I prayed every day that I would outlive our esteemed ex president!!!
Statistically it was touch and go, especially as the average age of Zimbabwe women is listed as 34 years old!!!!
Now I can relax and take it day by day phew!!
I wonder how many of my ailments can be attributed to life in Zimbabwe Stress certainly must play a big part!!!
In Zimbabwe, female life expectancy stands at 34 years as I mentioned, while for males it is 37 years. According to a report issued by the United Nations, Zimbabwe has the lowest life expectancy in the world.
Over the last two years, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), life expectancy for women has dropped by two years.
The country's economy has been deteriorating without any sign of any improvement. AIDS/HIV (even though there has been a recent drop in numbers) Women are much more likely to be infected with HIV than men (in Zimbabwe).
Compared with Japan, where average life-expectancy now stands at 82, the situation in Zimbabwe is tragic.
It is a very sad state of affairs. Zimbabwe used to be one of the richest countries in Africa.
Now if the average life expectancy for a man in Zimbabwe is 37, Mr Mugabe must have been extraordinarily healthy to have reached almost three times the average age! I wonder if he will write a book about longevity in his retirement
Herbert Hoover once said - 'Older men declare war. But it is youth that must fight and die.' How true is that of our country......
Well now that I have a few more years ahead of me, thank you Lord, I must share my favourite poem with you, written by an Anonymous Abbess:
Lord, thou knowest better than myself that I am growing older and will soon be old. Keep me from becoming too talkative, and especially from the unfortunate habit of thinking that I must say something on every subject and at every opportunity.
Release me from the idea that I must straighten out other peoples' affairs. With my immense treasure of experience and wisdom, it seems a pity not to let everybody partake of it. But thou knowest, Lord, that in the end I will need a few friends.
Keep me from the recital of endless details; give me wings to get to the point.
Grant me the patience to listen to the complaints of others; help me to endure them with charity. But seal my lips on my own aches and pains -- they increase with the increasing years and my inclination to recount them is also increasing.
I will not ask thee for improved memory, only for a little more humility and less self-assurance when my own memory doesn't agree with that of others. Teach me the glorious lesson that occasionally I may be wrong.
Keep me reasonably gentle. I do not have the ambition to become a saint -- it is so hard to live with some of them -- but a harsh old person is one of the devil's masterpieces.
Make me sympathetic without being sentimental, helpful but not bossy. Let me discover merits where I had not expected them, and talents in people whom I had not thought to possess any. And, Lord, give me the grace to tell them so.
Amen