It is Sunday morning in Bulawayo.... . there is no power, there is no water. We have had
water for two days out of the last seven days......
Its a gloomy day and I have just read the Economist which tells me that over 3 million
people have left Zimbabwe over the last few years....
What are we still doing here people often ask ? We are not economic prisoners like so may
folk, we are not unable to leave because of our nationality, we just seem to linger on like
that poor old Frog in the Boiling Pot....
Outside the coucal is calling softly. It is the first time we have heard him since he left for
goodness knows where during the winter.
The Heuglins Robin had us fascinated yesterday with a new call he had developed during
his holiday. We spent a few minutes looking for this "new bird on the block" only to find
him calling cockily, a beautiful new melody specially to welcome in the warm weather.
We found some rump steak yesterday... it was a glorious exciting moment, purloined
during a secret meeting in an alley, it cost an arm and a leg on the black market, but ooh
it was worth every delicious glorious decadent mouthful !!
Happiness comes in different guises in Zimbabwe.
Happiness is a birthday present comprising a bag of flour from my friend Flora. Happiness
is the barter deal I did with Tracey, tea bags in exchange for a decent loo roll !! Happiness
is the pound of butter Ceddy and Maureen brought us back from South Africa ....
Happiness is when we turn on the tap and its our turn for water !!
Life is never dull here. Every morning starts with a "Hunting and Gathering" session...
hunting for basic food items, hunting for fuel, hunting for kind people who give us
wonderful donations for a Frail Care Centre that we fund-raise for.
Spring is here and the scent of jasmine is overpowering. I saw moon flowers yesterday,
there are a few brilliant red poppies manfully struggling through. Anything that one came
keep alive with the bath water is flowering brilliantly.
We watched a fabulous rugby game yesterday at Hartsfield where our own Zim team
defeated Limpopo resoundingly, and there was a festive after party in the Kudu Bar where
a couple of daring players dared to emulate the Leeurloop !!
Our simple pleasures are clouded however as we make our way to the Orchid Show, as we
watch hundreds of people queuing for food, queuing for transport, queuing at the ATMs
which are usually empty by this time on the weekend.
There is a shift in the wealth however as those who are unemployed have time to spend
endless days in queues and buy the basic foodstuffs at prices way below an economic
price !!
Those who have the initiative, can queue non stop with granny and six children home from
school, one can buy a bag of meal at 50 thousand and sell it at two hundred thousand. It
could pass through several hands and eventually end up on some fat cats table at one
point two million dollars for the same bag !!
There are pluses too ... door to door deliveries have resumed again. There is a constant
stream of folk who arrive at the gate with contraband for sale. I can shop for bread, sugar,
oil, eggs, meal and flour just by walking to the gate ... saves a fortune in fuel !! The price
is high, but its worth it if one does not have to queue !!
Another plus is the distances we have o deal with. Heehoo leaves for the office at ten to
eight and gets there by eight (if he misses the five minute school traffic jam) !
He comes home for lunch every day too.. how many first world wives have the pleasure of
finding their husbands something to eat every single lunch time !!
When the sprogetts were still at home, he would be home by 4.30 to play with them. I
know other families whose Dads leave at 6 a.m. and return home at 7 p.m. !!
Sadly all bread and milk supplies seem to have now dried up totally .... we need 100 loaves
a week for our Frail Care Home, which caters for 78 lovely "Oldies" of all races colours and
creeds... but we know that our very precious Matron will somehow "Make a plan"
KEITH PALM
WITH GREAT SADNESS AND MUCH LOVE FROM MARIE AND NOEL EDINGTON
Rae Smith entered into rest on 23rd August 07, will be greatly missed by Jimmy, Angus,
Diarmid, Nikki and Brittany
McGahan - Pauline. Peacefully in her sleep on 24/8/2007. Loved Mum of Gerard, Breeda,
Carmel, Paul, Liam & Kieron. Friend and confidante to them all, their partners and children
- someone special we could just call Ma...
" Every morning God must tend to His garden. He primes the weeds and grooms the roses.
Sometimes, He admires a particular rose so much He takes her with Him."
MHDDSRIP Always with Love...
"For the things that are seen are temporary but the things unseen are eternal" II
Corinthians 4:18
Memorial Service for the late Robert Michael Aveley.
