It was one of life's enchanted orchestral moments ....
We heard it every few kilometers, it was not consistent but very strange and very loud.... at
first we thought, with dread ... that there was something wrong with the car ... and we
were all alone on the very quiet BeitBridge to Bulawayo road, it was after all, 5 a.m. and we
had been up since two am, so nervously we tried to pretend it was not happening.
The border crossing had been particularly stressful, we had thought that arriving at the
Beitbridge border post at 2.30 in the morning, would ensure we avoided the endless
queues, but we were seriously mistaken.
There were literally dozens of buses and the silent line of border crossers wound its way
for hundreds of meters nearly to the gate !!
HeeHoo is a Patient Man and whilst I fretted, fumed and sat fed-up in the car, he stood
stoically in the line in the pitch dark outside the customs and immigration hall.
Eventually, curiosity got the better of my bad temper and I wandered off to investigate and
chat with the populace. I had my camera, as always, but was too nervous to take pictures
of the horrendous mishmash at the border post.
There were people sleeping in every nook and cranny, blankets spread out in full view of
the "authorities" . Every pavement was covered in goods, chattels and a seething mass of
humanity, it is after all, a 24 hour border post, and people have 24 hour needs.
However it was amazingly quiet, we Zimbos are an exceptionally peaceful people except
for the likes of me, and apart from the occasional murmur when the queue jumpers were
just too brazen, conversation was limited and it was quite cool, thank goodness.
Beitbridge at midday is hell on earth, but as the dawn broke, it had an appeal all of its
own.....but I could almost smell the cholera boiling under the surface of it all ....
Previously on Morning Mirror I have made a point of being positive about Zim for the sake
of the few tourists who might possibly still come and visit our beleaguered country, but
right at the moment I am ashamed of my country and I would not want you to see just
how dreadfully it has deteriorated. If the world does not help us somehow, there is going
to be an humanitarian tragedy of hideous proportions.
We got through in record time, only two whole hours ... this very week HeeHoo met some
folk at the airport, they were flying back home instead of driving, because their cross
border trip had taken ten hours !!
It is actually not the Zim side that is the problem, it is the SA side "going slow in solidarity
with their Zimbabwe brothers" I hope not, because one could develop cholera just
standing in that line for so jolly long !!!
Do us a favor, we are hungry, that's why we are crossing the border in such vast numbers,
there is nothing, nothing, nothing to eat in Zimbabwe, at least nothing we can afford, as
we have no money to buy it with !!
Anyhow, back to that strange noise, it was like a continuous, deafening, harsh, singing
sound.
Whenever we heard it, we would open the window to listen, but the strange sound would
suddenly retreat into the distance. Maybe the wheel was rubbing on something ? Maybe
the engine was about to seize, maybe the canopy of the truck that we were driving,
(packed full of essential staple foods for the 75 elderly residents of the Edith Duly Nursing
Home,) was lifting somehow, and making this strange, discordant harshness ?
Eventually we could ignore it no more. We stopped, got out, and the sound hit us like a
brick wall. It was shrill, screeching, massive, unending ..... a cacophony of gigantic
proportions, it was on one side of the road only, although the sound echoed on the other,
absolutely deafening.
It was of course, the call of the Christmas Beetle, the African Cicada, Albanycada albigera
......
It is a sound so familiar to all of us Africans but we had never ever heard it so loud and so
unending.
Beitbridge had just received its first rains, tinges of green were creeping through the
packed hard earth, early-bird goats were tugging frantically at the first real food they had
seen in many months, and the Cicadas were multiplying by their millions, by the second....
What an amazing sound, we stood in awed silence devouring the most poignant of all
African sounds, memorizing each sacred minute, savouring the cool ethereal dampness of
a land so beautiful and yet so desolate, so deserted, so incredibly sad.
The sun was still way down on the horizon but it was already scorching, another day had
started in Zimbabwe, where body and soul has to fight every moment of every day to stay
alive. Dante's Inferno has nothing on life in Zim at this moment in time.
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here",
but Hark !
Hark at the Christmas Beetles, all is not lost .... another day is dawning .....
There are far worse things in the world than border queues and no food, we have found
that out in a big way just recently.
'Tis but a blimp on life's curved ball and we will survive it, we all know that .... it is just a
matter of time.
Denise Bredenkamp
Denise passed away in Hermanus on October 28th 2008. After overcoming breast cancer
two years ago, she was recently diagnosed with cancer in her spine and unexpectedly
went into a coma on October 25th. In her last days she was surrounded by her family and
those who had come to love her here in Hermanus. The last hour of her life was truly
magical. She suddenly became aware of us and everything we were saying, we held her
and told her how special she was and how much we loved her. We passed on to her all the
greetings and messages we have received from around the world and there is no doubt
that she was aware of what we were saying and received all of your love. The final
moments were peaceful and beautiful. We are grateful that this has happened so quickly
and that she was spared any further suffering. We loved her dearly and her passion for life
and love for all will be with us forever.
