News from Zimbabwe (3)

Part 1
Part 2

... When the future holds forth so little hope, the present becomes meaningless.

And here is where the tragedy of the country's societal deterioration is so stark. We are being changed as a people, our national personality has been affected and continues to be affected. My own view is that long after the national roads have been repaired, and the electricity supply restored and the hospitals replenished with medicines and personnel, long after these improvements take place within our longed-for future, our national psyche will exist in a state of injury and bruising and it will be a long time before we return as a people to where we were before. I think my greatest criticism of the government and our present leadership ... is twofold: they have grown fat and sleek on the suffering of their people, and they have damaged and injured the very personality and psyche of a whole nation. And from such an injury, recovery is slow.

What of the future? Who can tell, other than the One who rules the affairs of nations and holds kings' hearts in His hand? I think we have even stopped hoping as a nation. One becomes a bit suspicious and hesitant of possible solutions to national ills when every glimmer of hope in the past has proved to be just that, a glimmer and not much more. We are grateful for all those who continue to try and make a difference. There are brave and resilient souls in the political arena trying to maintain a viable opposition; there are compassionate and committed people serving within the deteriorating structures of education and health to try and make some difference; there are sensitive and dedicated individuals working within the social sphere to provide some help to at least some; and there are godly and sacrificial men and women ministering within the church, in order to at least slow down the rate of decay of the nation. There are some, and for these we are grateful. But there are fewer and fewer, and the burdens and pressures become ever greater.

Our country remains one of enormous potential, and it is the tragedy of our present history that it remains at this stage just that and nothing more. I may sound very pessimistic and negative: if I have been unfairly so, I apologise and if you think this is an evidence of lack of faith, I trust you are not correct! We continue to look to God, we continue to seek to serve Him, we are seeking to obey the injunction, "Dwell in the land, trust in the Lord and do good". But I would be lying if I told you that we are all upbeat and optimistic. People continue to leave the country, taking with them skills and resources so desperately needed here. One cannot blame them, but the strain of continuing falls on fewer and fewer shoulders.

These three posts are slightly edited extracts of a letter from a Zimbabwean to his Christian family in the developed world.

News from Zimbabwe (2)

Part 1

One of the impacts of the deteriorating school system (let me not repeat the long list of reasons for this, it probably bores you and certainly depresses me!) is that the minds of our children are likewise becoming, well, grey! Bright, living colour has gone, the thrill of learning has largely been replaced by the tedium of classes poorly presented within classrooms poorly maintained taught by teachers who are poorly paid and therefore poorly motivated. Our children are growing up thinking that this is education: that doors are not supposed to have handles; that all children are not supposed to have books and pencils; and that broken window panes are not supposed to be replaced. Our youngsters in the schools and streets are growing up thinking that power and position are to be sought in whatever way necessary, in order to be used to advance oneself and to exploit, exercise control and authority over others. Can you imagine the impact upon a nation when these children are the adults, the decision makers, and the ones who form society?

Families are under tremendous strain, the pressures of normal Zimbabwean life often translates itself, at best, into strained relationships within the family, at worst into infidelity and broken marriages. The diaspora, the dispersion of people due to economic hardships, has created within our society "diaspora widows/widowers" and "diaspora orphans". We see often a greater distance between our teens and their parents than before, a lesser involvement of parents in the lives of their children, absentee parents, children being left to extended family or employed maids and a slow drift away from marriage and family as God intended. With such a poor example in their upbringing, how will our children ever be able to form stable, warm, loving and godly families when they grow up? Bar the grace of God, this seems impossible. There is a greater recklessness amongst our youth than before, expressed in a seething rebellion, a pursuit of the distractions of music, sex and friends, and an irresponsibility about their futures. When the future holds forth so little hope, the present becomes meaningless.

News from Zimbabwe (1)

How does one describe Zimbabwe at the moment? I think there might be two ways to answer this. The first has to do with the country as an entity. We are in a very poor state indeed. We no longer pay close attention to the inflation figures that are quoted. The latest figures are anywhere between 10000% and 14000% (yes, the zeroes are correct!) (PS This was a November figure. December has risen well beyond this). There is no end in sight to the inflation and economic collapse. For some reason the proverbial "ostrich-head-in-the-sand" attitude seems to prevail amongst our governing powers. Frankly the street assessment is that there are a few in power who are making so much money by taking advantage of the situation that there is no desire to change it. Why kill the goose that lays the golden egg, even if that goose only lays eggs by gobbling up and feeding on common people? The impact of this failing economy is evident. All aspects of our contry's infrastructure are falling apart more and more: daily power and water cuts are no longer the exception but the norm; all homes have water containers and candles or some other lighting alternatives; the roads are more and more characterised by deep and vicious, tyre-bursting potholes; the phone system is a hit-and-miss affair; even the cellphone systems upon which we relied for most dependable communication are suffering the effects of price regulations, shortage of skilled personnel and shortage of materials - maladies which afflict all aspects of our industry and economy. Recently, the extreme measures by government to try and control the prices of basic commodities has resulted in the shelves of supermarkets being empty of staples and the black market flourishing. Perversely, the attempt to lower prices, ensure adequate supply of basics and cripple the black market has resulted in exactly the opposite. Hospitals, schools, roads, water supplies, local government, police services - the list of services and facilities in deterioration could go on and on.

There is another approach to the matter of trying to describe Zimbabwe at the moment and that is to look at the country as a people. And here I find greater cause for concern than there is even in the deterioration of the structure and economy of the land. As a people Zimbabweans are generally happy, polite and positive. I see that changing more and more. A friend of mine who is leaving the country soon commented to me recently that he sees Zimbabweans living in survival mode, where more and more energy is being poured into the basics of survival on a day-to-day basis, and less and less energy is available for other affairs of life, sadly including trying to help others survive. Survival mode is most naturally a self-centred mode of existence and there is no doubt in my mind that Zimbabweans are becoming more self-centred as a result of present circumstances. I see this reflected on our roads, for example: less and less concern for the other driver; more use of the horn; less attention to road rules which may slow a journey down. It is reflected in the growth of corruption, at all levels of society - not merely the opportunity to advance oneself - and so someone who has managed to find two loaves of bread at the controlled price will sell the second at an exorbitant profit, rather than pass it on to someone at the same cost. Survival mode means that life is stripped of its colour, its vitality, the extra, humane practices, the kindness, the generosity, the fun times, the travel and so on. Several years ago I told a friend outside that life was becoming grey in Zimbabwe, and I see that being realized more and more.