies and government mismanagement for a long-running crisis that has left a once vibrant economy struggling with shortages of food, fuel, foreign currency and a decaying infrastructure.
A senior Air Zimbabwe official said on Tuesday the national passenger carrier was forced to ground all seven of its planes on Monday, and to cancel all its domestic and international flights "until further notice" due to fuel shortages.
Air Zimbabwe officials say people were caught unaware at Harare airport on Monday, leaving passengers milling at check-in counters. But on Tuesday the airline ran radio advertisements advising passengers to check for new developments.
Air Zimbabwe's board of directors has responded to the grounding by suspending the airline's chief executive officer Tendai Mahachi and two other top managers, with transport officials saying Mugabe's government felt embarrassed by the halting of flights.
"All planes have been grounded because there is no adequate foreign currency to buy fuel and flights have been suspended until further notice," said one Air Zimbabwe official.
Air Zimbabwe's official spokesman, David Mwenga, and board vice-chairman Jonathan Kadzura, who issued a statement to state media announcing the suspension of the airline's top managers, were both unavailable for immediate comment on Tuesday.
In his statement, Kadzura said the board of directors had been forced to suspend the three "pending investigations into the serious disruptions of the national airline's operations and services to customers".
He said the board was working to restore services but gave no indication of when Air Zimbabwe might resume flights.
The airline has long-haul flights to London, China, Singapore and Dubai, and management was embroiled in a controversy earlier this year for allowing a plane to carry just one passenger to Harare from Dubai.
Critics say the airline is a victim of gross mismanagement and almost daily government interference in its operations, including by Mugabe who has sometimes commandeered planes for his business trips abroad.
Air Zimbabwe had 15 airplanes when Mugabe assumed power at independence from Britain in 1980, but the fleet has dwindled to seven, including two small planes bought this year from China.
Mugabe's critics say he has wrecked one of Africa's most promising economies through his policies, including seizures and redistribution of white-owned farms to his black supporters.
But the 81-year-old Mugabe says Zimbabwe's steep six-year economic recession, which has left the country with inflation above 400 percent, is due to sabotage by domestic and Western opponents trying to oust him over his nationalistic policies.
Tue Nov 22, 2005 7:48 AM GMT
Printer Friendly | Email Article | RSS
By Cris Chinaka
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe's state-owned national airline has grounded its entire fleet after running out of fuel as the southern African country's economy continues to crumble, company officials said on Tuesday.
Critics blame President Robert Mugabe's controversial policies and government mismanagement for a long-running crisis that has left a once vibrant economy struggling with shortages of food, fuel, foreign currency and a decaying infrastructure.
A senior Air Zimbabwe official said on Tuesday the national passenger carrier was forced to ground all seven of its planes on Monday, and to cancel all its domestic and international flights "until further notice" due to fuel shortages.
Air Zimbabwe officials say people were caught unaware at Harare airport on Monday, leaving passengers milling at check-in counters. But on Tuesday the airline ran radio advertisements advising passengers to check for new developments.
Air Zimbabwe's board of directors has responded to the grounding by suspending the airline's chief executive officer Tendai Mahachi and two other top managers, with transport officials saying Mugabe's government felt embarrassed by the halting of flights.
"All planes have been grounded because there is no adequate foreign currency to buy fuel and flights have been suspended until further notice," said one Air Zimbabwe official.
Air Zimbabwe's official spokesman, David Mwenga, and board vice-chairman Jonathan Kadzura, who issued a statement to state media announcing the suspension of the airline's top managers, were both unavailable for immediate comment on Tuesday.
In his statement, Kadzura said the board of directors had been forced to suspend the three "pending investigations into the serious disruptions of the national airline's operations and services to customers".
He said the board was working to restore services but gave no indication of when Air Zimbabwe might resume flights.
The airline has long-haul flights to London, China, Singapore and Dubai, and management was embroiled in a controversy earlier this year for allowing a plane to carry just one passenger to Harare from Dubai.
Critics say the airline is a victim of gross mismanagement and almost daily government interference in its operations, including by Mugabe who has sometimes commandeered planes for his business trips abroad.
Air Zimbabwe had 15 airplanes when Mugabe assumed power at independence from Britain in 1980, but the fleet has dwindled to seven, including two small planes bought this year from China.
Mugabe's critics say he has wrecked one of Africa's most promising economies through his policies, including seizures and redistribution of white-owned farms to his black supporters.
But the 81-year-old Mugabe says Zimbabwe's steep six-year economic recession, which has left the country with inflation above 400 percent, is due to sabotage by domestic and Western opponents trying to oust him over his nationalistic policies.
Friday, November 18, 2005
South Africa, Zimbabwe strengthen defense, intelligence ties
South Africa, Zimbabwe strengthen defense, intelligence ties
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- South Africa and Zimbabwe signed an agreement to strengthen defense and intelligence ties at a ceremony Thursday emphasizing the solidarity between the two neighbors in the face of growing international condemnation of Zimbabwe.
South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils praised Zimbabwe's "advances and successes" in the 25 years since its independence from Britain. He said the two countries shared a "common world view" and would "march forward shoulder to shoulder."
The comments contrasted with the criticism heaped on Zimbabwe by most Western governments, which accuse Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of bringing his country to the brink of economic and social collapse and trampling on human rights.
In brief remarks at the signing ceremony, Zimbabwean Minister for National Security Dydimus Matasa, one of the most powerful and feared figures in Zimbabwe, said the greatest threat to the southern African region's security came from outside "influences whose aim is to effect regime change especially with regard to countries led by former liberation movements."
Zimbabwe has repeatedly accused its Western critics, the United States and Britain in particular, of plotting against Mugabe's regime. Mugabe has found allies among movements in the region such as South Africa's ruling African National Congress that fought colonialism and white rule. Mugabe supported the ANC in the fight against apartheid.
Regional heavyweight South Africa is the most important ally of an increasingly isolated Zimbabwe. President Thabo Mbeki maintains that his policy of quiet diplomacy is the only way to bring about economic and political reform.
Kasrils bristled at a press conference following the signing ceremony when asked about Zimbabwe's civil liberties record.
"We have very strong ties with our neighbor, and we are indebted to our neighbor for achieving freedom and liberty," he said. "This will never ever be forgotten by the people of South Africa."
Zimbabwe Minister of Defense Sydney Sekeremayi accused the West of feigning concern about human rights and civil liberties when it was only really interested in the seizure of land from white Zimbabweans for redistribution to blacks.
"The position that we have taken as a country to repossess our land is irreversible," Sekeremayi said.
The agreement signed Thursday provides for a Joint Permanent Commission on Defense and Security to boost military, police and intelligence cooperation, and to tackle specific areas of concern such as cross-border crime and illegal immigration.
There are an estimated 3 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, many of them without papers, seeking refuge from political repression and economic collapse at home.
Under a separate agreement, Zimbabwe also promised to send flying instructors to train South African air force pilots and technicians.
Zimbabwe used to be one of Africa's most advanced countries with a highly educated and trained work force. It is now suffering from inflation of more than 400 percent, mass unemployment and shortages of most staples.
Analysts blame the meltdown in the agriculture-based economy on the chaotic and often violent seizures of more than 5,000 white-owned commercial farms since 2000.
The United Nations estimates that at least 4 million of the country's 12.5 million people are suffering severe food shortages.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- South Africa and Zimbabwe signed an agreement to strengthen defense and intelligence ties at a ceremony Thursday emphasizing the solidarity between the two neighbors in the face of growing international condemnation of Zimbabwe.
South African Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils praised Zimbabwe's "advances and successes" in the 25 years since its independence from Britain. He said the two countries shared a "common world view" and would "march forward shoulder to shoulder."
The comments contrasted with the criticism heaped on Zimbabwe by most Western governments, which accuse Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe of bringing his country to the brink of economic and social collapse and trampling on human rights.
In brief remarks at the signing ceremony, Zimbabwean Minister for National Security Dydimus Matasa, one of the most powerful and feared figures in Zimbabwe, said the greatest threat to the southern African region's security came from outside "influences whose aim is to effect regime change especially with regard to countries led by former liberation movements."
Zimbabwe has repeatedly accused its Western critics, the United States and Britain in particular, of plotting against Mugabe's regime. Mugabe has found allies among movements in the region such as South Africa's ruling African National Congress that fought colonialism and white rule. Mugabe supported the ANC in the fight against apartheid.
Regional heavyweight South Africa is the most important ally of an increasingly isolated Zimbabwe. President Thabo Mbeki maintains that his policy of quiet diplomacy is the only way to bring about economic and political reform.
Kasrils bristled at a press conference following the signing ceremony when asked about Zimbabwe's civil liberties record.
"We have very strong ties with our neighbor, and we are indebted to our neighbor for achieving freedom and liberty," he said. "This will never ever be forgotten by the people of South Africa."
Zimbabwe Minister of Defense Sydney Sekeremayi accused the West of feigning concern about human rights and civil liberties when it was only really interested in the seizure of land from white Zimbabweans for redistribution to blacks.
"The position that we have taken as a country to repossess our land is irreversible," Sekeremayi said.
The agreement signed Thursday provides for a Joint Permanent Commission on Defense and Security to boost military, police and intelligence cooperation, and to tackle specific areas of concern such as cross-border crime and illegal immigration.
There are an estimated 3 million Zimbabweans living in South Africa, many of them without papers, seeking refuge from political repression and economic collapse at home.
Under a separate agreement, Zimbabwe also promised to send flying instructors to train South African air force pilots and technicians.
Zimbabwe used to be one of Africa's most advanced countries with a highly educated and trained work force. It is now suffering from inflation of more than 400 percent, mass unemployment and shortages of most staples.
Analysts blame the meltdown in the agriculture-based economy on the chaotic and often violent seizures of more than 5,000 white-owned commercial farms since 2000.
The United Nations estimates that at least 4 million of the country's 12.5 million people are suffering severe food shortages.
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
Machal - A special breed
A special breed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAVID E. KAPLAN, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 13, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They left jobs, interrupted their studies, and some even postponed weddings. Literally rescheduling their lives, they dropped everything to come and fight for the fledgling Jewish state. In cockpits and on board ships, in tanks and armored vehicles, treating the wounded in hospitals and on the front lines, these young idealistic men and woman - Jews and non-Jews - helped change the tide in Israel's War of Independence.
Most of them veterans of World War II, they brought their experience and expertise to the makeshift armed forces of the new state: Machal - Mitnadvei Chutz La'aretz - 3,500 overseas volunteers from 43 countries across the globe.
Among this special breed were some 810 South Africans, representing 23% of the total complement of overseas volunteers.
The South African Zionist Federation in Israel (Telfed) recently paid tribute to these veterans at Beth Protea, a South African retirement home in Herzliya.
"We are an endangered species; and while many of us are still around, we need to tell our story, particularly to Israeli youths who know very little about this chapter in our history," Smoky Simon, chairman of World Machal, told Metro.
In firm agreement was former Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat, who served with the South Africans. Addressing the gathering of veterans in Israel, he called for more education about Machal, "starting by including it in the school syllabus."
Asked about the contribution of women Machalniks, Simon smiles. "The first that comes to mind is my wife, Myra. We got married in South Africa so that we could come to Israel together, and spent our honeymoon fighting for the country. She was the first meteorological instructor in the Israeli Air Force. Many of her graduates became squadron and base commanders."
An exhibition of photographs and memorabilia was put together by David "Migdal" Tepperson who, at age 79, is still doing reserve duty. Tepperson is the longest serving soldier in IDF history and enjoys the rare distinction of having served in all of Israel's wars. On the day that David Ben-Gurion solemnly declared the establishment of the Jewish state, Tepperson was arriving by ship off the coast of Tel Aviv.
"Standing on deck, I watched as if it were a movie. Egyptian spitfires came over, strafing and bombing the city. Fortunately they didn't attack our ship, but it was my induction - this was my first day in Israel on Israel's first day and, clearly, we were at war."
Tepperson served in the Negev brigade that captured Beersheba, and participated in raids in jeeps often lasting two to five days. "On one occasion," he relates, "we passed a heavily outnumbered group of Egyptian soldiers who thought we were fellow Egyptians. They never believed we would move at night, and we shouted 'Salaam' as we passed them."
As people mingled among the exhibits, stories were recalled that became part of the war's folklore. One person related that on May 30, 1948, "A Messerschmitt flown by an American pilot, Milton Rubenstein, was hit by enemy fire and was downed in the Mediterranean off Michmoret. The pilot swam to shore, but as he could not speak a word of Hebrew and was afraid that he would accidentally be shot by friendly fire, he proclaimed his identity by screaming, 'Gefilte fish, gefilte fish!'"
Another related how the late Boris Senior, the South African commander of the base at Sde Dov, received orders to bomb Amman. The target selected was King Abdullah's palace, where Arab leaders were to meet. Fellow South African Dov Judah was Senior's navigator. He records that as Amman was "pretty well lit up and my navigational experience was not needed, I deposited the bombs. We made two runs on the palace, trying to hit it with 50-kilo bombs pushed out with the help of special handles affixed to the bombs. I never saw them explode - only the lights of Amman going out. We later learned that the bombs that had failed to explode drew curiosity among the enemy - bombs with handles? Some of these bombs were collected and transported to laboratories in England in an attempt to explain 'What the Jews were up to.' Clearly in the RAF, they had never come across the position of bomb chucker-outer!"
Stanley Medicks, chairman of Machal in Britain, Europe, and Scandinavia and instigator of the Machal memorial at Sha'ar Hagai, recalled an incident during the battle of Tamra, which opened the campaign to the north.
"I was a platoon commander of No. 1 platoon scaling a hill. Suddenly I hear shouting, 'Medicks, Medicks!' I immediately handed over command and said, 'Something has happened and they need me.' And through a hail of bullets from the Jordanians, I dashed to the top of the hill and was met by 'Where the bloody hell are the stretcher-bearers?'"
The guest of honor was Reuma Weizman, wife of late president Ezer Weizman, who had been one of the few Israelis in the fledgling air force comprising 95% Machalnikim. Simon recounted an incident when Weizman and four Machalnik fighter pilots, including Boris Senior, shot down four British planes piloted by members of the RAF. A fifth plane was shot down by Machalnik ground fire. This incident, which received major publicity in the British press at the time, involved South Africans both in the air and on the ground.
Concerned about possible political flack resulting from this incident, Air Force commander Aaron Remez called an emergency meeting of staff officers. Coming out of the meeting looking very somber was a Machalnik from the US, Danny Cravitt. He immediately reported to British Machalnik Morrie Mann waiting in the anteroom.
"What is going to happen?" asked a worried Mann.
Kravitz replied, "This is top secret and please, not a word to anyone."
"Of course," said Mann.
"We have just taken an operational decision to bomb London," revealed Kravitz.
Unfazed, Mann replied, "Danny, I couldn't care less. I come from Manchester."
While stories and anecdotes were amusingly and proudly recalled, on a more somber note Telfed paid honor to all Southern Africans who fell in the defense of Israel. Two young soldiers of South African parents laid a wreath for the 75 men and women who died in uniform.
Of concern to Maurice Ostroff, who commandeered a radar mobile station during the war, was "to set the record straight." He believes that the job of the Machalniks is far from over. There is one more battle to fight, in the arena of public relations. Alluding to Simon's statement that the Machalnikim are an 'endangered species,' Ostroff asserts that "We, who were there and know the facts, have one final mission - to correct the damaging distortions of our 1948 history by Israel's new historians."
He cited examples of Ilan Pappe of the University of Haifa, "who accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing in 1948"; Noam Chomsky of MIT, "who portrays Israel as a terrorist state"; and Norman Finkelstein, "described by the Washington Post as a writer celebrated by neo-Nazi groups for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany."
"We ignore the new historians at our peril," Ostroff warns. "We Jews are often accused of being paranoid, but there is much truth in the maxim 'Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you.'"
