ARE YOUR PARENTS STILL LIVING IN ZIMBABWE ?
- 15/4/2007 <--Prev : Next-->
ARE YOUR PARENTS STILL LIVING IN ZIMBABWE?
I had always made a mental note to myself that I would never be a burden on my children.
We girls used to joke when our bones first began to creak, that when we reached seventy,
we would all climb into a van, with a bridge table and a couple of bottle of champagne,
and connect a hose pipe to the exhaust pipe...... however as every year passed we kept on
moving the goal posts .....
No one wants to be a burden on their children. Is it a white person's urban myth ?
African people do not have that thought, their extended family is their responsibility, they
just accept it and get on with it. You do not find African parents in Old Age Homes, they
stay with their children and help with the family life. It is as normal just as day passes into
night.
However The lives of Zimbabweans have never been normal. Families have become spilt up
horrendously. Through the saddest of circumstances, most of our children live far far away
from us and often parents do not see their offspring for many lonely years.
Most children assist their parents financially sending the odd bob or two home for a few
luxuries.
But somehow things have changed recently and here is an urgent appeal to all children
who have left Zimbabwe and are living abroad ......
If your parents are still living in Zimbabwe they could be in dire straits and you do not
know it.
Zimbabwe's galloping inflation is causing serious problems with our pensioners. It is also
causing serious problems with people who are not yet old enough to be pensioners.
Even young people are struggling, prices have been increasing steadily each month and
just this last month there were price increases of over 400%!
Your parents may be suffering great hardships but they could be too proud to tell you.....
Bread is now $5000.00 a loaf. A blouse which cost $60,000.00 three weeks ago now costs
$400,000.00 (The exact same blouse)
A pound of butter costs anywhere from $50,000.00 to $176,000.00 !! A bottle of toilet
cleaner is thirty thousand dollars and a pound of mince is forty thousand dollars ....
Our inflation is running at 2500 % and not many salaried people are able to keep up with
this horrendous escalation in prices.
Fuel, a litre of fuel is $18,000.00. These days we are seeing more and more elderly people
either riding bicycles or walking and it is definitely not safe on our roads....
There are people who are willing and able to help you to assess your parent;s situation. If
you send your parents names, addresses and phone numbers, Bulawayo help Network will
make sure they visit your parents and find out if they are coping with the present
situation.
The situation in this country is really really dangerously desperate for many people. A
couple of our folk have already committed suicide as a result of their inability to cope with
the rising cost of living.
If you are already making financial arrangements to assist your parents, a substantial
increase might be in order to make their lives a little easier.
They cared for you when you were young, it is your duty to care for them in their twilight
years.
e mail for further enquiries
"We don't accomplish anything in this world alone ... and whatever happens is the result of
the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to
another that creates something." --Sandra Day O'Connor
