by Beka Owens(Published in the FT - Oct 2007)
I recently visited my home town of Bulawayo,Zimbabwe’s second-largest city. I had been warned to bring enough food to live on during my trip. So I packed dozens of one-minute noodle packs, rice and soups. But my efforts were wasted: there’s not much you can do with rice and pasta when there is no water or electricity to cook them.
I found life changed beyond belief. Everythingis a struggle. There is no petrol – only government officials, some emergency crews and a lucky few who manage to scrounge US dollars can buy a few litres of petrol. Because there is no fuel, there’s no rubbish collection. Since there is no electricity, people burn their rubbish to provide fire. Everything goes into the flames –including plastic and rubber. The stench inBulawayo is awful.
The stuff that can’t be burned is dumped into the river, which draws the rats, the only thriving population in Bulawayo. The rats then raid residents’ carefully hoarded food stocks. A local joke is that Zimbabwe has reverted to a hunter-gatherer society – locals spend the day hunting for food on shelves, then gathering it – at huge cost – to take home, hoping not to be mugged. I secretly took photos of what I saw around me. One supermarket filled up its empty shelves with a delivery of lavatory paper, although it’s cheaper to use Z$100 notes than to use a proper loo roll. There is no meat at all. Meat and poultry freezers do not operate as there is no electricity – besides there is nothing to put in them anyway.
Zimbabwe is in its seventh year of drought. There is no water for hours, or sometimes days, and one learns to live with the stench of unflushed sewage. But when water flows, it brings its own problems– things back up, but the city’s engineers can’t reach many areas (there’s no fuel for them to get there), so the sewage spills out into the roads. The threat of cholera is very real.
People are dying of starvation and disease even in the richer western suburbs of Bulawayo. There are few medicines or medical staff – most middle-class people have left so that they can earn cash to send home.
Only hard currency will do in this “parallel” market. But having foreign currency is no ticket to success – everyone has to beg for the scarce supplies. People have turned on each other, and must swallow their pride and take abuse, then thank them so that they can leave with a petrol coupon, chicken or a packet of milk. Still, millions of Zimbabweans who have fled abroad send back hard currency to help their families survive – ironically, one of the things that keeps Robert Mugabe in power is the vibrant black market that this creates. It’s a horrible dilemma for those of us who have left Zimbabwe. But we cannot let our families rot in an impoverished, drought-ridden hell hole.
Beka Owens is a pseudonym.
Scarce story: (main picture) empty meat and poultry
freezers; supermarket shelves bulked up with lavatory paper
2 comments:
I too have recently returned from Bulawayo. While the general context of the descriptions of this article are more or less correct, I feel that they have in many cases been somewhat exaggerated. There is no "stench" in the Bulawayo I visited as a result of burnig rubbish - and neither is there to my knowledge any free flowing sewerage in the streets that I walked. The daily electricity, and water cut-offs certainly are a reality, as is the shocking shortage of everyday foodstuffs and essentail fresh produce. Regarding medical attention - I had the opportunity to encounter a number of medical practitioners there - some local and a number from international aid organisations - all practising. There is no question at all that the situation in Bulawayo and Zimbabwe in genreal is dire - and that day to day grind of life there is a disgraceful struggle. Amazingly, amidst it all the legendary Zimbabwe spirit still abounds - and people are kind and generous and welcoming and they still smile...
(from the author of the article)
Ta - all comments gladly accepted. I had another one where the person said the airport bus (in another article) was indeed working - when I saw it wasn't. I guess it depends on when you get there and how many weeks or months apart information is sourced. My article was taken from a visit in early August. Perhaps things have changed slightly for the better. However I also wonder where anon visited. Did they chance to the "Western" suburbs or Mpilo Hospital? Did they note the pall of smoke over Nkulumane 13 or in fact stay the night there. Finally did they chance into Central Hospital emergency section where dysentery is evident and the threat of cholera looming? Did they walk along the Matshlomshlope River through the Bradfield/Golf course area where the rubbish lies waist high and the stench is so overpowering that you have to cover your face and breathe in through your mouth? And the rats there are so bold that they scarcely pay you the slightest attention.
I wonder which parts of Bulawayo they visited?
Post a Comment