Churchill's apt depiction after the Battle of Britain that "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" could equally apply to the debt the state owes to the overseas volunteers who came to fight in Israel's War of Independence.
The Machalniks' contribution represents one of the proudest chapters in modern Jewish history, when ordinary people behaved quite extraordinarily. As Ben-Gurion said, "This was a war not won by heroes. It was won by ordinary men and women rising above themselves."
In the Jewish spirit
Telfed also paid tribute to NACHAL, the South African volunteers who came in 1956 during the Suez campaign. In 1955, the Jews of South Africa were the first to react to the possibility that war was looming, and in early 1955 the South African Zionist Federation set in motion a program to dispatch volunteers to relieve kibbutzniks should they be called up for active service.
Les Amdur was one the more than 150 South Africans who volunteered their services. Like many of the other Nachalniks, he would later immigrate to Israel.
Addressing Telfed's tribute, Amdur said, "The people who volunteered were not all Zionists, some knowing very little about Israel or Judaism, but they all had one thing in common - a Jewish spirit to contribute to their fellow Jews in their hour of need."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DAVID E. KAPLAN, THE JERUSALEM POST Nov. 13, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
They left jobs, interrupted their studies, and some even postponed weddings. Literally rescheduling their lives, they dropped everything to come and fight for the fledgling Jewish state. In cockpits and on board ships, in tanks and armored vehicles, treating the wounded in hospitals and on the front lines, these young idealistic men and woman - Jews and non-Jews - helped change the tide in Israel's War of Independence.
Most of them veterans of World War II, they brought their experience and expertise to the makeshift armed forces of the new state: Machal - Mitnadvei Chutz La'aretz - 3,500 overseas volunteers from 43 countries across the globe.
Among this special breed were some 810 South Africans, representing 23% of the total complement of overseas volunteers.
The South African Zionist Federation in Israel (Telfed) recently paid tribute to these veterans at Beth Protea, a South African retirement home in Herzliya.
"We are an endangered species; and while many of us are still around, we need to tell our story, particularly to Israeli youths who know very little about this chapter in our history," Smoky Simon, chairman of World Machal, told Metro.
In firm agreement was former Tel Aviv mayor Shlomo Lahat, who served with the South Africans. Addressing the gathering of veterans in Israel, he called for more education about Machal, "starting by including it in the school syllabus."
Asked about the contribution of women Machalniks, Simon smiles. "The first that comes to mind is my wife, Myra. We got married in South Africa so that we could come to Israel together, and spent our honeymoon fighting for the country. She was the first meteorological instructor in the Israeli Air Force. Many of her graduates became squadron and base commanders."
An exhibition of photographs and memorabilia was put together by David "Migdal" Tepperson who, at age 79, is still doing reserve duty. Tepperson is the longest serving soldier in IDF history and enjoys the rare distinction of having served in all of Israel's wars. On the day that David Ben-Gurion solemnly declared the establishment of the Jewish state, Tepperson was arriving by ship off the coast of Tel Aviv.
"Standing on deck, I watched as if it were a movie. Egyptian spitfires came over, strafing and bombing the city. Fortunately they didn't attack our ship, but it was my induction - this was my first day in Israel on Israel's first day and, clearly, we were at war."
Tepperson served in the Negev brigade that captured Beersheba, and participated in raids in jeeps often lasting two to five days. "On one occasion," he relates, "we passed a heavily outnumbered group of Egyptian soldiers who thought we were fellow Egyptians. They never believed we would move at night, and we shouted 'Salaam' as we passed them."
As people mingled among the exhibits, stories were recalled that became part of the war's folklore. One person related that on May 30, 1948, "A Messerschmitt flown by an American pilot, Milton Rubenstein, was hit by enemy fire and was downed in the Mediterranean off Michmoret. The pilot swam to shore, but as he could not speak a word of Hebrew and was afraid that he would accidentally be shot by friendly fire, he proclaimed his identity by screaming, 'Gefilte fish, gefilte fish!'"
Another related how the late Boris Senior, the South African commander of the base at Sde Dov, received orders to bomb Amman. The target selected was King Abdullah's palace, where Arab leaders were to meet. Fellow South African Dov Judah was Senior's navigator. He records that as Amman was "pretty well lit up and my navigational experience was not needed, I deposited the bombs. We made two runs on the palace, trying to hit it with 50-kilo bombs pushed out with the help of special handles affixed to the bombs. I never saw them explode - only the lights of Amman going out. We later learned that the bombs that had failed to explode drew curiosity among the enemy - bombs with handles? Some of these bombs were collected and transported to laboratories in England in an attempt to explain 'What the Jews were up to.' Clearly in the RAF, they had never come across the position of bomb chucker-outer!"
Stanley Medicks, chairman of Machal in Britain, Europe, and Scandinavia and instigator of the Machal memorial at Sha'ar Hagai, recalled an incident during the battle of Tamra, which opened the campaign to the north.
"I was a platoon commander of No. 1 platoon scaling a hill. Suddenly I hear shouting, 'Medicks, Medicks!' I immediately handed over command and said, 'Something has happened and they need me.' And through a hail of bullets from the Jordanians, I dashed to the top of the hill and was met by 'Where the bloody hell are the stretcher-bearers?'"
The guest of honor was Reuma Weizman, wife of late president Ezer Weizman, who had been one of the few Israelis in the fledgling air force comprising 95% Machalnikim. Simon recounted an incident when Weizman and four Machalnik fighter pilots, including Boris Senior, shot down four British planes piloted by members of the RAF. A fifth plane was shot down by Machalnik ground fire. This incident, which received major publicity in the British press at the time, involved South Africans both in the air and on the ground.
Concerned about possible political flack resulting from this incident, Air Force commander Aaron Remez called an emergency meeting of staff officers. Coming out of the meeting looking very somber was a Machalnik from the US, Danny Cravitt. He immediately reported to British Machalnik Morrie Mann waiting in the anteroom.
"What is going to happen?" asked a worried Mann.
Kravitz replied, "This is top secret and please, not a word to anyone."
"Of course," said Mann.
"We have just taken an operational decision to bomb London," revealed Kravitz.
Unfazed, Mann replied, "Danny, I couldn't care less. I come from Manchester."
While stories and anecdotes were amusingly and proudly recalled, on a more somber note Telfed paid honor to all Southern Africans who fell in the defense of Israel. Two young soldiers of South African parents laid a wreath for the 75 men and women who died in uniform.
Of concern to Maurice Ostroff, who commandeered a radar mobile station during the war, was "to set the record straight." He believes that the job of the Machalniks is far from over. There is one more battle to fight, in the arena of public relations. Alluding to Simon's statement that the Machalnikim are an 'endangered species,' Ostroff asserts that "We, who were there and know the facts, have one final mission - to correct the damaging distortions of our 1948 history by Israel's new historians."
He cited examples of Ilan Pappe of the University of Haifa, "who accuses Israel of ethnic cleansing in 1948"; Noam Chomsky of MIT, "who portrays Israel as a terrorist state"; and Norman Finkelstein, "described by the Washington Post as a writer celebrated by neo-Nazi groups for comparing Israel to Nazi Germany."
"We ignore the new historians at our peril," Ostroff warns. "We Jews are often accused of being paranoid, but there is much truth in the maxim 'Just because you are paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you.'"
Churchill's apt depiction after the Battle of Britain that "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few" could equally apply to the debt the state owes to the overseas volunteers who came to fight in Israel's War of Independence.
The Machalniks' contribution represents one of the proudest chapters in modern Jewish history, when ordinary people behaved quite extraordinarily. As Ben-Gurion said, "This was a war not won by heroes. It was won by ordinary men and women rising above themselves."
In the Jewish spirit
Telfed also paid tribute to NACHAL, the South African volunteers who came in 1956 during the Suez campaign. In 1955, the Jews of South Africa were the first to react to the possibility that war was looming, and in early 1955 the South African Zionist Federation set in motion a program to dispatch volunteers to relieve kibbutzniks should they be called up for active service.
Les Amdur was one the more than 150 South Africans who volunteered their services. Like many of the other Nachalniks, he would later immigrate to Israel.
Addressing Telfed's tribute, Amdur said, "The people who volunteered were not all Zionists, some knowing very little about Israel or Judaism, but they all had one thing in common - a Jewish spirit to contribute to their fellow Jews in their hour of need."
Monday, November 14, 2005
Zimbabwe migrant: Rejoice Mkwananzi in Israel
From BBC News, 3 November
Zimbabwe migrant: Rejoice Mkwananzi
The BBC News website has been speaking to Zimbabweans who have left the country in recent years about their reasons and the risks they took. Rejoice Mkwananzi (not her real name), 49, gave up her position as deputy head teacher of an infant school in Zimbabwe and moved to Israel to be a maid so that she could support her extended family.
When I left Zimbabwe in 1999 I was the acting head teacher at a very respected junior school. I was in charge of 45 other teachers and would have soon been promoted to head teacher. Basically at that time wages were too low - and then it was so much better than it is now. Almost half of my salary would go to the taxman. I then had my mortgage to pay for, my car, my various policies and at the end of it all I was left with almost nothing. It was so hard to make ends meet. It felt as though the moment I received my salary, it was all gone. My life was hand-to-mouth. My sister had recently died tragically and her two children were left all alone. The way our society works is that the family steps in and takes over caring and providing as needed. And so instead of supporting myself and my poor-in-health mother, I now had to provide for my sister's two little girls too. If I had stayed at home I wouldn't have managed.
At that time the situation in Zimbabwe was really desperate. Now though, when I look back it was not all that bad! I met a cousin of mine who had a job in Israel and she told me that the family that she had been working for were looking for someone to help them. I was just lucky. The family paid for all my relocation expenses to where they live near Tel Aviv and sorted out a work permit for me. My initial intentions were just to stay a year. But things, back home, went from bad to worse and now I don't see myself going back. Well not soon anyway. I don't see how that would be possible. The work is so depressing. I never thought I would find myself doing these jobs. I clean the house, look after the children when they come home from school, sometimes I cook, I do everything. I leave my apartment at half-seven in the morning and get home at nine in the evening, and between those hours I am constantly on my feet. I only start work at the family's home in the afte! rnoon but to make more money I spend my mornings going about cleaning in different places. Some of the people are welcoming and good to me but the woman that I mainly work for, I couldn't call her exactly warm.
When I first arrived I used to share a three-bedroom apartment with a Ghanaian and a Kenyan. It was really difficult though and I had to be so accommodating. People are different - our cultures, the food we eat and how it smells, manners and all that. I couldn't get used to it. I am an independent woman and had always lived on my own, apart from when I was married. And so as soon as I could I found myself a one-bedroom apartment to rent. It is better to have my own space but I am lonely. One does not have a social life living here. There are several Zimbabweans and South Africans that I am friends with - we all stick together. They normally visit over our weekends - from Friday afternoons till Saturday. But few of them have the correct papers and so are too frightened to go out in case the police stop them. Instead we meet in people's houses. When I go around town I am sometimes nervous of a bomb going off. There was a time two, three years ago when we would h! ave to carry gas masks. And you feel frightened taking buses, because of the bombing. You can feel tensions amongst crowds of people. Nothing bad has happened to me. God has really protected me.
I miss home, so much. I applied and was given political asylum and so I cannot go home, not even for a holiday. If I went, I would not be allowed back. I wish I could do a proper job - doing this is killing me mentally and I have developed a low self-esteem. I love children and would give anything to be able to teach once more. My mother is physically very ill but is so strong mentally. I phone home once a week and she tells me to think of what I have achieved. I have achieved a lot and it makes me happy that I can support my mother and nieces but I am living for my family. I don't even have a boyfriend! My family depend on me for everything. I send them money to pay all their bills, pay for the school fees. I make sure my mother can pay to see a private doctor, and that she has all her medications. They depend on me left, right and centre. I hope all the things happening in Zimbabwe end soon. I want to go home and live the kind of life that I used to have.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Zimbabwe migrant: Rejoice Mkwananzi
The BBC News website has been speaking to Zimbabweans who have left the country in recent years about their reasons and the risks they took. Rejoice Mkwananzi (not her real name), 49, gave up her position as deputy head teacher of an infant school in Zimbabwe and moved to Israel to be a maid so that she could support her extended family.
When I left Zimbabwe in 1999 I was the acting head teacher at a very respected junior school. I was in charge of 45 other teachers and would have soon been promoted to head teacher. Basically at that time wages were too low - and then it was so much better than it is now. Almost half of my salary would go to the taxman. I then had my mortgage to pay for, my car, my various policies and at the end of it all I was left with almost nothing. It was so hard to make ends meet. It felt as though the moment I received my salary, it was all gone. My life was hand-to-mouth. My sister had recently died tragically and her two children were left all alone. The way our society works is that the family steps in and takes over caring and providing as needed. And so instead of supporting myself and my poor-in-health mother, I now had to provide for my sister's two little girls too. If I had stayed at home I wouldn't have managed.
At that time the situation in Zimbabwe was really desperate. Now though, when I look back it was not all that bad! I met a cousin of mine who had a job in Israel and she told me that the family that she had been working for were looking for someone to help them. I was just lucky. The family paid for all my relocation expenses to where they live near Tel Aviv and sorted out a work permit for me. My initial intentions were just to stay a year. But things, back home, went from bad to worse and now I don't see myself going back. Well not soon anyway. I don't see how that would be possible. The work is so depressing. I never thought I would find myself doing these jobs. I clean the house, look after the children when they come home from school, sometimes I cook, I do everything. I leave my apartment at half-seven in the morning and get home at nine in the evening, and between those hours I am constantly on my feet. I only start work at the family's home in the afte! rnoon but to make more money I spend my mornings going about cleaning in different places. Some of the people are welcoming and good to me but the woman that I mainly work for, I couldn't call her exactly warm.
When I first arrived I used to share a three-bedroom apartment with a Ghanaian and a Kenyan. It was really difficult though and I had to be so accommodating. People are different - our cultures, the food we eat and how it smells, manners and all that. I couldn't get used to it. I am an independent woman and had always lived on my own, apart from when I was married. And so as soon as I could I found myself a one-bedroom apartment to rent. It is better to have my own space but I am lonely. One does not have a social life living here. There are several Zimbabweans and South Africans that I am friends with - we all stick together. They normally visit over our weekends - from Friday afternoons till Saturday. But few of them have the correct papers and so are too frightened to go out in case the police stop them. Instead we meet in people's houses. When I go around town I am sometimes nervous of a bomb going off. There was a time two, three years ago when we would h! ave to carry gas masks. And you feel frightened taking buses, because of the bombing. You can feel tensions amongst crowds of people. Nothing bad has happened to me. God has really protected me.
I miss home, so much. I applied and was given political asylum and so I cannot go home, not even for a holiday. If I went, I would not be allowed back. I wish I could do a proper job - doing this is killing me mentally and I have developed a low self-esteem. I love children and would give anything to be able to teach once more. My mother is physically very ill but is so strong mentally. I phone home once a week and she tells me to think of what I have achieved. I have achieved a lot and it makes me happy that I can support my mother and nieces but I am living for my family. I don't even have a boyfriend! My family depend on me for everything. I send them money to pay all their bills, pay for the school fees. I make sure my mother can pay to see a private doctor, and that she has all her medications. They depend on me left, right and centre. I hope all the things happening in Zimbabwe end soon. I want to go home and live the kind of life that I used to have.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, November 04, 2005
Haaretz - Israel News - They came, they fought - and some of them stayed
has gathered over 4,500 Machal-related photos and runs the Machal museum in Latrun. "The world must not forget what world Jewry did in 1948," he said.
As veterans and their families wandered among the boards of photographs, seeking out black-and-white images of their former selves, many of them were keen to reminisce about their experiences coming to Israel in 1948.
