When Mom died, I inherited from her the "Milk Money" jar....
A sturdy jar, embossed with pretty little flowers, and with a wide
mouth, that sat on the kitchen shelf. In it was deposited all the
"shrapnel" as HeeHoo began to call it upon entering into our marriage
vows.
All the cent pieces, the five cent, ten and twenty cent pieces, even
the coveted one and two dollar coins were all tossed into the "Milk
Money" jar!! Then horrors, the two-tone FIVE dollar coins were not
enough.
Now a pint of milk, when I was a blushing young bride, delivered at
dawn to the doorstep, probably cost 25 cents, today we have to fork
out, wait for it, ZIM$3400.00 for a pint !
As prices crept higher and higher, (then they started galloping higher
and higher,) the "Milk Money" jar was raided more and more frequently
and suddenly the coins were of no use at all, we found we needed notes
to pay for the milk.
Today I perused with some amusement through that vintage "Milk Money"
jar. It was stacked high with coins that no one ever uses, it was
overflowing with ten, twenty, fifty, one hundred dollar and five
hundred dollar notes that no one now uses.
Today I need nearly $200,000.00 a month to pay for our milk
consumption, and I have no hungry little mouths to feed. (Except for
HeeHoo of course who is only allowed a pint of milk on Sunday nights !!
)
The irony of it all came to a head last week when an article appeared
in the newspaper, quoting a spokesman from the official Zimbabwe Mint
as saying that all persons in the country should be encouraged, indeed,
should be forced, to use coins, so that the Mint could stay in business
!!
Now I ask you with tears in my eyes, what can one buy with a coin in
Zimbabwe ? A box of matches costs Zim$300. There are 45 matches in a
box, therefore one single match costs $6.66 recurring !! What on earth
would one carry coins around with one, if a single match costs $6.00 !!
Now I find I am throwing even my filthy dirty five and ten thousand
dollar notes into the "Milk Money" jar !! (My Dear Departed Mom would
be quivering with rage by now I can just see it !!)
And so when a Zimbabwe housewife sallies forth to do her weekly grocery
shopping, she has to take a portmanteau with her to carry the money. I
have not used my purse in years !! Far too small !! And who can fit a
million dollars a week into a purse after all !!
THE SADDEST THING IS THAT....MOST ZIMBABWE HOUSEWIVES DO NOT HAVE
ANYTHING EVEN REMOTELY CLOSE TO A MILLION DOLLARS.....MOST ZIMBABWE
HOUSEWIVES PROBABLY STRUGGLE TO FIND ENOUGH MONEY TO BUY THEIR FAMILIES
A LOAF OF BREAD EVERY DAY !!!
PETER SOUTH
The funeral service for the late Peter South will take place at the
Hillside
Presbyterian Church on Wednesday the 2nd of March, at 10.30 am.
vFor: GSBBFDNMAJTCPWOZAETHBMJEPA - and all the other
women
24.2.05
Today is full moon
within an hour of so of my sending this,
the moon will be directly opposite the sun.
The three weeks between now and equinox will be
telling days in our history
as we face what is already a deeply questionable
election
where every attempt to influence and intimidate the
nation has already been brought into play.
It is a time of deep confusion and fear
This morning as I sat
I saw a circle of the faces of women who have taken
roles in this
chaotic time
women young and old
women who have taken hidden roles
- weaving webs
women who have stood in open defiance
- being arrested
women who have recorded
women who have healed
circles of extraordinary women
their faces etched with the experience and hardship
and wisdom
of the journey they have travelled over the last 5
years
Its as if their journey was chosen long before this
time
- as if echoes of long past sisterhoods
still shimmer at their edges
memories of the flames of feminine energy
extinguished across the
planet
over hundreds of years of our history
lighting up again
And theirs is the challenge at this time
to bring back that old wisdom
of love not war
of co-operation not competition
of width of vision not rigid narrowness
of trust not distrust
of power sharing not control
The stakes are so high that the power of fear itself
is being challenged
So on behalf of these women of Zimbabwe
I would like to start a ring of loving energy to
support them
to hold them to the earth
and connect them to a global web
that will send them prayer or meditation or simple
good wishes
as they complete this bit of the journey over the
next few weeks.
May they be blessed
Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in
education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.
John F. Kennedy
The problem with beauty is that it's like being born rich and getting
poorer.
Joan Col
Earth laughs in flowers.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
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