There will be a Memorial Service for the late Bob Aveley on Thursday 6th September 2007
at 3.00pm at the Presbyterian Church, 5th Avenue, Jason Moyo Street, Bulawayo.
We record our sympathy to Margaret McCausland and family on the loss of Ian, after a long
battle with cancer. Ian not only had a formidable botanical knowledge, but also the rare
gift of sharing that knowledge (as only a teacher can) so that his audience were left
enthralled and wanting to learn more. He was always willing to identify plant species - and
to provide more than just the name. We shall miss his knowledge and contribution. May he
rest in Peace.
MATOBO CONSERVATION SOCIETY
Let each of us work to build organisations where everyone can make a
contribution. ..where everybody counts...organisations which will continue to change the
world. Elizabeth Dole Politician ?
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody's going to know whether you
did it or not. --Oprah Winfrey
Take your needle, my child, and work at your pattern; it will come out a rose by and by.
Life is like that - one stitch at a time taken patiently
and the pattern will come out all right like the embroidery. --Oliver Wendell Holmes
MOUNTAIN MOMS
Part 3
With only one week to go, the excitement is now bordering hysterical! The girls are "fired
up" - excited and nervous at the same time! Where has the time gone? The Big
Adventure has been a year in the planning and all of a sudden - that time is now!
Everyone knows just how much fun we have had with the planning, training and
preparation, but the one thing not ever mentioned was just how interesting and
educational the research on this incredible mountain has been for all of us, just proving
that one is never too old to learn. So here are some interesting facts about the Roof Of
Africa - Kilimanjaro;
It is said that to climb Kilimanjaro is to walk through 4 seasons in 4 days! Starting off hot
and humid, Temperatures will drop by 1 degree for every 200 meters gain in altitude
ending with a temperature of around minus 24 degrees at the summit. This mountain of
extremes rises 4800 meters above the East African Plains and at a distance of only 270
kilometres from the golden Indian ocean shores, Kilimanjaro is a bizarre geological oddity.
It is the tallest free standing mountain in the world and has been formed and shaped by
the twin forces of fire and ice. Boasting not one or two, but three volcanoes which were
formed just over 750 000 years ago making the trio fairly young in volcano language.
Two of the volcanoes form the peaks of Kilimanjaro, namely Kibo and Mawenzi. The
volcanoes are described as "dormant" as opposed to "extinct" as there are places within
the Reusch Crater where the smell of sulphur is powerful and the ground hot to the touch
The name Kilimanjaro (Kilima Njaro) is unknown in the Swahili language but comes from
the Chagga language from the Chagga tribe, a people indigenous to that particular area.
The Chagga term "kilelema" meaning difficult or impossible and "njaare" meaning bird,
which when put together has been roughly translated into "that which is impossible for the
bird!" - a clear reference to the enormity and extremity of the mountain ...........
We hope that doesn't mean us "birds" too? The word Njaro translates to "whiteness" but is
also the name of an evil God, the guardian spirit of the Mountain who will cause
discomfort and death to all those who climb it!!! The Maasai Tribe call Kili "The House of
God." Earliest reference to the great mountain in the interior of the dark continent goes
back to documentation from as early as 145AD. Ptolemy of Alexandria, astronomer and
founder of scientific cartography, wrote of lands lying to the south where barbaric
cannibals lived at the foot of a "great white mountain" Arabs and Chinese traders followed
and various references to a great snow capped mountain have been made by them
through the centuries - only to be "poo poohed" by the British nearly 800 years later!
Eventually, in 1834, a well to do and highly respected Arab Slave trader called Khamis bin
Uthman met and spoke with the British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston and a leading
African scholar William Desborough Cooley, and convinced them of this snow capped
wonder. There was a flurry of excitement and academic interest thereafter and long
forgotten and sometimes ignored manuscripts were dug out and dusted off. Despite the
renewed interest, it is common knowledge that most of the British scholars preferred to
conduct their research from the comfort of their leather armchairs and it was a young
myopic Swiss-German missionary by the name of Johannes Rebmann who became the
first European to lay eyes on Kilimanjaro. Johannes was quick to learn and adapt to this
savage continent, even successfully translating the bible into the Swahili language. It was
during his ministries and meetings with Slave Caravan leaders at the port of Mombassa
that he learned of a "great mountain to the west" called "Kilimansharo" crowned with a
strange white substance described as "kibo" or "kipoo" meaning "cold" as there is no such
word in either Chagga or Swahili for the word "snow!" Despite warnings of evil spirits and a
"white silver death,' Johannes, undeterred, made the long journey west.
