The land of Rolexes and handouts

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m

Last update - 02:12 21/07/2008 The land of Rolexes and handouts By Cnaan Liphshiz For 27 years, Owen has worked as a free professional at a large company. Now, his pension of 61 million Zimbabwe dollars will only buy him six apples at the central market place of Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe, where he lives. He says that while the economy is ruined, Zimbabwe's 270 Jews enjoy better personal security than in South Africa. Owen, who requested his real name be withheld for safety reasons, was the only resident of Zimbabwe who 10 days ago attended a large reunion in Ra'anana for ex-Zimbabweans, organized by Telfed, the South African Zionist Federation Israel. "The whole idea in Zimbabwe is low profile. Don't raise your head. This is why I don't want my name mentioned," he said at the Ra'anana Bowling Club, where 300 Southern Africans turned out. Yet for Owen, moving to South Africa as many Zimbabwean Jews have done over the years, is not an option. "In Harare we can still walk and feel safe. We don't have South Africa's huge crime problem, we can go into town and all that," he explained. As for moving to Israel, Owen says that he will stay in Zimbabwe as long as his children receive a good education. "Also, I stay because it's my home - even with all the nonsense going on," he says in an apparent reference to the dictatorial rigging of elections and executions of dissidents by President Robert Mugabe. At 57, Owen's one of the youngest members of his dwindling community. "They're all old people, and they have no access to the decision makers," he added. Zimbabwe's Jews are too old to leave, Owen says, and outside funding is the only way for them to survive in a failed economy afflicted by the worst inflation rate witnessed anywhere in recent years. "You need at least a few trillion to manage," he says - the equivalent of a few hundred U.S. dollars. Owen relies on foreign currency to maintain a lifestyle which he calls "affluent." Whipping out from his pocket a slim iPhone cellular device, he browses through pictures of his spacious home in Zimbabwe - which he jokingly calls "the only country where people like me wear Rolex watches and get food handouts."