"It took us three days to get here [Israel] from South Africa," said Elhanan Rosenblum, who is originally from Boxburg, South Africa. He, like many of the Machalniks, never returned there after the 1948 war and now lives in Ra'anana. "We had to leave under the cover that we were students on a trip to Europe, as it wasn't allowed to come and fight. We landed in Italy, where we trained for 10 days before coming to Israel.
"I thought they ate herring and danced the hora all night in Israel; it wasn't quite like that but I have no regrets about coming here," added Rosenblum, who served in an anti-tank unit in 1948.
Like many of his fellow veterans, Rosenblum spoke about the rampant anti-Semitism in South Africa at that time, which was a key factor in his motivation to come and fight in Israel. "I felt I couldn't take it [the anti-Semitism] anymore," he said. "I had always dreamed about a place where all the Jews could go and be safe, and coming to Israel to fight was my chance to achieve that."
Other veterans at the event spoke about the sense of duty that pulled them toward risking their lives for the nascent Jewish state, even though some of them had already fought in World War II.
"Smoky" Simon, a Machalnik who was one of the first members of the Israel Air Force, had already served five years in the South African Air Force before volunteering to fight in Israel. "After reading about the horrors of the Holocaust, the deportation of refugees from Palestine by the British and the threat of extermination by the Arab nations, I felt it my duty to come [to Israel] and fight, " he said, adding, "during a crisis, the Jews must unify."
And unity remains important to the Machalniks, even 57 years on. The group holds reunions every year at a memorial site on the "Burma Road," the alternative route built to reach besieged Jerusalem in 1948. Throughout the evening, the veterans were slapping each other on the back, teasing, heckling, calling each other by nicknames and comparing Machal ties, like a group of fresh recruits.
"It's important the connection be maintained," said Stanley Medicks, chairman of Machal, London who came to Israel especially for the event. Medicks, who served as an infantry officer, said, "Coming to Israel to help build the homeland of the Jewish people is the most important and significant thing I have done in my life. Without Machal, Israel, with no tanks, no fighter planes and very little expertise, would not have survived in its present form."
From further afield was Barney Meyerson, chairman of Machal Australia, and his wife Bertha. Barney, who fought in the Palmach in `48, agreed such evenings were important, and also "very enjoyable." "It's nice to see so many of the old faces, " he said, "the very old faces."
In the more formal part of the evening's events, the guest speakers included Telfed chairman Itz Kalmanowitz and the former mayor of Tel Aviv, Shlomo Lahat, who denounced the "sin" of Israeli society in not sufficiently expressing its gratitude to the Machalniks. He called for more education about Machal in schools, in the army and in society in general.
Re'uma Weizman also attended the event. Her late husband, former president Ezer Weizman, was one of the few Israelis who flew fighter planes in the War of Independence, in an air force that was made up of 95 percent Machalnikim. Sid Cohen, who was also at this week's event and actually commanded Weizman in Squadron 101, was one of Israel's first fighter pilots and the father of the IAF fighter squadron - and does he have some stories to tell.
`When we needed you most'
Some 3,500 volunteers from overseas - men and women, Jews and non-Jews from 44 countries - came to fight in Israel in 1948 after the state's declaration of independence, bringing their much-needed experience and expertise to the fledgling Israel Defense Forces. Some 800 of these came from South Africa.
The Machal volunteers made a significant contribution toward winning the war and laying the foundation on which the IDF was built. Over 120 Machalniks were killed, many were wounded and taken prisoner.
In 1993, the Machal memorial was dedicated in Sha'ar Hagai by prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, who said, "You came to us when we needed you most, during those dark and uncertain days in our War of Independence."
Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Zimbabwe's inflation is a maths education
People are always asking - What Zim is like at the moment? This is pretty much it!
From The Sunday Argus (SA), 16 October
Zimbabwe's inflation is a maths education
With the rate expected to be around 1 000% by Christmas, consumers are becoming adept at calculating the many zeroes
The worst thing about inflation is counting the money. In supermarket queues it takes ages for check-out attendants to count the money. A small plastic bag of groceries: a litre of milk, two quart beers, 250g frozen local bream, four lemons, and the cheapest bottle of local white wine added up to Z$520 000 on Monday. A man was so angry when this total showed up at the till, he abandoned his bag and stomped out. The rate in rands will have changed between writing this sentence and e-mailing it, but this pack of groceries probably cost about R40 on the black market on Monday. At the official rate it would be about R130. The highest denomination note, and it isn't actually a note it's called a bearer cheque, is Z$20 000, and they will run out before Christmas unless President Robert Mugabe allows the Reserve Bank's red hot presses in Bulawayo to print Z$100 000 or Z$1 million notes. Or Zimbabwe can do do what Turkey did last year by lopping off three noughts.
Hyper-inflation has been around a while, but it's different this time around because of the scale of the increases. Two years ago, when it hit 600% per annum, a Z$500 bar of blue soap was bad but not staggering. Now that bar of soap costs Z$66 000. Rather than try to equate prices to rands, it makes more sense to compare them with salaries; a teacher earns no more than Z$3m a month, a member of parliament gets Z$12m after tax. A single stop on a bus is Z$25 000, the same as a loaf of bread which costs eight times more than it did in July. Cooking oil, when available, is Z$70 000 for 175ml. The cheapest meat is about Z$138 000/kg, and mealie meal, when available, costs about Z$80 000 for 10kg. United Nations staffers are among the best paid foreigners in Zimbabwe and earn about R60 000 a month with allowances. They spend up to Z$15m on an average weekly shop which includes pool chemicals. They rent the plushest houses guarded around the clock at UN expense, buy South African wine and Liquifruit which has doubled in price in six weeks. They dine on kingklip, prawns, olive oil, South African cereals and Mooi River butter, not marge. They eat cheese, a rare treat for most.
But counting out Z$15m furrows the brows of even flush UN workers at check outs. Tellers have a common system. They count 20 brown Z$20 000 bearer cheques into piles of 20 and then put five piles together to make Z$2m. They count each pile at least twice and round off change to the nearest Z$500, which doesn't even buy matches. If six people venture out to dinner at any of the none-too-salubrious restaurants in Harare's northern suburbs, someone has to volunteer to stay sober to do the bill which takes ages of counting and recounting. The portions get ever smaller but a meal will set the group back about Z$12m if they eat meat, have a beer or a cool drink and maybe a bottle of local wine. The going rate last week for youngsters guarding the car outside the restaurant was Z$10 000. When the Reserve Bank gives orders from time to time to try to contain the black market, banks are restricted to Z$1 000 notes, then one needs a suitcase to carry enough cash to pay for a couple of burgers. Near-crumbling Chegutu, 100km south west of Harare, a cup of tea cost Z$65 000 at a grimy roadside inn owned by the Rainbow Tourism Group, more than double the cost in Harare even at tatty Wimpy's which held the record for the most expensive tea in the capital.
When inflation - which went up by nearly 100% in September to 359% - hits 1 000% per annum, as it probably will around Christmas, how will the tellers cope without money counters? One of the hardest aspects of living in billions, besides seeing gaunt young men able to afford only one slice of polony, is understanding value. When a house is advertised at Z$5 billion what does it mean? What does it mean when the government estimated in August it would spend Z$30bn on senate elections, which will be more like Z$200bn when they take place on November 26? Cellphone calculators say "out of range" when you try to work out how much an average UN worker earns in Zimbabwe dollars. But at least it's been a mathematical education. Until this year few of us knew that a billion has nine noughts, a trillion 12 and it needs a scientific calculator to work from hard currency to Zimbabwe dollars and those sums must be done twice to get both the official and parallel rate.
Imagine buying a full tank of black market fuel at Z$100 000 a litre on the side of the road and counting the money, note by note. A brick of Z$5m worth of notes is an ordinary amount to carry around. If one tries to live more or less legally - driven by extreme fear of a few nights in Harare Central Police Station's holding cells for illegally dealing in foreign currency - Zimbabwe is expensive. Some supermarkets take foreign credit cards and the debit shows at the official rate of exchange which makes the cost of groceries about twice what it would cost in South Africa. Another reason Zimbabwe looks increasingly drab is that it costs the equivalent of a teacher's monthly salary for five litres of lowest quality PVA. Although that was a week ago.
From The Sunday Argus (SA), 16 October
Zimbabwe's inflation is a maths education
With the rate expected to be around 1 000% by Christmas, consumers are becoming adept at calculating the many zeroes
The worst thing about inflation is counting the money. In supermarket queues it takes ages for check-out attendants to count the money. A small plastic bag of groceries: a litre of milk, two quart beers, 250g frozen local bream, four lemons, and the cheapest bottle of local white wine added up to Z$520 000 on Monday. A man was so angry when this total showed up at the till, he abandoned his bag and stomped out. The rate in rands will have changed between writing this sentence and e-mailing it, but this pack of groceries probably cost about R40 on the black market on Monday. At the official rate it would be about R130. The highest denomination note, and it isn't actually a note it's called a bearer cheque, is Z$20 000, and they will run out before Christmas unless President Robert Mugabe allows the Reserve Bank's red hot presses in Bulawayo to print Z$100 000 or Z$1 million notes. Or Zimbabwe can do do what Turkey did last year by lopping off three noughts.
Hyper-inflation has been around a while, but it's different this time around because of the scale of the increases. Two years ago, when it hit 600% per annum, a Z$500 bar of blue soap was bad but not staggering. Now that bar of soap costs Z$66 000. Rather than try to equate prices to rands, it makes more sense to compare them with salaries; a teacher earns no more than Z$3m a month, a member of parliament gets Z$12m after tax. A single stop on a bus is Z$25 000, the same as a loaf of bread which costs eight times more than it did in July. Cooking oil, when available, is Z$70 000 for 175ml. The cheapest meat is about Z$138 000/kg, and mealie meal, when available, costs about Z$80 000 for 10kg. United Nations staffers are among the best paid foreigners in Zimbabwe and earn about R60 000 a month with allowances. They spend up to Z$15m on an average weekly shop which includes pool chemicals. They rent the plushest houses guarded around the clock at UN expense, buy South African wine and Liquifruit which has doubled in price in six weeks. They dine on kingklip, prawns, olive oil, South African cereals and Mooi River butter, not marge. They eat cheese, a rare treat for most.
But counting out Z$15m furrows the brows of even flush UN workers at check outs. Tellers have a common system. They count 20 brown Z$20 000 bearer cheques into piles of 20 and then put five piles together to make Z$2m. They count each pile at least twice and round off change to the nearest Z$500, which doesn't even buy matches. If six people venture out to dinner at any of the none-too-salubrious restaurants in Harare's northern suburbs, someone has to volunteer to stay sober to do the bill which takes ages of counting and recounting. The portions get ever smaller but a meal will set the group back about Z$12m if they eat meat, have a beer or a cool drink and maybe a bottle of local wine. The going rate last week for youngsters guarding the car outside the restaurant was Z$10 000. When the Reserve Bank gives orders from time to time to try to contain the black market, banks are restricted to Z$1 000 notes, then one needs a suitcase to carry enough cash to pay for a couple of burgers. Near-crumbling Chegutu, 100km south west of Harare, a cup of tea cost Z$65 000 at a grimy roadside inn owned by the Rainbow Tourism Group, more than double the cost in Harare even at tatty Wimpy's which held the record for the most expensive tea in the capital.
When inflation - which went up by nearly 100% in September to 359% - hits 1 000% per annum, as it probably will around Christmas, how will the tellers cope without money counters? One of the hardest aspects of living in billions, besides seeing gaunt young men able to afford only one slice of polony, is understanding value. When a house is advertised at Z$5 billion what does it mean? What does it mean when the government estimated in August it would spend Z$30bn on senate elections, which will be more like Z$200bn when they take place on November 26? Cellphone calculators say "out of range" when you try to work out how much an average UN worker earns in Zimbabwe dollars. But at least it's been a mathematical education. Until this year few of us knew that a billion has nine noughts, a trillion 12 and it needs a scientific calculator to work from hard currency to Zimbabwe dollars and those sums must be done twice to get both the official and parallel rate.
Imagine buying a full tank of black market fuel at Z$100 000 a litre on the side of the road and counting the money, note by note. A brick of Z$5m worth of notes is an ordinary amount to carry around. If one tries to live more or less legally - driven by extreme fear of a few nights in Harare Central Police Station's holding cells for illegally dealing in foreign currency - Zimbabwe is expensive. Some supermarkets take foreign credit cards and the debit shows at the official rate of exchange which makes the cost of groceries about twice what it would cost in South Africa. Another reason Zimbabwe looks increasingly drab is that it costs the equivalent of a teacher's monthly salary for five litres of lowest quality PVA. Although that was a week ago.
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Dont sear at Zimbabwe, says Mbeki
Don't swear at Zimbabwe, says Mbeki
Johannesburg, South Africa
16 October 2005 08:00
Shouting and swearing at the Zimbabwean government will not help resolve problems there, President Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday.
"It will really be quite easy for me to call a press conference and say, 'Bob Mugabe, these are the things I don't like,' and make very good news," he told delegates at the launch of the African Editors' Forum in Kempton Park, Gauteng.
"But, I am saying, that is the end of the engagement. It doesn't work."
South Africa's approach -- and that of the region -- is to work together to find solutions to problems.
"The easiest thing to do, as you would know, is to swear at somebody. We can. But that's the end of the engagement."
He said this may work for other regions.
"In our view, it doesn't make sense in the region here.
"Shouting at one another won't help. So, no, there is not going to be amplification of anything, but an engagement."
Mbeki and the South African government have been criticised for their "quiet diplomacy" approach to Zimbabwe's political and other problems, including an imploding economy and human rights violations, and severe restrictions on the media.
He said South Africa has held discussions with Zimbabwe over that country's arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"One of the things discussed recently with Zimbabwe was their arrears with the IMF," Mbeki said.
Fortunately Zimbabwe had found some money to start paying it back and got an extra six months' reprieve instead of being expelled from the IMF, he said.
"We had indeed said we are ready are assist because we understand the implications of the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the IMF."
Everybody owed anything by Zimbabwe would have demanded to be paid and this would have seen the seizing of exports to settle debts, private banks would not have made loans to individuals, and neighbouring countries would have inherited the consequences of that, he said.
Shortly before its threatened expulsion, Zimbabwe managed to raise $120-million towards its debt and another $15-million has since been paid, with a six month reprieve to raise the $160-million still owed, media reports say.
Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, has said the payback came from the export of tobacco, minerals and cotton, but the IMF has said it will investigate the source of the funding. -- Sapa
Johannesburg, South Africa
16 October 2005 08:00
Shouting and swearing at the Zimbabwean government will not help resolve problems there, President Thabo Mbeki said on Saturday.
"It will really be quite easy for me to call a press conference and say, 'Bob Mugabe, these are the things I don't like,' and make very good news," he told delegates at the launch of the African Editors' Forum in Kempton Park, Gauteng.
"But, I am saying, that is the end of the engagement. It doesn't work."
South Africa's approach -- and that of the region -- is to work together to find solutions to problems.
"The easiest thing to do, as you would know, is to swear at somebody. We can. But that's the end of the engagement."
He said this may work for other regions.
"In our view, it doesn't make sense in the region here.
"Shouting at one another won't help. So, no, there is not going to be amplification of anything, but an engagement."
Mbeki and the South African government have been criticised for their "quiet diplomacy" approach to Zimbabwe's political and other problems, including an imploding economy and human rights violations, and severe restrictions on the media.
He said South Africa has held discussions with Zimbabwe over that country's arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
"One of the things discussed recently with Zimbabwe was their arrears with the IMF," Mbeki said.
Fortunately Zimbabwe had found some money to start paying it back and got an extra six months' reprieve instead of being expelled from the IMF, he said.
"We had indeed said we are ready are assist because we understand the implications of the expulsion of Zimbabwe from the IMF."
Everybody owed anything by Zimbabwe would have demanded to be paid and this would have seen the seizing of exports to settle debts, private banks would not have made loans to individuals, and neighbouring countries would have inherited the consequences of that, he said.