On 27 April 1848, he set off, armed with his bible, his trusty umbrella which accompanied
him everywhere, 8 porters and a renowned slave trade caravan leader by the name of
Bwana Kheri. On 11 May, two weeks later, he came across the most marvellous site as
explained in his own words from his journal
At about 10 o clock, I observed something remarkably white on the top of a very high
mountain and first supposed it be a cloud. Having gone a few paces more, I conferred
with Bwana who explained that it was not a cloud but "coldness - Kibo" The most
delightful recognition took place in my mind, of an old well known European guest called
SNOW!
Even more ironic and more insulting to the British Empire and the brave Victorian action
men, explorers and hunters, it was a bespectacled German doctor by the name of Hans
Meyer who became the first person to summit Kili on 6 October 1889 at approximately
10.30 am. Since then nearly 3000 people attempt to summit Kilimanjaro every year, the
eldest to summit was 87 years old, whilst the youngest has been only 9! The fastest
summit was by an Italian in just 5 hours and 38 minutes - he sprinted up! Whilst a Save
the Rhino campaigner did the whole thing dressed in an 8 foot rubber rhino costume! One
must appreciate that Dr Meyer had no fancy clothing and equipment from Cape Union
Mart and that the elements were so very much harsher. It is a sad scientific fact that
between 1912 and 1986, the snow on Kilimanjaro has decreased by an alarming 86%.
Global warming has been around longer than any of us realise. Sadly, researchers and
scientists have concluded that in 10 years time, the snow on Kilimanjaro will be no longer
and it will just be "a mountain in Africa". The "Kibo" will be gone forever. This distresses
me as my children have expressed a desire to climb Kili "when they are big" and how sad
that there will be no snow for them to plod through. This news does not surprise the
Chagga locals who have lived in the shadow of this mountain for centuries. An elder from
Meela village (her age is no known) by the name of Mama Judith, believes that it is the
evil eyes of the white tourists which are melting the ice and that God is unhappy with
Mankind and their treatment of the earth. I agree with the "God is unhappy with Mankind
and the treatment of the Earth" philosophy and I will remember to wear my sunglasses if I
happen to meet Mam Judith!
KIRSTY Coventry is growing to like picking up medals for Zimbabwe at major international
swimming events.
Since she burst into the international scene at a tender age of 16 at the 2000 Olympic
Games in Sydney, Australia, the United States-based swimmer has turned herself into a
true sporting ambassador for Zimbabwe with her exploits in the pool.
By now, the name Kirsty Coventry is a household name not only in Zimbabwe but also in
the world over since her historic achievement at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens,
Greece.
Before the Athens Games, Coventry, then a student at Auburn University in the United
States, has had only one podium finish in international competition, winning the 200m
individual medley at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester, England.
She also finished 18th in the same event at the Sydney Olympics as a tender 16-year-old.
But seven years down the line, Coventry is now the toast of Southern Africa, the greatest
athlete in Zimbabwe's history.
She reached what most people thought was the pinnacle of her career after collecting a full
set of medals at the Athens Games -- a gold, a silver and a bronze.
But Coventry, who has been shining like a beacon, carrying the Zimbabwean flag with
dignity at major international events, is not finished yet.
Only last month, her bubbly personality, as much as her tenacious swimming, lit up the
ninth All-Africa Games in Algeria, where she emerged with nine medals -- seven gold and
two silver -- the highest medal haul from an individual Zimbabwean athlete at any major
international event.
That seemed to have been her final accomplishment this year.
But the charming girl still had a few tricks in her bag.
This week she was back in the pool, representing Zimbabwe at the 2007 International
Swim Meet in Narashino, Japan, where she once again lived up to expectations, winning
four gold medals in all the events that she took part in.
At the Narashino meet, which ended yesterday, Coventry bagged a gold medal in the 400
and 200m individual medley and the 100 and 200m backstroke events to emerge as one
of the stars of the show.
Her exploits in the pool in Japan have once again firmly put Zimbabwe on the world map.
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