Cliff, Sharon, Ed, Ian, Cindy, Joffi, Shaun and Kevin.
macbred@telkomsa. net
Whiteman - Keith
Our condolences and sympathies to Sandra and family on the passing away of Keith on the
17th November.
A fellow worker and friend who was awarded the greatest respect by the entire Paint
Industry and whose dedication,
knowledge and experience will always be remembered. Rest in peace.
The management and staff - Prestige Paints.
WHITEMAN, Keith.
The members of the Bulawayo Philharmonic Chorus
mourn the passing of one of their long-standing
tenors on 24 November. Deepest sympathy to his
daughter Sandy in UK, and his sisters in Cape Town.
TROLLOPE - Charles Leslie King
Our beloved Charlie passed away peacefully on 08 Nov 2008. You were the light of our
lives and shall be greatly missed by your everloving family.
Our grateful thanks for the wonderful support to the staff at Edith Duly Nursing Home, our
dear friends and the staff and parents of Whitestone School.
SUMMARY
1. Cholera is extremely contagious.
2. Be obsessed about washing your hands with soap and drinking clean water.
3. Be aware of the symptoms - extremely watery, white diarrhoea.
4. Curing cholera is very simple: REHYDRATION using Oral rehydration solution, sugar
and salt solution immediately.
5. Failure to observe the rule of rehydration immediately can result in severe
dehydration and death.
CAUSES
- Cholera is caused by a bacteria. Not a virus. The bacteria is called Vibrio cholerae.
- The main routes of faecal-oral transmission are through:
o Not washing your hands with soap after the toilet or touching an infected person,
o consuming contaminated water,
o and eating contaminated food that is not cooked properly.
SYMPTOMS
- Once infected, a person can develop the symptoms within hours (but usually 2-3
days). The symptoms are extremely watery diarrhoea that is white in colour, like the
colour of water from cooking rice.
- However, 80% of people who are infected with the bacteria either do not show any
symptoms at all or only get mild normal diarrhoea.
- Cholera diarrhoea is painless. There are no cramps or other pain like other types of
diarrhoea.
- Cholera does not cause blood in the faeces.
- There is no fever associated with cholera.
- Vomiting is common.
- Severe cholera can cause you to lose massive volumes of fluids (severe dehydration) in
hours, which means that if rehydration does not take place quick enough, severe illness
and death can occur. It is possible to lose from 10 to 20 litres per day. All of that must be
replaced of course. Such severe dehydration will require medical rehydration using
intravenous rehydration.
- If you think you have the symptoms, go to your nearest health centre. Immediately.
Even if it is 4 o'clock in the morning.
- Cholera does not cause death. Severe dehydration causes death.
RESPONSE
- There is no reason at all that anyone should die of cholera, as it is a very easy disease
to cure.
- Simply it requires consumption of lots of ORS/Sugar and Salt Solution.
- Once you think you have the symptoms mentioned above you should begin to
consume a lot of ORS/Sugar and Salt Solution.
- Sugar and Salt Solution is made as follows 6 teaspoons of sugar, and half a teaspoon
of salt in a 750ml container.
- Go to your nearest health facility.
PREVENTION
- Be obsessed about washing your hands. After BABY (defecating) , after shaking hands
with people, after visits to the hospital or Cholera Treatment Centers, etc. This sounds
obvious, but surprisingly we become very lazy at this.
- Contaminated water is a major cause of getting cholera. Treatment of water is
effective with chlorine or boiling for a minimum of one minute. If you're not sure its
clean....DON'T DRINK IT.
- For the duration of the outbreak do not consume market food that is uncooked or not
cooked properly. This includes foods that have water sprinkled on them. Fruits that can
be peeled such as bananas, oranges, etc are fine but remember to wash your hands with
soap before peeling them.
- Like most diarrhoeal bacterias, you can carry the bacteria for up to several weeks after
being infected without being affected. It is important to always be careful
- Aquatabs can be use to disinfect water.
When using aquatabs:
- Put one table into 20-25 litres of water and cover the container.
- Wait for 30 minutes for the table to dissolve before drinking the water
- Never swallow the tablet- it must dissolve in 20-25 litres of water
- Note: Aquatabs are not for treating diarrhoea. The only disinfect water.
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set
brush fires in people's minds.
- Samuel Adams
RETREAT?
NEVER!
WE'RE JUST ADVANCING IN ANOTHER DIRECTION!
-GENERAL MCARTHUR
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