Shortly before its threatened expulsion, Zimbabwe managed to raise $120-million towards its debt and another $15-million has since been paid, with a six month reprieve to raise the $160-million still owed, media reports say.
Zimbabwe's Reserve Bank Governor, Gideon Gono, has said the payback came from the export of tobacco, minerals and cotton, but the IMF has said it will investigate the source of the funding. -- Sapa
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Reuters AlertNet - ZIMBABWE: Cost of living soars for urban families
Reuters AlertNet - ZIMBABWE: Cost of living soars for urban families: "ZIMBABWE: Cost of living soars for urban families
05 Oct 2005 19:06:20 GMT
Source: IRIN
BULAWAYO, 5 October (IRIN) - Galloping inflation is sapping the purchasing power of urban Zimbabweans, according to a new report by the country's consumer watchdog.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) said on Wednesday that basic expenditure for an urban family of six had shot up from about Zim $6.9 million (US $265) in September to Zim $9.9 million (US $380) in October.
CCZ spokesperson Tonderai Mukeredzi blamed the cost of living hike on rocketing prices of basic items like sugar, maize-meal, rice, cooking oil and school fees in the past few weeks."
05 Oct 2005 19:06:20 GMT
Source: IRIN
BULAWAYO, 5 October (IRIN) - Galloping inflation is sapping the purchasing power of urban Zimbabweans, according to a new report by the country's consumer watchdog.
The Consumer Council of Zimbabwe (CCZ) said on Wednesday that basic expenditure for an urban family of six had shot up from about Zim $6.9 million (US $265) in September to Zim $9.9 million (US $380) in October.
CCZ spokesperson Tonderai Mukeredzi blamed the cost of living hike on rocketing prices of basic items like sugar, maize-meal, rice, cooking oil and school fees in the past few weeks."
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Tennis / Israel goes up 2-1 against Zimbabwe
From www.haaretz.com
Tennis / Israel goes up 2-1 against Zimbabwe
By Rami Hipsh
Yoni Erlich and Andy Ram defeated Zimbabwe's Wayne Black and Genius Chidzikwe 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in the doubles event of their Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone I relegation tie in Harare yesterday, to put Israel up 2-1 going into today's final matches.
Israel needs to win one match out of two today to avoid relegation from Europe/Africa Zone I, the competition's second level.
Ram and Erlich, the No. 10 doubles team in the world, have been a strong point for Israel in recent years. "This match was very important for us," Erlich said. "We wanted to take the point and come into [Sunday] with more confidence for the final day. We started out strong in the first set, with lots of presence and control. We broke them early and it gave us confidence and control for the entire match. After that, we were already loose, we played very well, we were better than them."
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On Friday, Dudi Sela, Israel's top male tennis player at the moment at No. 160, lost to Wayne Black 6-1, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. In the second match, Noam Okun picked up Israel's first point by defeating Chidzikwe 6-2, 7-6, 6-3.
Okun is already used to winning Davis Cup matches, especially against an opponent like Chidzikwe, No. 734 in the world.
"I began well," Okun said after his match Friday. "I didn't make a lot of mistakes. I played consistently, and from the start I showed him I intended to win the match."
Sela will try to seal the victory against Chidzikwe in the reverse singles at 1 P.M. Israel time today. If he loses, Okun will need to defeat Black in the final match of the competition for Israel t">Haaretz - Israel News - Tennis / Israel goes up 2-1 against Zimbabwe: "Tennis / Davis Cup
Tennis / Israel goes up 2-1 against Zimbabwe
By Rami Hipsh
Yoni Erlich and Andy Ram defeated Zimbabwe's Wayne Black and Genius Chidzikwe 6-2, 6-3, 6-3 in the doubles event of their Davis Cup Europe/Africa Zone I relegation tie in Harare yesterday, to put Israel up 2-1 going into today's final matches.
Israel needs to win one match out of two today to avoid relegation from Europe/Africa Zone I, the competition's second level.
Ram and Erlich, the No. 10 doubles team in the world, have been a strong point for Israel in recent years. 'This match was very important for us,' Erlich said. 'We wanted to take the point and come into [Sunday] with more confidence for the final day. We started out strong in the first set, with lots of presence and control. We broke them early and it gave us confidence and control for the entire match. After that, we were already loose, we played very well, we were better than them.'
On Friday, Dudi Sela, Israel's top male tennis player at the moment at No. 160, lost to Wayne Black 6-1, 7-6, 6-7, 6-3. In the second match, Noam Okun picked up Israel's first point by defeating Chidzikwe 6-2, 7-6, 6-3.
Okun is already used to winning Davis Cup matches, especially against an opponent like Chidzikwe, No. 734 in the world.
'I began well,' Okun said after his match Friday. 'I didn't make a lot of mistakes. I played consistently, and from the start I showed him I intended to win the match.'
Sela will try to seal the victory against Chidzikwe in the reverse singles at 1 P.M. Israel time today. If he loses, Okun will need to defeat Black in the final match of the competition for Israel to avoid relegation.
Sunday, September 18, 2005
New Zimbabwe law scraps 4,000 land challenges
New Zimbabwe law scraps 4,000 land challenges
Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:07 PM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has nullified more than 4,000 court cases brought by white farmers challenging the forced acquisition of their land, the official Sunday Mail said.
President Robert Mugabe this month signed into law controversial constitutional changes he said would finally settle any dispute over the legality of his government's drive to seize white-owned farms, which started in 2000.
Under the amendments, all such land now becomes state-owned and court challenges are barred.
The Sunday Mail quoted the chief law officer in the attorney general's office, Nelson Mutsonziwa, as saying the department would make court submissions on Monday to formally end the farmers' litigation.
"Around 4,000 cases were pending before the Administrative Court and the passing of the Constitutional Amendment Bill into law means they are all being nullified. All the challenges are now useless," Mutsonziwa told the paper. He was not available for comment.
The Sunday Mail quoted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying the nationalisation would not affect private residential properties or companies.
The changes to the constitution also provide for the creation of a Senate as the second chamber of parliament, seen likely packed with Mugabe's allies, and allow the government to deny passports to people deemed "traitors".
Critics believe the changes are yet another tool to suppress opposition to Mugabe's 25-year rule as the country groans under an economic crisis widely blamed on his mismanagement.
Zimbabwe is suffering from record unemployment, triple digit inflation, a six-year-old fuel crunch and food shortages, which critics blame on disruptions to agriculture linked to the land seizures. Mugabe's government solely blames drought.
Mugabe denies misruling the country since assuming power from Britain in 1980, and argues that London has conspired with other western countries and his domestic opponents to sabotage Zimbabwe's economy over the land seizures, which he says redress ownership imbalances left by British colonialism.
Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:07 PM GMT
HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe has nullified more than 4,000 court cases brought by white farmers challenging the forced acquisition of their land, the official Sunday Mail said.
President Robert Mugabe this month signed into law controversial constitutional changes he said would finally settle any dispute over the legality of his government's drive to seize white-owned farms, which started in 2000.
Under the amendments, all such land now becomes state-owned and court challenges are barred.
The Sunday Mail quoted the chief law officer in the attorney general's office, Nelson Mutsonziwa, as saying the department would make court submissions on Monday to formally end the farmers' litigation.
"Around 4,000 cases were pending before the Administrative Court and the passing of the Constitutional Amendment Bill into law means they are all being nullified. All the challenges are now useless," Mutsonziwa told the paper. He was not available for comment.
The Sunday Mail quoted Justice Minister Patrick Chinamasa as saying the nationalisation would not affect private residential properties or companies.
The changes to the constitution also provide for the creation of a Senate as the second chamber of parliament, seen likely packed with Mugabe's allies, and allow the government to deny passports to people deemed "traitors".
Critics believe the changes are yet another tool to suppress opposition to Mugabe's 25-year rule as the country groans under an economic crisis widely blamed on his mismanagement.
Zimbabwe is suffering from record unemployment, triple digit inflation, a six-year-old fuel crunch and food shortages, which critics blame on disruptions to agriculture linked to the land seizures. Mugabe's government solely blames drought.
Mugabe denies misruling the country since assuming power from Britain in 1980, and argues that London has conspired with other western countries and his domestic opponents to sabotage Zimbabwe's economy over the land seizures, which he says redress ownership imbalances left by British colonialism.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Israeli in S. Africa sues neighbor over Nazi graffiti
Israeli in S. Africa sues neighbor over Nazi graffiti
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EDWIN NAIDU, THE JERUSALEM POST Aug. 24, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
An Israeli-born textile businessman is challenging his South African neighbor in the country's recently-established Equality Court over paintings of a swastika, a German war decoration and writings he said were anti-Semitic and offensive.
Yaron Fishman, a Jew who moved to South Africa 17 years ago, said his neighbor, Gerald Barkhuizen, painted the graffiti on the fence outside his property in White River, in Mpumalanga. The incident took place last month, following a petty dispute over a dog kennel.
Fishman, who moved to Mpumalanga a year ago after living in Cape Town, has filed a notice to take the matter before the Equality Court in what would be the first "hate speech" case to come before the body, which is empowered to rule on any form of discrimination in South Africa. The papers are being finalized and are expected to be served to Barkhuizen within a week.
South Africa's Equality Law (also known as the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act), which prohibits hate speech, came into effect in 2000 and was amended two years later.
Jody Kollapen, the chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, confirmed that the commission would represent Fishman in the case. "Barkhuizen said the paintings are art, but Fishman believes they were directed at him because of his identity. Therefore, we believe the court should hear the matter and consider it within the context of the Equality Laws."
Fishman said the graffiti was drawn on the fence surrounding Barkhuizen's property, facing the public, and was an insult that exceeded Barkhuizen's right to freely express himself. The anti-Semitic images included a swastika and an iron cross (a German war decoration) and also included the phrase "offensive bastard" in Hebrew and Greek.
Fishman said the incident took place after he asked Barkhuizen to move a dog kennel that was on the border of his property. "The slogan appeared the next morning after we had begun cutting bushes to start building a wall," he said.
"Seeing those signs came as quite a shock because they were so extreme and full of malice," Fishman said, noting that he had previously enjoyed good relations with his neighbor.
Fishman said he wanted the matter resolved soon, before his father, a Holocaust survivor, arrived from Europe to stay with him. "Knowing what he experienced during the Holocaust, I would hate for him to be humiliated again," he said.
"My hope is that this case will become popular and contribute to a better South Africa," Fishman said.
His neighbor, however, believes he is being wrongly persecuted for his works of art.
Barkhuizen, who has moved out of his house reportedly because of death threats, said he had no ill feelings toward Fishman. "I am an artist. It is my house and I have every right to draw murals of freedom struggles and wars," he said. He has received numerous threats since the case surfaced.
"I am an anti-war person," he said. "I would like all governments on Earth to be peaceful." However, he added, he was not happy with his neighbor for helping spread a number of "untruths," including that he was racist.
"I am no liar. I paint murals, and I am not anti-Jewish. I am just enjoying my right to be free to paint," he said.
Barkhuizen said the paintings were a demonstration of his view of the world. "I don't go to public walls or government building walls. I paint on my own property's walls," he said.
"If I write that Osama bin Laden is a spiteful bastard, is that wrong? After all, he was responsible for 9/11," said Barkhuizen.
"He [Fishman] can do what he likes on his walls. As a South African I can do what I like on my walls, and he can take me to court should he wish," he said.
Kollapen said freedom of expression was not an unqualified right. "In the South African context, the right to dignity and equality is worthy of equal treatment and protection, if not more," he said.
David Saks, associate director of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, said Fishman was quite justified in believing that the graffiti was aimed at offending him.
"Not only Jews suffered at the hands of the Nazis during World War II, but Jews were certainly Nazism's most high-profile victims and were the only people singled out for systematic destruction simply because of who they were. It is for this reason that people wishing to give offense to Jews the world over commonly resort to using Nazi imagery," he said.
Saks added that, during eight years at the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, he found Nazi references to be the most common form of anti-Jewish harassment.
"It strains credibility to claim that the placing of Nazi symbols, accompanied by insulting slogans – in part in Hebrew, in full view of Fishman – have nothing to do with his Jewish background," Saks added.
An Israeli-born textile businessman is challenging his South African neighbor in the country's recently-established Equality Court over paintings of a swastika, a German war decoration and writings he said were anti-Semitic and offensive.
Yaron Fishman, a Jew who moved to South Africa 17 years ago, said his neighbor, Gerald Barkhuizen, painted the graffiti on the fence outside his property in White River, in Mpumalanga. The incident took place last month, following a petty dispute over a dog kennel.
Fishman, who moved to Mpumalanga a year ago after living in Cape Town, has filed a notice to take the matter before the Equality Court in what would be the first 'hate speech' case to come before the body, which is empowered to rule on any form of discrimination in South Africa. The papers are being finalized and are expected to be served to Barkhuizen within a week.
South Africa's Equality Law (also known as the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act), which prohibits hate speech, came into effect in 2000 and was amended two years later.
Jody Kollapen, the chairperson of the South African Human Rights Commission, confirmed that the commission would represent Fishman in the case. 'Barkhuizen said the paintings are art, but Fishman believes they were directed at him because of his identity. Therefore, we believe the court should hear the matter and consider it within the context of the Equality Laws.'
Fishman said the graffiti was drawn on the fence surrounding Barkhuizen's property, facing the public, a"
Mugabe: Outstaying His Welcome
: "27 March 2005
Mugabe: Outstaying His Welcome
By Gwynne Dyer
Like the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Cuba's Fidel
Castro, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is a revolutionary who would
have served his people best by dying a long time ago. Instead, at the age
of 81, he is now deliberately starving people who refuse to vote for his
Zanu-PF party in the parliamentary elections on 31 March. Perhaps no one
individual can claim the credit for ruining a whole country, but Mugabe
would certainly lead the contenders."
Mugabe: Outstaying His Welcome
By Gwynne Dyer
Like the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Cuba's Fidel
Castro, President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is a revolutionary who would
have served his people best by dying a long time ago. Instead, at the age
of 81, he is now deliberately starving people who refuse to vote for his
Zanu-PF party in the parliamentary elections on 31 March. Perhaps no one
individual can claim the credit for ruining a whole country, but Mugabe
would certainly lead the contenders."
