2 major discoveries and 2 lessons

Sent: Wednesday, March 25, 2009 8:31 AM
Subject: update 4 - 2 major discoveries and 2 lessons

by Gabi Elkaim

I think I have put off writing since my last update simply because so much happens here every day and I lose sight of where to start. So I'll recount from more recently.

My first discovery, made last week, is that my beloved choc-dip has returned to Eskimo Hut, our legendary drive-in old-fashioned soft-serve ice-cream joint in Bulawayo. After a year and a half of its absence, I went there the other day, asking facetiously if there was choc-dip, expecting a great big no, but to my surprise, the ice-cream man said "yes"... I thought I was hearing things! It had been there already for 4 whole days!!! What, you might ask, is the real significance of me recounting this story... it's plain and simple. As I said in my past update, Zimbabwe is simply electric at the moment. Since we have changed over to operating in Rands of US dollars, grocery shop shelves have been once again filled, and although expensive, food and other commodities are far more accessible than they were a mere 6 months ago. Apparently the border towns in botswana are crying now as fewer and fewer Zimbabweans are making regular trips across to stock up on food. So yes, even choc-dip has returned. The ice-cream man uses a great big silver spoon to poor the liquid choc-dip over the cup of vanilla soft-serve, where upon contact, it hardens and becomes solid chocolate. As I did every time I went to Eskies, prior to a year and a half ago when choc-dip was still available, I asked the ice-cream man if I could have a lick of that magnificent big silver spoon. As usual he declined. This time, however, there was no disappointment. The excitement of the-return-of-choc-dip was simply too great.

I just got back from a long weekend away at Hwange National Park and a night in Vic Falls. And this is where I come to my second discovery. Vic falls is 400+ km from Bulawayo and during our drive back yesterday we stopped regularly, mainly to grocery shop from the local villagers as the vegetables in the rural areas come at a real bargain. Furthermore, nearer to the Falls, it is Baobab country and villagers line the lay-by areas selling the fruits of the Baobab tree, its great big pods filled with vitamin C-rich cream of tartar. I was also on the lookout for rural "khaya" chickens, but unfortunately on our return trip on Monday, fewer people were out and about as there had been when we were on our way there on Saturday. At one stop in particular, when the car was already filled with about half a dozen watermelons, a massive African squash called ujodo, a pumpkin, 11 tomatoes, and various other bits and pieces, not to mention the 4 of us already in the car in addition to our luggage and picnic baskets, a lady approached us asking for a lift. I was not initially inclined to fit anyone else in the car as from my perspective, we were pretty full-up, but she insisted that space could be made. And when she told me that she had been waiting there since early that morning (it was already 1pm-ish) and that she was trying to get her baby 15km up the road to the Isuza clinic were they were vaccinating, how could I say no? Afterall, it was only 15km. Little did I realize that from her perspective, our car was half-empty, and that when she insisted space could be made, she didn't mean that space could be made only for herself. I had assumed the women and children around her were bystanders at yet another lay-by. A few minutes and 7 people later, we were on our way. We totaled 11 people in the Landcruiser and we drove ever so slowly for the following 15km to Isuza during which time we passed a police road block miraculously, without the police even batting an eyelid at us. The lessons here are perspective and possibility. I guess that that is part of the reason that Zimbabwe has managed to persevere through such rough times: Zimbabweans are able to Stop Look Adjust and Move (the SLAM rule), Adjust being key here. Those who have stayed in the country are constantly forced to reshape their perspective in order to continue creating possibility. And indeed, 3 mothers managed to get their 4 children to a clinic yesterday to obtain their vaccinations! Our education system, although crumbling, has not yet failed us, as young women who are hardly able to speak English, still understand the importance of taking their children to the clinic for ama'njections. Perhaps we do still have the potential to make a full come-back.

Mangwanani from Harare Zimbabwe

Click on the image to enlarge and read this report on Jewish life in Harare - March 2009