500 AND STILL GOING STRONG !          - 18/7/2012      <--Prev : Next-->


This is episode 496 of the Morning Mirror. In fact it has been running longer than 496 issues except the first year or so copies of the Mirror somehow disappeared into cyberspace.

But the 500th numbered copy will be quite a landmark if only for me and HeeHoo.

Lets face it I would never have been able to do this mammoth missal if HeeHoo had not provided the internet capability, the finance, the computers and the logistics and most essentially the loving family support !!

The Morning Mirror came about as a result of a suggestion from Maurice Thompson, from the well known Gwanda mining family. Many times I have cursed you Maurice but many more times I have blessed you for your suggestion !!

Since inception more than ten years ago the Mirror has donated its entire profits to Bulawayo's only geriatric frail care facility - the Edith Duly Nursing Home.

Over the years the advertising revenue in the Mirror has raised countless thousands of dollars for the Home, a fact that very few people seem to know.

I often think it would have been a lot easier for HeeHoo to just make a grand donation to the Home every month, but apart from being an important fund raising tool, the Morning Mirror has had the even more important effect of drawing us Zimbos, from all over the world, closer and dearer.

My circulation list of subscribers is incalculable as so many treasured folk are involved in the distribution. The "Hits" on the webpage by our Scatterlings worldwide are so substantial that I am always honored and confused at the same time.

And now I have received a suggestion from a friend who says I should capitalize on the 500th edition. What to do is the question

Unnamed "Friend" suggested I get 500 willing folk to help clean up the Centenary Park, but no, the community has "been there done that !!"

Perhaps ask 500 subscribers to send in ten dollars each so we can assist with the school fees of all the dozens of youngsters I saw being turned away from school today for non-payment of fees

Perhaps ask 500 kind folk to send money for a blanket for our less fortunate folk this winter

There are so many worthy causes, too many to even contemplate in this benighted country of ours.

I am racking my limited brains, and wondered if you had any suggestions to celebrate the 500th edition of the Morning Mirror

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