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Counting Mugabe’s troubles
Comment from The Mail & Guardian (SA), 12 August
Counting Mugabe’s troubles
Eric W Bloch
Zimbabwe’s government has for years pronounced that "Zimbabwe can go it alone!", and, if necessary, would do so, and would be as successful as Malaysia had been in the late 1990s. But, to quote trite but relevant clichés, eventually chickens come home to roost and, as a result, the Zimbabwean leadership has had to swallow the bitter pill of crawling on hands and knees to solicit assistance from others to enable Zimbabwe to extract itself from the economic quagmire to which it has been reduced. The economy has been devastated, contracting by more than a third in the past five years. Almost three-quarters of the employable population are unemployed, an estimated 78% of the populace barely survives at levels below the poverty line, while almost half the population is suffering malnutrition, their incomes being below the food line. Zimbabwe’s balance of payments has been so negative that available foreign currency exchange does not even meet half of its import and other current foreign exchange outgoings, let alone service external debt. More than three million Zimbabweans have left the country to seek employment or other income-generating activities in neighbouring countries and further afield, including the United Kingdom, US and Australia. The immense "brain drain" has further hindered any endeavours to restore the economy to even the lowest levels of economic growth. All these ills were severely compounded by the extent to which government has brought about the decimation of the agricultural sector, which had, for over a century, been the economy’s foundation. Consequently, Zimbabwe is faced with a need to import two-thirds of the nation’s requirements of maize, which is the staple diet of most of the populace, and to import more than half the national need for flour. Then the ills afflicting Zimbabwe were exacerbated by the grossly ill-conceived "Operation Murambatsvina". In the process more than 700 000 were rendered homeless, at the height of winter, and deprived of any income-producing opportunities they had. So parlous has Zimbabwean circumstance become that the government has been forced to swallow its pride. It appealed to South Africa for a loan of $1-billion. All indications are that South Africa was sympathetic to the appeal but, not unreasonably, applied certain conditions, as is normal with any loan. That there should be conditions was too great a blow to the Zimbabwe government’s pride, so, instead of accepting the loan, Robert Mugabe and a large entourage set off to visit Zimbabwe’s special friend, China. To their reportedly great dismay, China was not forthcoming with the $1-billion loan. Instead, it entered into some investment agreements, sold Zimbabwe 60 buses, advanced $6-million for food imports and bestowed an honorary professorship upon Mugabe. Zimbabwe was reduced to only one possibility: to appeal to South Africa again. Although a loan agreement has yet to be signed, and its details made public, informed sources suggest that the loan is only half of that Zimbabwe sought. A loan of $500-million has apparently been agreed to. With diplomatic "double-speak", it is claimed to be unconditional, but it appears that the funding is to become available on a phased basis, aligned to appropriate Zimbabwean actions targeted towards achieving political and economic stability. The first payment will be between $150-million and $160-million, to be applied to reducing Zimbabwe’s arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which amounts to approximately $300-million. It is expected that such a reduction of the arrears will motivate the IMF board of directors, when it meets on September 9, not to recommend the termination of Zimbabwe’s IMF membership, but to allow the present suspension of membership to continue. The remaining $340-million to $350-million will then be applied to importation of critically needed fuel to an estimated value of about $150-million, and the balance on agricultural inputs for the 2005/06 season, including fertilisers, chemicals, insecticides and seeds (to the extent that present stocks do not suffice). With the Zimbabwean dollars raised from the purchase of fuel and other imports, approximately Z$6,5-trillion will then partially fund "Operation Garikai" (Operation Rebuilding). Although the $500-million loan will give Zimbabwe a substantial interim booost, and the allegedly non-existent loan conditions may bring about a slow-down of further economic decline, or even some limited economic recovery, it is not enough for Zimbabwe’s crucial needs. At least $200-million is needed for food inputs, unless Zimbabwe accepts support from the World Food Programme (which has been offered subject to food distribution being effected wholly by independent non-governmental organisations which would not use the food distribution as a political tool). Yet another $100-million is needed for essential healthcare requisites, including anti-retrovirals, and $200-million more to fund critical and immediate import needs of commerce and industry, mining and other economic sectors.Although the act of lending Zimbabwe $500-million is one of neighbourly generosity, it is also one which recognises humanitarian need and indirectly conveys significant benefits to South Africa. Without political and economic stability in Zimbabwe, South Africa faces potential upheaval and unrest on its borders and a further massive influx of illegal "economic refugees".
Counting Mugabe’s troubles
Eric W Bloch
Zimbabwe’s government has for years pronounced that "Zimbabwe can go it alone!", and, if necessary, would do so, and would be as successful as Malaysia had been in the late 1990s. But, to quote trite but relevant clichés, eventually chickens come home to roost and, as a result, the Zimbabwean leadership has had to swallow the bitter pill of crawling on hands and knees to solicit assistance from others to enable Zimbabwe to extract itself from the economic quagmire to which it has been reduced. The economy has been devastated, contracting by more than a third in the past five years. Almost three-quarters of the employable population are unemployed, an estimated 78% of the populace barely survives at levels below the poverty line, while almost half the population is suffering malnutrition, their incomes being below the food line. Zimbabwe’s balance of payments has been so negative that available foreign currency exchange does not even meet half of its import and other current foreign exchange outgoings, let alone service external debt. More than three million Zimbabweans have left the country to seek employment or other income-generating activities in neighbouring countries and further afield, including the United Kingdom, US and Australia. The immense "brain drain" has further hindered any endeavours to restore the economy to even the lowest levels of economic growth. All these ills were severely compounded by the extent to which government has brought about the decimation of the agricultural sector, which had, for over a century, been the economy’s foundation. Consequently, Zimbabwe is faced with a need to import two-thirds of the nation’s requirements of maize, which is the staple diet of most of the populace, and to import more than half the national need for flour. Then the ills afflicting Zimbabwe were exacerbated by the grossly ill-conceived "Operation Murambatsvina". In the process more than 700 000 were rendered homeless, at the height of winter, and deprived of any income-producing opportunities they had. So parlous has Zimbabwean circumstance become that the government has been forced to swallow its pride. It appealed to South Africa for a loan of $1-billion. All indications are that South Africa was sympathetic to the appeal but, not unreasonably, applied certain conditions, as is normal with any loan. That there should be conditions was too great a blow to the Zimbabwe government’s pride, so, instead of accepting the loan, Robert Mugabe and a large entourage set off to visit Zimbabwe’s special friend, China. To their reportedly great dismay, China was not forthcoming with the $1-billion loan. Instead, it entered into some investment agreements, sold Zimbabwe 60 buses, advanced $6-million for food imports and bestowed an honorary professorship upon Mugabe. Zimbabwe was reduced to only one possibility: to appeal to South Africa again. Although a loan agreement has yet to be signed, and its details made public, informed sources suggest that the loan is only half of that Zimbabwe sought. A loan of $500-million has apparently been agreed to. With diplomatic "double-speak", it is claimed to be unconditional, but it appears that the funding is to become available on a phased basis, aligned to appropriate Zimbabwean actions targeted towards achieving political and economic stability. The first payment will be between $150-million and $160-million, to be applied to reducing Zimbabwe’s arrears with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which amounts to approximately $300-million. It is expected that such a reduction of the arrears will motivate the IMF board of directors, when it meets on September 9, not to recommend the termination of Zimbabwe’s IMF membership, but to allow the present suspension of membership to continue. The remaining $340-million to $350-million will then be applied to importation of critically needed fuel to an estimated value of about $150-million, and the balance on agricultural inputs for the 2005/06 season, including fertilisers, chemicals, insecticides and seeds (to the extent that present stocks do not suffice). With the Zimbabwean dollars raised from the purchase of fuel and other imports, approximately Z$6,5-trillion will then partially fund "Operation Garikai" (Operation Rebuilding). Although the $500-million loan will give Zimbabwe a substantial interim booost, and the allegedly non-existent loan conditions may bring about a slow-down of further economic decline, or even some limited economic recovery, it is not enough for Zimbabwe’s crucial needs. At least $200-million is needed for food inputs, unless Zimbabwe accepts support from the World Food Programme (which has been offered subject to food distribution being effected wholly by independent non-governmental organisations which would not use the food distribution as a political tool). Yet another $100-million is needed for essential healthcare requisites, including anti-retrovirals, and $200-million more to fund critical and immediate import needs of commerce and industry, mining and other economic sectors.Although the act of lending Zimbabwe $500-million is one of neighbourly generosity, it is also one which recognises humanitarian need and indirectly conveys significant benefits to South Africa. Without political and economic stability in Zimbabwe, South Africa faces potential upheaval and unrest on its borders and a further massive influx of illegal "economic refugees".
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Eyewitness in Zimbabwe
EYEWITNESS IN ZIMBABWE
July 31 August 4, 2005 by Lucy Y. Steinitz*
Flying into Harare s spanking-new airport, you can see vast stretches
of broken rubble where entire neighborhoods once stood. I visited Zimbabwe
last week for work (on behalf of the World Council of Churches, for
their Regional Reference Group on the Ecumenical HIV/AIDS Initiative
for Africa, which I chair). This was my first trip back to Harare
(Zimbabwes capital) since our family lived there in 1994. But
tragically, in many ways this is a different Zimbabwe than we knew and
loved eleven years ago.
THE DIRTY CLEAN-UP
The UN estimates that Robert Mugabes recent Project Murambatsvina
(Shona for clean up trash campaign) cost 700,000 people their homes
and forced 300,000 children out of school. Deaths have not been
accurately counted, but must surely include people who died from the
resultant loss in food, medicine, or shelter during Zimbabwe’s cold
winter-weather. By way of example, one home-based care volunteer I met
told me of a woman she knew who had been forced out of the room she had
been renting and told to go back where she came from. Some days later
the woman reached the rural area where she had been born, only to have
the local chief chase her away again, saying that there was no food to
eat and that the land was already crowded with others who had gotten
there first. Eventually, the woman made her way back to the Harare,
where she pleaded with her former landlord to let her have her old room
back. Im not allowed, cried the landlord, fearful of what would
happen to him if the police found out. Weak with hunger, the woman
simply laid down on the street, a few feet from her former residence.
Two days later, with just the clothes she wore to protect her from the
nighttime cold, she died of pneumonia.
A representative from the International Organization for Migration, Dr
Islene Araujo, reminded our group that since 2000, Zimbabwes land
reform policies have already displaced 800,000 people. The current
campaign comes on top of that upheaval. Since we came to this country
to address AIDS-related issues, however, we focused on this aspect more
than others. It is overwhelming: according to the UN, at least 80,000
of the people who have recently been forced from their homes are
estimated to be HIV+. Moreover, this government-induced tsunami (as
some local people now refer to the disaster) has disrupted virtually
every conceivable network of social support that was developed by or
for people living with HIV: medication-distribution systems,
condom-distribution networks, organizations doing volunteer home-based
care, income-generating groups, and so on.
The end-effect is mass-murder. Lacking a place to live and regular
nutrition, literally thousands of HIV+ Zimbabweans have been forced to
stop treatment for their HIV. As a result, many will die. Even if calm
is restored and people are able to start their anti-retroviral
treatments once again, they will now be required to use a different and
far more expensive drug regimen which is far less sustainable. These
are also the conditions that foster drug-resistant forms of the HIV
virus, which pose a great threat to the entire Southern African region.
And with an estimated 30% of all Zimbabweans now living outside the
country (often as illegal refugees, mostly in surrounding countries),
this can happen a lot faster than I had previously thought.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
We heard about this first-hand. When we visited one of the worst
affected areas, two women told us that their local Catholic-run clinic
had been bulldozed, leaving them without any anti-retroviral drugs
and to obtain drugs elsewhere they will now have to travel a long distance
and start the process all over again. Similarly, Dominican Sister
Sipiwe Mugadza told us of a couple she had been counseling some months
ago to help them prepare for an HIV-test, accept their illness, and
then start treatment. Finally, they were ready but then the demolition
started. Sister Sipiwei has been looking for the couple ever since,
but they disappeared without a trace. Others also told us of health workers
who have been trying to locate their AIDS-patients in order to continue
their medical treatment, but they cannot find them anymore.
Our group drove out to a field at the edge of town, which had once been
the residential neighborhood of Hatcliff-Extension, housing over 6000
people plus shops, a clinic, and so on. From a distance, all we could
see of the former township were some homemade tents of cardboard and
discarded metal, looking like oversized anthills fit for animals rather
than for human habitat. And yet, the people were moving back to the
area, in most cases because they had nowhere else to go.
In order to enter the area ourselves, we first had to seek permission;
this is because our hosts (Christian Care, an arm of the Zimbabwean
Council of Churches) must tread carefully with the government
authorities in order to retain their own role as an approved
organization that has permission to distribute food, blankets, and
otherassistance. Still, we approached this former neighborhood from the
back, as we had been warned that there might be trouble from some
government supporters who would not appreciate our visit.
Significantly, the government-authorities we did find were guarding a distribution
point where sheets of asbestos roofing had been delivered and were now
being allocated, three and four to a family. What was this all about?
we wondered. Reverend Forbes Matonga, executive director of Christian
Care, explained that most of the residents had been living in this
neighborhood for fifteen years, before the government declared the
settlement illegal and forced everyone out. Some residents moved-in
with relatives in the rural areas, while others got hoarded onto trucks like
cattle and dropped off at a transit camp (Caledonia Farm) which was, in
fact, nothing but an open field.
HOW MUCH MORE CAN THE PEOPLE TAKE?
With the arrival of the special UN envoy Anna Tibauijuka some weeks ago
to investigate the governments clean up campaign, Caledonia Farm has
became an embarrassment to the government and has now been closed off
to
all visitors. At the same time, those former residents who wanted to
return to Hatcliff Extension (which we visited) were suddenly declared
legal and given documents to prove their status. But the residents told
us that they had always had documents to prove their legal status
even
BEFORE their homes were bulldozed to the ground. So what good is a new
piece of paper?” they asked. To call this an exercise in futility
obscures the deeper, insidious impact of Mugabes strategy. It breaks
the spirit of people, obliterates political opposition and the freedom
of speech, makes them dependent on government handouts, and generates a
constant fear of worse things to come.
The end effect is that this is a war not against poverty but against
the poor. Hatcliff Extension, the neighborhood we visited, has always
been badly-off. But now the conditions here have gone from bad to
worse
there is literally NOTHING here. The infrastructure is completely
gone no more streets, nor sewage, nor water-pipes, nor electricity. At
night, it is horrific: dark and cold, with temperatures dropping to
near-freezing (this being winter in Zimbabwe). To obtain wood for a
cooking fire, people have to walk miles away, into a distant forest.
For food, they must beg. As one woman said, the worst part is that they
have taken our dignity. The only certainty that the people have is
that there is no certainty at all.
We also drove to the high-density township of Mbare in the heart of
Harare. I remember this neighborhood from 1994, when our family came to
the Mbare Market in order to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and even
furniture for our rented apartment. But this would no longer be
possible. Street vendors are now forbidden to operate; the government
claims this clogs the streets and creates a bad impression. (The real
reason, others argue, is that the government wants to make way for
cheap
Chinese imports in exchange for Chinese assistance and government
pay-offs.) Visiting here last week, we were struck by the irony of the
government calling their campaign [clean up trash]. In fact, we
witnessed huge piles of trash and rubble everywhere, largely left over
from the housing extensions that the government forced the local people
to dismantle, brick by brick, under the guise of their being illegal
structures. Yes, you got this right: under the threat of death, local
residents had to physically tear down their own homes that they had
painstakingly built of the past ten and twenty years. They might as
well have been digging their own graves. Now people are huddled ten
and
twenty to a room, the perfect conditions for tuberculosis, pneumonia,
and other contagious diseases to spread.
Everyone is affected. This country is so cash-strapped that it can
take days on a queue to buy petrol for your car, and power outages have
become a regular part of daily life. By the end of the year, the
inflation level may well reach 1000%. Prices have so many zeros
attached to them (a coke costs 17,000 Zimbabwean dollars), that I stopped
keeping track. According to Sister Patricia Walsh (one of Mugabe s most
courageous detractors), Zimbabwe s crisis should become a warning bell
to other countries in Southern Africa and beyond. Just as new
drug-resistant forms of HIV are likely to spread across Zimbabwe’s
borders as a result of this disaster, she said, so too are the
effects of Zimbabwes economic meltdown.The rest of us must be prepared to
act.
One industry that is booming is gallows-humor. As I shared a
candlelight dinner with a friend at her home, my friend popped the
question: What did Zimbabweans use before they had candles? Answer:
Electricity.
Here is another. Queen Elizabeth, George Bush, and Robert Mugabe meet
in Hell. Queen Elizabeth asks the Devil if she can phone England to
see how things are getting on without her. The Devil agrees and afterwards
charges her a million dollars for the call. Then George Bush asks to
phone the USA, and he is also charged a million dollars. After Robert
Mugabe asks for the same privilege and is given permission to phone
Zimbabwe, he is only charged one dollar. Why does Comrade Mugabe only
have to pay one dollar? asks Queen Elizabeth and George Bush. The
Devil smiles. Calling Zimbabwe is cheap because it is a local call,
he answers.
FINDING HOPE
Where is the hope, you ask? Against enormous odds, I found great acts
of courage amongst the Zimbabwean people I met, especially amongst those
who had already lost practically everything. By way of example, let me
introduce you to Florence Ndlovu, a widow, who has been HIV-positive
for the past 18 years. She showed me the photograph of the house she had
been building, bit by bit, whenever her savings allowed. It was a
large structure, with at least six rooms. But Florence had the misfortune of
building her house in a neighborhood that the government had decided
was full of illegal shacks and should be torn down. So hers was
bulldozed
to the ground, too. What now? Eventually, Florence said, she found
alternate housing but it is just a single room in which 13 people now
sleep, huddled together like sardines on mats on the floor. Well,
she
added, we started out as eleven, but then I ran across one of my
former
counseling clients, who is also HIV-positive, who was living on the
street with her daughter. So I said they could join us. But our
situation is really terrible. One of the children I took in has a skin
rash. At night, she shares a single blanket with another one of the
children, and yesterday I noticed that the second child has now gotten
the same skin rash. In all the years since I found out Im
HIV-positive,
I have never felt so hopeless. But you keep on going, because
otherwise
there is no future.
I also came away inspired by my visits to the Mashambanzou Care Trust,
a Catholic-run hospice and outreach project that serves 4000 HIV-infected
patients and their orphaned children weekly, and to The Centre, a
holistic nutrition-and-support organization by and for people living
with HIV and AIDS. Remarkably, I even found hope (or, at the very
least, commitment) within Zimbabwe s dwindling white community
(although I am leaving out their names here, not to put anyone at risk). Church
worker John Anderson probably summed it up most succinctly: Im proud
to be a Zimbabwean, he explained. This is where I was born and this
is where I will die. If I left, what could I do to help my fellow
human
being? I wouldnt be any good anywhere else, anyway.
Finally, I asked the people we met what they wanted us as visitors
to do. All had basically the same message: We want our voices heard,
Sister Sipiwe said prophetically. Tell others what you have seen and
learned. Ultimately the truth will set us free
Please feel free to pass this on to others. Some names have been
changed to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
* Lucy Y Steinitz, PhD. Tel: 264-81-270-6528. Home email:
Steinitz@mweb.com.na
July 31 August 4, 2005 by Lucy Y. Steinitz*
Flying into Harare s spanking-new airport, you can see vast stretches
of broken rubble where entire neighborhoods once stood. I visited Zimbabwe
last week for work (on behalf of the World Council of Churches, for
their Regional Reference Group on the Ecumenical HIV/AIDS Initiative
for Africa, which I chair). This was my first trip back to Harare
(Zimbabwes capital) since our family lived there in 1994. But
tragically, in many ways this is a different Zimbabwe than we knew and
loved eleven years ago.
THE DIRTY CLEAN-UP
The UN estimates that Robert Mugabes recent Project Murambatsvina
(Shona for clean up trash campaign) cost 700,000 people their homes
and forced 300,000 children out of school. Deaths have not been
accurately counted, but must surely include people who died from the
resultant loss in food, medicine, or shelter during Zimbabwe’s cold
winter-weather. By way of example, one home-based care volunteer I met
told me of a woman she knew who had been forced out of the room she had
been renting and told to go back where she came from. Some days later
the woman reached the rural area where she had been born, only to have
the local chief chase her away again, saying that there was no food to
eat and that the land was already crowded with others who had gotten
there first. Eventually, the woman made her way back to the Harare,
where she pleaded with her former landlord to let her have her old room
back. Im not allowed, cried the landlord, fearful of what would
happen to him if the police found out. Weak with hunger, the woman
simply laid down on the street, a few feet from her former residence.
Two days later, with just the clothes she wore to protect her from the
nighttime cold, she died of pneumonia.
A representative from the International Organization for Migration, Dr
Islene Araujo, reminded our group that since 2000, Zimbabwes land
reform policies have already displaced 800,000 people. The current
campaign comes on top of that upheaval. Since we came to this country
to address AIDS-related issues, however, we focused on this aspect more
than others. It is overwhelming: according to the UN, at least 80,000
of the people who have recently been forced from their homes are
estimated to be HIV+. Moreover, this government-induced tsunami (as
some local people now refer to the disaster) has disrupted virtually
every conceivable network of social support that was developed by or
for people living with HIV: medication-distribution systems,
condom-distribution networks, organizations doing volunteer home-based
care, income-generating groups, and so on.
The end-effect is mass-murder. Lacking a place to live and regular
nutrition, literally thousands of HIV+ Zimbabweans have been forced to
stop treatment for their HIV. As a result, many will die. Even if calm
is restored and people are able to start their anti-retroviral
treatments once again, they will now be required to use a different and
far more expensive drug regimen which is far less sustainable. These
are also the conditions that foster drug-resistant forms of the HIV
virus, which pose a great threat to the entire Southern African region.
And with an estimated 30% of all Zimbabweans now living outside the
country (often as illegal refugees, mostly in surrounding countries),
this can happen a lot faster than I had previously thought.
EYEWITNESS ACCOUNT
We heard about this first-hand. When we visited one of the worst
affected areas, two women told us that their local Catholic-run clinic
had been bulldozed, leaving them without any anti-retroviral drugs
and to obtain drugs elsewhere they will now have to travel a long distance
and start the process all over again. Similarly, Dominican Sister
Sipiwe Mugadza told us of a couple she had been counseling some months
ago to help them prepare for an HIV-test, accept their illness, and
then start treatment. Finally, they were ready but then the demolition
started. Sister Sipiwei has been looking for the couple ever since,
but they disappeared without a trace. Others also told us of health workers
who have been trying to locate their AIDS-patients in order to continue
their medical treatment, but they cannot find them anymore.
Our group drove out to a field at the edge of town, which had once been
the residential neighborhood of Hatcliff-Extension, housing over 6000
people plus shops, a clinic, and so on. From a distance, all we could
see of the former township were some homemade tents of cardboard and
discarded metal, looking like oversized anthills fit for animals rather
than for human habitat. And yet, the people were moving back to the
area, in most cases because they had nowhere else to go.
In order to enter the area ourselves, we first had to seek permission;
this is because our hosts (Christian Care, an arm of the Zimbabwean
Council of Churches) must tread carefully with the government
authorities in order to retain their own role as an approved
organization that has permission to distribute food, blankets, and
otherassistance. Still, we approached this former neighborhood from the
back, as we had been warned that there might be trouble from some
government supporters who would not appreciate our visit.
Significantly, the government-authorities we did find were guarding a distribution
point where sheets of asbestos roofing had been delivered and were now
being allocated, three and four to a family. What was this all about?
we wondered. Reverend Forbes Matonga, executive director of Christian
Care, explained that most of the residents had been living in this
neighborhood for fifteen years, before the government declared the
settlement illegal and forced everyone out. Some residents moved-in
with relatives in the rural areas, while others got hoarded onto trucks like
cattle and dropped off at a transit camp (Caledonia Farm) which was, in
fact, nothing but an open field.
HOW MUCH MORE CAN THE PEOPLE TAKE?
With the arrival of the special UN envoy Anna Tibauijuka some weeks ago
to investigate the governments clean up campaign, Caledonia Farm has
became an embarrassment to the government and has now been closed off
to
all visitors. At the same time, those former residents who wanted to
return to Hatcliff Extension (which we visited) were suddenly declared
legal and given documents to prove their status. But the residents told
us that they had always had documents to prove their legal status
even
BEFORE their homes were bulldozed to the ground. So what good is a new
piece of paper?” they asked. To call this an exercise in futility
obscures the deeper, insidious impact of Mugabes strategy. It breaks
the spirit of people, obliterates political opposition and the freedom
of speech, makes them dependent on government handouts, and generates a
constant fear of worse things to come.
The end effect is that this is a war not against poverty but against
the poor. Hatcliff Extension, the neighborhood we visited, has always
been badly-off. But now the conditions here have gone from bad to
worse
there is literally NOTHING here. The infrastructure is completely
gone no more streets, nor sewage, nor water-pipes, nor electricity. At
night, it is horrific: dark and cold, with temperatures dropping to
near-freezing (this being winter in Zimbabwe). To obtain wood for a
cooking fire, people have to walk miles away, into a distant forest.
For food, they must beg. As one woman said, the worst part is that they
have taken our dignity. The only certainty that the people have is
that there is no certainty at all.
We also drove to the high-density township of Mbare in the heart of
Harare. I remember this neighborhood from 1994, when our family came to
the Mbare Market in order to buy fresh fruits and vegetables, and even
furniture for our rented apartment. But this would no longer be
possible. Street vendors are now forbidden to operate; the government
claims this clogs the streets and creates a bad impression. (The real
reason, others argue, is that the government wants to make way for
cheap
Chinese imports in exchange for Chinese assistance and government
pay-offs.) Visiting here last week, we were struck by the irony of the
government calling their campaign [clean up trash]. In fact, we
witnessed huge piles of trash and rubble everywhere, largely left over
from the housing extensions that the government forced the local people
to dismantle, brick by brick, under the guise of their being illegal
structures. Yes, you got this right: under the threat of death, local
residents had to physically tear down their own homes that they had
painstakingly built of the past ten and twenty years. They might as
well have been digging their own graves. Now people are huddled ten
and
twenty to a room, the perfect conditions for tuberculosis, pneumonia,
and other contagious diseases to spread.
Everyone is affected. This country is so cash-strapped that it can
take days on a queue to buy petrol for your car, and power outages have
become a regular part of daily life. By the end of the year, the
inflation level may well reach 1000%. Prices have so many zeros
attached to them (a coke costs 17,000 Zimbabwean dollars), that I stopped
keeping track. According to Sister Patricia Walsh (one of Mugabe s most
courageous detractors), Zimbabwe s crisis should become a warning bell
to other countries in Southern Africa and beyond. Just as new
drug-resistant forms of HIV are likely to spread across Zimbabwe’s
borders as a result of this disaster, she said, so too are the
effects of Zimbabwes economic meltdown.The rest of us must be prepared to
act.
One industry that is booming is gallows-humor. As I shared a
candlelight dinner with a friend at her home, my friend popped the
question: What did Zimbabweans use before they had candles? Answer:
Electricity.
Here is another. Queen Elizabeth, George Bush, and Robert Mugabe meet
in Hell. Queen Elizabeth asks the Devil if she can phone England to
see how things are getting on without her. The Devil agrees and afterwards
charges her a million dollars for the call. Then George Bush asks to
phone the USA, and he is also charged a million dollars. After Robert
Mugabe asks for the same privilege and is given permission to phone
Zimbabwe, he is only charged one dollar. Why does Comrade Mugabe only
have to pay one dollar? asks Queen Elizabeth and George Bush. The
Devil smiles. Calling Zimbabwe is cheap because it is a local call,
he answers.
FINDING HOPE
Where is the hope, you ask? Against enormous odds, I found great acts
of courage amongst the Zimbabwean people I met, especially amongst those
who had already lost practically everything. By way of example, let me
introduce you to Florence Ndlovu, a widow, who has been HIV-positive
for the past 18 years. She showed me the photograph of the house she had
been building, bit by bit, whenever her savings allowed. It was a
large structure, with at least six rooms. But Florence had the misfortune of
building her house in a neighborhood that the government had decided
was full of illegal shacks and should be torn down. So hers was
bulldozed
to the ground, too. What now? Eventually, Florence said, she found
alternate housing but it is just a single room in which 13 people now
sleep, huddled together like sardines on mats on the floor. Well,
she
added, we started out as eleven, but then I ran across one of my
former
counseling clients, who is also HIV-positive, who was living on the
street with her daughter. So I said they could join us. But our
situation is really terrible. One of the children I took in has a skin
rash. At night, she shares a single blanket with another one of the
children, and yesterday I noticed that the second child has now gotten
the same skin rash. In all the years since I found out Im
HIV-positive,
I have never felt so hopeless. But you keep on going, because
otherwise
there is no future.
I also came away inspired by my visits to the Mashambanzou Care Trust,
a Catholic-run hospice and outreach project that serves 4000 HIV-infected
patients and their orphaned children weekly, and to The Centre, a
holistic nutrition-and-support organization by and for people living
with HIV and AIDS. Remarkably, I even found hope (or, at the very
least, commitment) within Zimbabwe s dwindling white community
(although I am leaving out their names here, not to put anyone at risk). Church
worker John Anderson probably summed it up most succinctly: Im proud
to be a Zimbabwean, he explained. This is where I was born and this
is where I will die. If I left, what could I do to help my fellow
human
being? I wouldnt be any good anywhere else, anyway.
Finally, I asked the people we met what they wanted us as visitors
to do. All had basically the same message: We want our voices heard,
Sister Sipiwe said prophetically. Tell others what you have seen and
learned. Ultimately the truth will set us free
Please feel free to pass this on to others. Some names have been
changed to protect the identity of the individuals involved.
* Lucy Y Steinitz, PhD. Tel: 264-81-270-6528. Home email:
Steinitz@mweb.com.na
Friday, August 05, 2005
VOA News - South Africa Encouraging as to Zimbabwe Loan
VOA News - South Africa Encouraging as to Zimbabwe Loan: "South Africa Encouraging as to Zimbabwe Loan By Blessing Zulu
Washington
03 August 2005
Interview with Percy Makombe
Listen to Interview with Percy Makombe
The South African government has confirmed that it is willing in principle to financially assist Zimbabwe, including through the provision of a loan facility to help it address its overdue obligations to the International Monetary Fund.
Spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said Pretoria is basing the commitment on the premise that assistance should benefit the people of Zimbabwe as a whole �within the context of their program of economic recovery and political normalization,� alluding to ongoing efforts to promote discussions between Zimbawe's government and its opposition."
Washington
03 August 2005
Interview with Percy Makombe
Listen to Interview with Percy Makombe
The South African government has confirmed that it is willing in principle to financially assist Zimbabwe, including through the provision of a loan facility to help it address its overdue obligations to the International Monetary Fund.
Spokesman Joel Netshitenzhe said Pretoria is basing the commitment on the premise that assistance should benefit the people of Zimbabwe as a whole �within the context of their program of economic recovery and political normalization,� alluding to ongoing efforts to promote discussions between Zimbawe's government and its opposition."
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Zimbabwe rules out returning land to white farmers
Top News | Reuters.co.za: "HARARE (Reuters) - Zimbabwe will not invite back white farmers whose land was seized by President Robert Mugabe's government despite calls by the central bank chief to allow them to help the struggling agriculture sector, state media reported.
'The land here is for the black people and we are not going to give it back to anybody. We are not inviting any white farmers back,' Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, also in charge of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, told the state-owned Sunday Mail.
Since 2000 Mugabe's government has seized thousands of white-owned farms after often violent invasions by government-backed veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule."
'The land here is for the black people and we are not going to give it back to anybody. We are not inviting any white farmers back,' Security Minister Didymus Mutasa, also in charge of Lands, Land Reform and Resettlement, told the state-owned Sunday Mail.
Since 2000 Mugabe's government has seized thousands of white-owned farms after often violent invasions by government-backed veterans of the country's 1970s struggle against white rule."
Friday, July 29, 2005
Tiny Jewish Community in Zimbabwe Perseveres Despite Economic Woes
Tiny Jewish Community in Zimbabwe Perseveres Despite Economic Woes: "Tiny Jewish Community in Zimbabwe Perseveres Despite Economic Woes
By Moira Schneider
CAPE TOWN, July 27 (JTA) -- Hylton Solomon, a Zimbabwean Jewish leader, says that he has never felt threatened by the turbulent goings-on in the country, though he did admit to feeling ?a little bit uneasy? during the government?s recent Operation Restore Order, which saw hundreds of thousands of street vendors and others being driven out of urban areas and rendered homeless in midwinter.
?It was like Kristallnacht. You can?t describe it in any other way,? says Solomon, the president of the Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation.
Zimbabwe?s mostly elderly Jewish community has dwindled through emigration to around 300 individuals from a high of 7,500 in the early 1970s. Despite its much diminished size and the rapidly deteriorating political and economic situation in the country, Jewish life, though curtailed, carries on."
By Moira Schneider
CAPE TOWN, July 27 (JTA) -- Hylton Solomon, a Zimbabwean Jewish leader, says that he has never felt threatened by the turbulent goings-on in the country, though he did admit to feeling ?a little bit uneasy? during the government?s recent Operation Restore Order, which saw hundreds of thousands of street vendors and others being driven out of urban areas and rendered homeless in midwinter.
?It was like Kristallnacht. You can?t describe it in any other way,? says Solomon, the president of the Bulawayo Hebrew Congregation.
Zimbabwe?s mostly elderly Jewish community has dwindled through emigration to around 300 individuals from a high of 7,500 in the early 1970s. Despite its much diminished size and the rapidly deteriorating political and economic situation in the country, Jewish life, though curtailed, carries on."
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Zimbawe in financial crisis
SABCnews.com - africa/southern_africa: "Zimbabwe slump unprecedented : World Bank
Zimbawe in financial crisis
July 27, 2005, 05:00
Zimbabwe's rapid economic decline over the past six years is likely unprecedented for a country not at war, says the World Bank's director for the country. In an interview with Reuters yesterday, Hartwig Schafer said reversing the decline would require major economic restructuring, similar to policies that helped rebuild former Soviet states also endowed with infrastructure and human resources."
Zimbawe in financial crisis
July 27, 2005, 05:00
Zimbabwe's rapid economic decline over the past six years is likely unprecedented for a country not at war, says the World Bank's director for the country. In an interview with Reuters yesterday, Hartwig Schafer said reversing the decline would require major economic restructuring, similar to policies that helped rebuild former Soviet states also endowed with infrastructure and human resources."
Saturday, May 21, 2005
Interactive museum marred by hesitation to confront apartheid
Haaretz - Israel News: "Interactive museum marred by hesitation to confront apartheid
By Shoshana Kordova
CAPE TOWN - A hesitation to confront organized Jewry's complicity with apartheid, a pandering political correctness wall and a bizarre exhibit extolling South African Jews' desire to leave the country are some of the more jarring flaws that mar the otherwise informative, attractive and interactive Jewish museum in this city.
The South African Jewish Museum uses short films on the lives of three influential Jewish businessmen to help tell the tale of Jewish immigration from Lithuania - to which most South African Jews can trace their ancestry - and describe the roles that ostrich farming in Oudtshoorn (at one time known as 'the Jerusalem of Africa') and the 1860s discovery of diamonds in Kimberly played in the establishment of Jewish communities in different parts of the country. The discovery of gold in the 1880s spurred Jewish immigration to the area around Johannesburg, which is today the South African city with the largest Jewish population. "
Interactive features include a touch screen that lets the museumgoer select various "dorps" (Afrikaans for small towns) to find out about the small Jewish communities that at one point were scattered throughout the country, and another screen that lets visitors view famous South African Jews by name or profession. Downstairs is a "discovery center" that provides information on the European background of South African Jews and on Jewish life in Cape Town.
While these media generally add to the quality of the museum, which opened in 2000, in one egregious instance the way in which the technology is used ends up obscuring important information and can mislead visitors.
The section on the relationship between apartheid and the organized Jewish community, as represented by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, does not live up to its title, "Facing Reality." By relying too heavily on the expectation that visitors will stand under the "sound dome" to hear a recorded narrative, and stay there from beginning to end, the museum ends up failing to address adequately the reality of the Board's de facto tolerance of apartheid.
The recording notes that the Board of Deputies did not take an official stance against apartheid until 1985, opting not to take responsibility for the actions of individual Jews who fought apartheid (the subjects of the neighboring exhibit). But the recording can be heard well by only one person at a time, and the visitor must stand directly under what looks like a small plastic umbrella attached to the ceiling, which can be hard to spot if you're not looking for it.
Indeed, the most obvious element of this exhibit is the visual one, the text on the wall that can be observed with a casual glance, and the visual element makes no mention of the Board's official stance - even going so far as to imply its opposite.
The biblical injunction "Tzedek tzedek tirdof" ("Justice, justice shalt thou pursue") is printed in large letters next to excerpts from speeches, including one that called for the creation of a consensus that "race relations are not exclusively a matter of politics but concern human values." The quotes are attributed to speeches made between 1963 and 1965 by Arthur Suzman, chairman of the Board's public relations committee. There is no indication, however, that the Board as an organization spent 20 more years responding in the negative to what the museum calls "the apartheid dilemma: to 'speak out' or not to 'speak out.'"
Perhaps in an effort to show how Jews are part of the "new South Africa," a term used to refer to the post-1994 era, the museum dedicates nine video screens to the cause of multiculturalism, showing constantly shifting images that include a Jewish wedding, an African tribal ritual, a traditional Indian wedding, a modern black wedding, a brit milah (circumcision) and a baptism. According to the museum, this demonstrates that South African cultures "all celebrate a common cycle of life, as part of the vast human family." This paean to political correctness would appear to indicate a tension between the museum's focus on a single ethnicity and its desire not to be labeled as ethnocentric, but it is ultimately out of place, if not devoid of meaning.
In addition, there is a lack of correlation between the museum's stated theme and its displays. The museum purports to structure its exhibits around the theme of reality ("life in South Africa"), memory ("roots in Baltic Europe") and dreams ("visions of the future"). But this theme is not wholly evident in the exhibits or in their layout, seeming to be more of an afterthought than a blueprint.
The museum does look at immigration from Lithuania, and has even built a mock wooden shtetl meant to evoke the "memory" of how Jews typically lived in the 1800s (a project the museum workers seem particularly keen to make sure their visitors see). The history of South African Jewish "reality" as it used to exist in cities and dorps throughout the country is also presented well. But while the museum shows that about 40,000 Jews immigrated to South Africa between 1881 and 1910, it shies away from the present reality, whereby 50,000 Jews have emigrated from South Africa since 1970, according to the World Jewish Congress. The WJC puts the number of Jews in South Africa today at 92,000.
Instead of discussing emigration head-on, the museum displays several video interviews with South Africans who have left the country, in a section that, inexplicably, is meant to represent the "dreams" introduced in the theme. One of the interviewees says he moved to the United States because he likes adventure and has "always wanted to live in the center." Unless the museum organizers dream of a future South Africa without Jews, it is difficult to understand the purpose of this exhibit or the reason for its name.
One final point may seem incidental, but touches on the museum's intended audience. If it is meant to be accessible to the local Jewish community as well as to visitors from abroad, the museum would do well to consider lowering its 50 rand (NIS 34) entrance fee.
In all, the South African Jewish Museum does a good job of involving its visitors in the history of the country's Jewry. But in only partially addressing modern reality, the museum does not ultimately fulfill the promise of its theme or the potential of the media it utilizes.
By Shoshana Kordova
CAPE TOWN - A hesitation to confront organized Jewry's complicity with apartheid, a pandering political correctness wall and a bizarre exhibit extolling South African Jews' desire to leave the country are some of the more jarring flaws that mar the otherwise informative, attractive and interactive Jewish museum in this city.
The South African Jewish Museum uses short films on the lives of three influential Jewish businessmen to help tell the tale of Jewish immigration from Lithuania - to which most South African Jews can trace their ancestry - and describe the roles that ostrich farming in Oudtshoorn (at one time known as 'the Jerusalem of Africa') and the 1860s discovery of diamonds in Kimberly played in the establishment of Jewish communities in different parts of the country. The discovery of gold in the 1880s spurred Jewish immigration to the area around Johannesburg, which is today the South African city with the largest Jewish population. "
Interactive features include a touch screen that lets the museumgoer select various "dorps" (Afrikaans for small towns) to find out about the small Jewish communities that at one point were scattered throughout the country, and another screen that lets visitors view famous South African Jews by name or profession. Downstairs is a "discovery center" that provides information on the European background of South African Jews and on Jewish life in Cape Town.
While these media generally add to the quality of the museum, which opened in 2000, in one egregious instance the way in which the technology is used ends up obscuring important information and can mislead visitors.
The section on the relationship between apartheid and the organized Jewish community, as represented by the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, does not live up to its title, "Facing Reality." By relying too heavily on the expectation that visitors will stand under the "sound dome" to hear a recorded narrative, and stay there from beginning to end, the museum ends up failing to address adequately the reality of the Board's de facto tolerance of apartheid.
The recording notes that the Board of Deputies did not take an official stance against apartheid until 1985, opting not to take responsibility for the actions of individual Jews who fought apartheid (the subjects of the neighboring exhibit). But the recording can be heard well by only one person at a time, and the visitor must stand directly under what looks like a small plastic umbrella attached to the ceiling, which can be hard to spot if you're not looking for it.
Indeed, the most obvious element of this exhibit is the visual one, the text on the wall that can be observed with a casual glance, and the visual element makes no mention of the Board's official stance - even going so far as to imply its opposite.
The biblical injunction "Tzedek tzedek tirdof" ("Justice, justice shalt thou pursue") is printed in large letters next to excerpts from speeches, including one that called for the creation of a consensus that "race relations are not exclusively a matter of politics but concern human values." The quotes are attributed to speeches made between 1963 and 1965 by Arthur Suzman, chairman of the Board's public relations committee. There is no indication, however, that the Board as an organization spent 20 more years responding in the negative to what the museum calls "the apartheid dilemma: to 'speak out' or not to 'speak out.'"
Perhaps in an effort to show how Jews are part of the "new South Africa," a term used to refer to the post-1994 era, the museum dedicates nine video screens to the cause of multiculturalism, showing constantly shifting images that include a Jewish wedding, an African tribal ritual, a traditional Indian wedding, a modern black wedding, a brit milah (circumcision) and a baptism. According to the museum, this demonstrates that South African cultures "all celebrate a common cycle of life, as part of the vast human family." This paean to political correctness would appear to indicate a tension between the museum's focus on a single ethnicity and its desire not to be labeled as ethnocentric, but it is ultimately out of place, if not devoid of meaning.
In addition, there is a lack of correlation between the museum's stated theme and its displays. The museum purports to structure its exhibits around the theme of reality ("life in South Africa"), memory ("roots in Baltic Europe") and dreams ("visions of the future"). But this theme is not wholly evident in the exhibits or in their layout, seeming to be more of an afterthought than a blueprint.
The museum does look at immigration from Lithuania, and has even built a mock wooden shtetl meant to evoke the "memory" of how Jews typically lived in the 1800s (a project the museum workers seem particularly keen to make sure their visitors see). The history of South African Jewish "reality" as it used to exist in cities and dorps throughout the country is also presented well. But while the museum shows that about 40,000 Jews immigrated to South Africa between 1881 and 1910, it shies away from the present reality, whereby 50,000 Jews have emigrated from South Africa since 1970, according to the World Jewish Congress. The WJC puts the number of Jews in South Africa today at 92,000.
Instead of discussing emigration head-on, the museum displays several video interviews with South Africans who have left the country, in a section that, inexplicably, is meant to represent the "dreams" introduced in the theme. One of the interviewees says he moved to the United States because he likes adventure and has "always wanted to live in the center." Unless the museum organizers dream of a future South Africa without Jews, it is difficult to understand the purpose of this exhibit or the reason for its name.
One final point may seem incidental, but touches on the museum's intended audience. If it is meant to be accessible to the local Jewish community as well as to visitors from abroad, the museum would do well to consider lowering its 50 rand (NIS 34) entrance fee.
In all, the South African Jewish Museum does a good job of involving its visitors in the history of the country's Jewry. But in only partially addressing modern reality, the museum does not ultimately fulfill the promise of its theme or the potential of the media it utilizes.
Zimbabwe's central bank chief wants white farmers back
Zimbabwe's central bank chief wants white farmers back: "Zimbabwe's central bank chief wants white farmers back
GONO
Central back chief admits failure
Gono revises inflation target 100 percent upwards
Gono's 'sleepless nights' over inflation
Gono fighting a losing battle
Gono, the Zimbabwean Napoleon
The small minds in charge of our economy
Overcoming the 'Messiah Complex'
By Staff Reporter
Last updated: 05/20/2005 17:33:34
ZIMBABWE'S central bank chief has called on President Robert Mugabe's government to allow some white farmers back on to land seized for redistribution to blacks to help revive an economy on the brink of collapse."
GONO
Central back chief admits failure
Gono revises inflation target 100 percent upwards
Gono's 'sleepless nights' over inflation
Gono fighting a losing battle
Gono, the Zimbabwean Napoleon
The small minds in charge of our economy
Overcoming the 'Messiah Complex'
By Staff Reporter
Last updated: 05/20/2005 17:33:34
ZIMBABWE'S central bank chief has called on President Robert Mugabe's government to allow some white farmers back on to land seized for redistribution to blacks to help revive an economy on the brink of collapse."
Friday, May 20, 2005
Southern Africa Habonim plans `biggest ever' anniversary bash
Haaretz - Israel News: "Southern Africa Habonim plans `biggest ever' anniversary bash
By Charlotte Halle
Mass preparations are underway for the 75th anniversary celebrations of Southern African Habonim, the socialist Zionist youth movement which inspired hundreds of Southern Africans to immigrate to Israel. "
By Charlotte Halle
Mass preparations are underway for the 75th anniversary celebrations of Southern African Habonim, the socialist Zionist youth movement which inspired hundreds of Southern Africans to immigrate to Israel. "
Sunday, May 15, 2005
57 more reasons I love Israel
Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World
The Human Spirit: 57 more reasons I love Israel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbara Sofer, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 11, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Independence Day, I suggested 56 reasons why I love Israel. With the trepidation of embarking on a sequel, I venture forth with 57 additional reasons - in no particular order.
1. At Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo the loudspeaker announces "Afternoon prayers (minha) are now being held near the lions."
2. The Biblical Zoo is kosher for Pessah. The primates eat matza, but the parrots get rice.
3. The nation mourns when a distinguished songwriter dies.
4. The prime minister invites not only survivors, but their soldier grandchildren to the March of the Living at Auschwitz
5. Thousands of free loan societies flourish. You can borrow wedding dresses and pacifiers.
6. Fourteen years after Operation Solomon, the first plane's pilot still volunteers to teach Ethiopian youth.
7. When the tsunami struck, we sent medical assistance the same day.
8. We also added flights to bring home our backpacking children.
9. The president of the US touts the book of Israel's former minister of Diaspora Affairs.
10. The president of Israel spends Shabbat in a development town, and the first lady does the cooking.
11. A week before Yom Kippur, forecasters speculate on the weather for the fast.
12. Strangers still invite you for a home-cooked Shabbat meal.
13. We entertain at home, but so many Israelis travel abroad that duty free shops advertise on municipal billboards.
14. Before Shabbat a siren marks our country hitting the brakes.
15. Municipal decorating contests feature succot, not trees.
16. Jewish soccer players for Bnei Sakhnin compete against Arab players for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
17. Volunteers pass out sandwiches at the hospitals, not for the patients, but for their families.
18. Childbirth and burial are free. Even the homeless have health insurance.
19. We have a Museum of Psalms, but at every bus stop someone is reading them, keeping the tradition alive.
20. Mrs. World is a Jewish Mother from Tel Aviv.
21. Stem cell research isn't controversial here
22. Fifty years after draining the swamps, we invented a one-pound aerial surveillance vehicle called the Mosquito.
23. Fifty years after we drained the swamps, we're considering bringing them back.
24. Desalinization is finally happening.
25. Per capita, Israel has the highest number of publications in science and Talmud.
26. Sufferers from Jerusalem Syndrome think they're King David or John the Baptist. Could be worse.
27. Disputes with Europeans notwithstanding, we've invented a urine test for mad cows.
28. You can hold an outdoor wedding all summer.
29. Designers create European fashions in real women's sizes.
30. Corner grocers know what type of hallah every family in their neighborhood eats on Shabbat.
31. At the corner grocery, you can often hear a discussion of the Torah portion.
32. We charge our food at the corner grocery, but Israelis invented the check-out technology for America's largest supermarkets
33. Everyone feels compelled to tell a parent to put a hat on the baby in a country where we wear scarves, snoods, spodiks and streimels; wimples, fedoras, berets, tarbushes, homburgs, mods, kippot and keffiyot.
34. Israeli teens like to party, but they won all the top prizes in the international robotic firefighting contest.
35. Our first Nobel Prize laureate chemists are both really doctors.
36. We invented both the chat room and the silent prayer.
37. Israelis take kids everywhere. "Please wait for the strollers to be unloaded" is a standard announcement on El Al.
38. Even the fanciest cars fly blue and white flags.
39. Fabulous boutique kosher wineries are arising on the sites of ancient wine presses.
40. Globalization means a Russian-born Israeli nurse coming in first for her age group in the "run up" the Empire State building.
41. A Beduin kiosk in the middle of the desert stocks kosher-for-Pessah snacks.
42. Our ATM machines speak many languages.
43. Everyone knows where the secret intelligence offices are.
44. Combat soldiers aren't embarrassed to phone their moms.
45. Kindergarteners stand for memorial sirens, and know what they mean.
46. You can find someone to fix small appliances and alter clothing.
47. People mark their birthdays by the Jewish holidays they're closest to.
48. We're still egalitarian: When you go for a blood test, a Knesset member or Supreme Court justice might be in line with you.
49. In Jerusalem, the person offering tefillin shares space with the person selling red strings.
50. Take-out food is called "take-away" in Hebrew, and you can get kosher kubeh, sushi and tiramisu.
51. On Saturday night the radio summarizes news for all those who don't listen on Shabbat.
52. A popular TV contest this year sought someone to explain the case for Israel. A popular movie was Ushpizin, the ancient Aramaic for "sukka visitors."
53. A municipal pool in Tel Aviv is crowded at 4:30 am.
54. Throughout four years of war, we refused to give up essentials like outdoor book fairs.
55. After four years of war, we still feel safest here.
56. "Shalom" means hello or goodbye, and it can be a first name or a last name, but it's primarily our elusive dream.
57. In this ancient land, there's always something new to love.
The Human Spirit: 57 more reasons I love Israel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbara Sofer, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 11, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Independence Day, I suggested 56 reasons why I love Israel. With the trepidation of embarking on a sequel, I venture forth with 57 additional reasons - in no particular order.
1. At Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo the loudspeaker announces "Afternoon prayers (minha) are now being held near the lions."
2. The Biblical Zoo is kosher for Pessah. The primates eat matza, but the parrots get rice.
3. The nation mourns when a distinguished songwriter dies.
4. The prime minister invites not only survivors, but their soldier grandchildren to the March of the Living at Auschwitz
5. Thousands of free loan societies flourish. You can borrow wedding dresses and pacifiers.
6. Fourteen years after Operation Solomon, the first plane's pilot still volunteers to teach Ethiopian youth.
7. When the tsunami struck, we sent medical assistance the same day.
8. We also added flights to bring home our backpacking children.
9. The president of the US touts the book of Israel's former minister of Diaspora Affairs.
10. The president of Israel spends Shabbat in a development town, and the first lady does the cooking.
11. A week before Yom Kippur, forecasters speculate on the weather for the fast.
12. Strangers still invite you for a home-cooked Shabbat meal.
13. We entertain at home, but so many Israelis travel abroad that duty free shops advertise on municipal billboards.
14. Before Shabbat a siren marks our country hitting the brakes.
15. Municipal decorating contests feature succot, not trees.
16. Jewish soccer players for Bnei Sakhnin compete against Arab players for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
17. Volunteers pass out sandwiches at the hospitals, not for the patients, but for their families.
18. Childbirth and burial are free. Even the homeless have health insurance.
19. We have a Museum of Psalms, but at every bus stop someone is reading them, keeping the tradition alive.
20. Mrs. World is a Jewish Mother from Tel Aviv.
21. Stem cell research isn't controversial here
22. Fifty years after draining the swamps, we invented a one-pound aerial surveillance vehicle called the Mosquito.
23. Fifty years after we drained the swamps, we're considering bringing them back.
24. Desalinization is finally happening.
25. Per capita, Israel has the highest number of publications in science and Talmud.
26. Sufferers from Jerusalem Syndrome think they're King David or John the Baptist. Could be worse.
27. Disputes with Europeans notwithstanding, we've invented a urine test for mad cows.
28. You can hold an outdoor wedding all summer.
29. Designers create European fashions in real women's sizes.
30. Corner grocers know what type of hallah every family in their neighborhood eats on Shabbat.
31. At the corner grocery, you can often hear a discussion of the Torah portion.
32. We charge our food at the corner grocery, but Israelis invented the check-out technology for America's largest supermarkets
33. Everyone feels compelled to tell a parent to put a hat on the baby in a country where we wear scarves, snoods, spodiks and streimels; wimples, fedoras, berets, tarbushes, homburgs, mods, kippot and keffiyot.
34. Israeli teens like to party, but they won all the top prizes in the international robotic firefighting contest.
35. Our first Nobel Prize laureate chemists are both really doctors.
36. We invented both the chat room and the silent prayer.
37. Israelis take kids everywhere. "Please wait for the strollers to be unloaded" is a standard announcement on El Al.
38. Even the fanciest cars fly blue and white flags.
39. Fabulous boutique kosher wineries are arising on the sites of ancient wine presses.
40. Globalization means a Russian-born Israeli nurse coming in first for her age group in the "run up" the Empire State building.
41. A Beduin kiosk in the middle of the desert stocks kosher-for-Pessah snacks.
42. Our ATM machines speak many languages.
43. Everyone knows where the secret intelligence offices are.
44. Combat soldiers aren't embarrassed to phone their moms.
45. Kindergarteners stand for memorial sirens, and know what they mean.
46. You can find someone to fix small appliances and alter clothing.
47. People mark their birthdays by the Jewish holidays they're closest to.
48. We're still egalitarian: When you go for a blood test, a Knesset member or Supreme Court justice might be in line with you.
49. In Jerusalem, the person offering tefillin shares space with the person selling red strings.
50. Take-out food is called "take-away" in Hebrew, and you can get kosher kubeh, sushi and tiramisu.
51. On Saturday night the radio summarizes news for all those who don't listen on Shabbat.
52. A popular TV contest this year sought someone to explain the case for Israel. A popular movie was Ushpizin, the ancient Aramaic for "sukka visitors."
53. A municipal pool in Tel Aviv is crowded at 4:30 am.
54. Throughout four years of war, we refused to give up essentials like outdoor book fairs.
55. After four years of war, we still feel safest here.
56. "Shalom" means hello or goodbye, and it can be a first name or a last name, but it's primarily our elusive dream.
57. In this ancient land, there's always something new to love.
Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World
Jerusalem Post | Breaking News from Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish World
The Human Spirit: 57 more reasons I love Israel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbara Sofer, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 11, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Independence Day, I suggested 56 reasons why I love Israel. With the trepidation of embarking on a sequel, I venture forth with 57 additional reasons - in no particular order.
1. At Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo the loudspeaker announces "Afternoon prayers (minha) are now being held near the lions."
2. The Biblical Zoo is kosher for Pessah. The primates eat matza, but the parrots get rice.
3. The nation mourns when a distinguished songwriter dies.
4. The prime minister invites not only survivors, but their soldier grandchildren to the March of the Living at Auschwitz
5. Thousands of free loan societies flourish. You can borrow wedding dresses and pacifiers.
6. Fourteen years after Operation Solomon, the first plane's pilot still volunteers to teach Ethiopian youth.
7. When the tsunami struck, we sent medical assistance the same day.
8. We also added flights to bring home our backpacking children.
9. The president of the US touts the book of Israel's former minister of Diaspora Affairs.
10. The president of Israel spends Shabbat in a development town, and the first lady does the cooking.
11. A week before Yom Kippur, forecasters speculate on the weather for the fast.
12. Strangers still invite you for a home-cooked Shabbat meal.
13. We entertain at home, but so many Israelis travel abroad that duty free shops advertise on municipal billboards.
14. Before Shabbat a siren marks our country hitting the brakes.
15. Municipal decorating contests feature succot, not trees.
16. Jewish soccer players for Bnei Sakhnin compete against Arab players for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
17. Volunteers pass out sandwiches at the hospitals, not for the patients, but for their families.
18. Childbirth and burial are free. Even the homeless have health insurance.
19. We have a Museum of Psalms, but at every bus stop someone is reading them, keeping the tradition alive.
20. Mrs. World is a Jewish Mother from Tel Aviv.
21. Stem cell research isn't controversial here
22. Fifty years after draining the swamps, we invented a one-pound aerial surveillance vehicle called the Mosquito.
23. Fifty years after we drained the swamps, we're considering bringing them back.
24. Desalinization is finally happening.
25. Per capita, Israel has the highest number of publications in science and Talmud.
26. Sufferers from Jerusalem Syndrome think they're King David or John the Baptist. Could be worse.
27. Disputes with Europeans notwithstanding, we've invented a urine test for mad cows.
28. You can hold an outdoor wedding all summer.
29. Designers create European fashions in real women's sizes.
30. Corner grocers know what type of hallah every family in their neighborhood eats on Shabbat.
31. At the corner grocery, you can often hear a discussion of the Torah portion.
32. We charge our food at the corner grocery, but Israelis invented the check-out technology for America's largest supermarkets
33. Everyone feels compelled to tell a parent to put a hat on the baby in a country where we wear scarves, snoods, spodiks and streimels; wimples, fedoras, berets, tarbushes, homburgs, mods, kippot and keffiyot.
34. Israeli teens like to party, but they won all the top prizes in the international robotic firefighting contest.
35. Our first Nobel Prize laureate chemists are both really doctors.
36. We invented both the chat room and the silent prayer.
37. Israelis take kids everywhere. "Please wait for the strollers to be unloaded" is a standard announcement on El Al.
38. Even the fanciest cars fly blue and white flags.
39. Fabulous boutique kosher wineries are arising on the sites of ancient wine presses.
40. Globalization means a Russian-born Israeli nurse coming in first for her age group in the "run up" the Empire State building.
41. A Beduin kiosk in the middle of the desert stocks kosher-for-Pessah snacks.
42. Our ATM machines speak many languages.
43. Everyone knows where the secret intelligence offices are.
44. Combat soldiers aren't embarrassed to phone their moms.
45. Kindergarteners stand for memorial sirens, and know what they mean.
46. You can find someone to fix small appliances and alter clothing.
47. People mark their birthdays by the Jewish holidays they're closest to.
48. We're still egalitarian: When you go for a blood test, a Knesset member or Supreme Court justice might be in line with you.
49. In Jerusalem, the person offering tefillin shares space with the person selling red strings.
50. Take-out food is called "take-away" in Hebrew, and you can get kosher kubeh, sushi and tiramisu.
51. On Saturday night the radio summarizes news for all those who don't listen on Shabbat.
52. A popular TV contest this year sought someone to explain the case for Israel. A popular movie was Ushpizin, the ancient Aramaic for "sukka visitors."
53. A municipal pool in Tel Aviv is crowded at 4:30 am.
54. Throughout four years of war, we refused to give up essentials like outdoor book fairs.
55. After four years of war, we still feel safest here.
56. "Shalom" means hello or goodbye, and it can be a first name or a last name, but it's primarily our elusive dream.
57. In this ancient land, there's always something new to love.
The Human Spirit: 57 more reasons I love Israel
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Barbara Sofer, THE JERUSALEM POST May. 11, 2005
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Last Independence Day, I suggested 56 reasons why I love Israel. With the trepidation of embarking on a sequel, I venture forth with 57 additional reasons - in no particular order.
1. At Jerusalem's Biblical Zoo the loudspeaker announces "Afternoon prayers (minha) are now being held near the lions."
2. The Biblical Zoo is kosher for Pessah. The primates eat matza, but the parrots get rice.
3. The nation mourns when a distinguished songwriter dies.
4. The prime minister invites not only survivors, but their soldier grandchildren to the March of the Living at Auschwitz
5. Thousands of free loan societies flourish. You can borrow wedding dresses and pacifiers.
6. Fourteen years after Operation Solomon, the first plane's pilot still volunteers to teach Ethiopian youth.
7. When the tsunami struck, we sent medical assistance the same day.
8. We also added flights to bring home our backpacking children.
9. The president of the US touts the book of Israel's former minister of Diaspora Affairs.
10. The president of Israel spends Shabbat in a development town, and the first lady does the cooking.
11. A week before Yom Kippur, forecasters speculate on the weather for the fast.
12. Strangers still invite you for a home-cooked Shabbat meal.
13. We entertain at home, but so many Israelis travel abroad that duty free shops advertise on municipal billboards.
14. Before Shabbat a siren marks our country hitting the brakes.
15. Municipal decorating contests feature succot, not trees.
16. Jewish soccer players for Bnei Sakhnin compete against Arab players for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
17. Volunteers pass out sandwiches at the hospitals, not for the patients, but for their families.
18. Childbirth and burial are free. Even the homeless have health insurance.
19. We have a Museum of Psalms, but at every bus stop someone is reading them, keeping the tradition alive.
20. Mrs. World is a Jewish Mother from Tel Aviv.
21. Stem cell research isn't controversial here
22. Fifty years after draining the swamps, we invented a one-pound aerial surveillance vehicle called the Mosquito.
23. Fifty years after we drained the swamps, we're considering bringing them back.
24. Desalinization is finally happening.
25. Per capita, Israel has the highest number of publications in science and Talmud.
26. Sufferers from Jerusalem Syndrome think they're King David or John the Baptist. Could be worse.
27. Disputes with Europeans notwithstanding, we've invented a urine test for mad cows.
28. You can hold an outdoor wedding all summer.
29. Designers create European fashions in real women's sizes.
30. Corner grocers know what type of hallah every family in their neighborhood eats on Shabbat.
31. At the corner grocery, you can often hear a discussion of the Torah portion.
32. We charge our food at the corner grocery, but Israelis invented the check-out technology for America's largest supermarkets
33. Everyone feels compelled to tell a parent to put a hat on the baby in a country where we wear scarves, snoods, spodiks and streimels; wimples, fedoras, berets, tarbushes, homburgs, mods, kippot and keffiyot.
34. Israeli teens like to party, but they won all the top prizes in the international robotic firefighting contest.
35. Our first Nobel Prize laureate chemists are both really doctors.
36. We invented both the chat room and the silent prayer.
37. Israelis take kids everywhere. "Please wait for the strollers to be unloaded" is a standard announcement on El Al.
38. Even the fanciest cars fly blue and white flags.
39. Fabulous boutique kosher wineries are arising on the sites of ancient wine presses.
40. Globalization means a Russian-born Israeli nurse coming in first for her age group in the "run up" the Empire State building.
41. A Beduin kiosk in the middle of the desert stocks kosher-for-Pessah snacks.
42. Our ATM machines speak many languages.
43. Everyone knows where the secret intelligence offices are.
44. Combat soldiers aren't embarrassed to phone their moms.
45. Kindergarteners stand for memorial sirens, and know what they mean.
46. You can find someone to fix small appliances and alter clothing.
47. People mark their birthdays by the Jewish holidays they're closest to.
48. We're still egalitarian: When you go for a blood test, a Knesset member or Supreme Court justice might be in line with you.
49. In Jerusalem, the person offering tefillin shares space with the person selling red strings.
50. Take-out food is called "take-away" in Hebrew, and you can get kosher kubeh, sushi and tiramisu.
51. On Saturday night the radio summarizes news for all those who don't listen on Shabbat.
52. A popular TV contest this year sought someone to explain the case for Israel. A popular movie was Ushpizin, the ancient Aramaic for "sukka visitors."
53. A municipal pool in Tel Aviv is crowded at 4:30 am.
54. Throughout four years of war, we refused to give up essentials like outdoor book fairs.
55. After four years of war, we still feel safest here.
56. "Shalom" means hello or goodbye, and it can be a first name or a last name, but it's primarily our elusive dream.
57. In this ancient land, there's always something new to love.
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