"Where's your luggage?"
As it would happen, I arrived back to Johannesburg at the same time S&S were returning from Cape Town, which was fortunate because I couldn't figure out exactly where I had left my car in the airport, so I called them to meet up.
Oh, and I didn't have luggage. I was carrying a plastic laundry bag, from the Victoria Falls Hotel, which had my boxers, socks, running jacket, and running shorts. Those were the only possessions I decided to keep. The rest of my clothes, aside from what I was wearing, had been given away to mostly street kids in Zim. And my backpack as a gift to a friend.
I couldn't write when I got home from VF yesterday. There was just too much stuff to process. The beauty of the falls, the beauty of the land, the absolute friendliest people I've ever met, the desperate conditions under which people are living, the luxury of being in a grandiose hotel. I'll just present snippets here, in no order.
The Falls:
Spectacular, and it's not peak season for the river, which means were were seeing the falls at maybe half capacity. The deafening roar. The first view of the falls was the mist coming about the canopy of trees in the distance. Rainbows everywhere. We arrived on a day in which there were few tourists in the park (and there are way too few tourists period in the area). At times we'd be the only ones having a view to ourselves.
Currency:
The Zim currency is basically worthless. As most know, Zim has the highest inflation rate in the world, prices go up constantly. Thus, most things are priced in US dollars, and that's the preferred currency, with the Rand and Euro being used as well. Though, the conversion rate doesn't match exchange rates, so you do lots of negotiating for prices. For example if something is 10 US dollars, and you want to pay in SA Rand, the price should be 100 Rands, but often we found we'd be asked to 120 Rand and we'd have to negotiate back down to as close to the 10 rand as possible. I have included a pic of my 100 BILLION dollar bill. I'm rich.
The Banks:
Zimbabweans can only withdraw 500 Zim Dollars a day, a limit set by the government. Bank are closed on Sundays. 500 Zim Dollars will buy a tomato. A single tomato. One must go to the bank daily to get enough money for a loaf of bread. Obviously, people don't keep most their money in the banks. But one of the hotel workers was explaining how his money is directly deposited into the back, which makes it very trough for him and his family to survive. It's not good.
Shoes:
"I like your shoes"
Not a compliment. Rather a subtle line to ask if you're willing to part with them. Maybe trade the shoes for some souvenirs? What shoes are for sale (and we couldn't find many, even in the market) are far too expensive for most. On the final day, when Myr and I were walking through town distributing some clothes and food, we easily were met by at least 10 people who for days had been eyeing our shoes.
Bike Riding:
Saturday we rented bikes, and headed out into the surrounding areas, went along the Zambezi river, and ended up at this amazing Crocodile farm, which has 40,000 crocs, breed in captivity for food and skins, but also some re-introduced in years past (apparently there are now too many crocs along the Zambezi river). It was great. Got to hold a 2 year old croc. Observe a feeding. Lost a finger. Kidding.. It was great being back on a bike, and made me wonder how it is that I haven't had a bike since leaving Dublin. We were about 3Km from town when her bike chain broke, and it was actually hysterical and we just had to laugh at the situation. We had a HORRIBLE flight to Zim, which included a very tough landing (the pilots didn't come out of the plane) so we just had to assume that this was a continued string of problems with transport. We weren't able to fix the chain, so we rode back with her holding onto a rope tied to the back of my bike.
The People:
Fri night we walked into town to seek some dinner. Met a guy along the way who took us to a small house that served some food. We ate Pap (a maize-polenta) served with some chicken. The chicken on my place was a single drumstick, which had barely any meat on it. I suspect that this chicken was rather paltry when it was alive. The food was decent, the price was inflated, but pap is very filling. It's a staple, so not as nutritious as one would like, and given the cost of vegetables and meat, I suspect it's the major diet. Anyway, we ended up having a few beers in a local bar, and that's where we met Jackson. Decent guy. From there we went to a club which wasn't happening and so we went back to the hotel to sleep. The next night, we went back to the club, expecting to hear a band from Harare. We confirmed the time with Jackson and a few others, but of course when we arrived, there was nobody there, yet. We were sitting off in the corner, and were literally about to leave when Kvee (or Vincent) joined us. He's the main DJ of the club. We talked for almost 2 hours about conditions in Zim, and at the end of the 2 hours we had easily met 10 more people. I don't know how it happened, but we ended up leaving the club at after 4am. It was just so enjoyable to meet so many amazing people, dancing, drinking, having mini-discussions about life and politics. What I'm not explaining well is that these people really not only don't have much in the way of basic needs, but can't even get the goods. Kvee and I swapped shirts, check out the pics.
Healthcare: Home to Die
We were trying to figure out what's going on in the area with healthcare. There is a public hospital. But it's basically closed. There may or may not be a doctor there. Which doesn't really matter since there are NO supplies. People don't even think about heading there. There is a local private doctor, but he charges something extraordinary for just a consult fee (something astronomical, maybe US$ 50), and if you get a script for meds, will they aren't available or affordable, so when I asked Ebert people do when they get sick, he said "we go home to die." Pretty bleak. Kvee has to take his 2 year old daughter to a sangoma (traditional healer) which is not what he would prefer to do, but feels compelled to do something when she is sick. Kids are no longer vaccinated.
The Grocery Store:
Myr and I went into the local Spar grocery store. Most the shelves were empty. There were some staples like cereal, biscuits, and bottles of water. The meat that was in the freezer looked very old. We were the only 2 people in there. And when we were in town, never really saw people going inside either, as most people were shopping at the market.
I have to wrap this up, have a lot to get done before leaving on Wed.. But I'm really bothered by what I saw. In contrast to the people of Soweto, the people in Zim were absolutely delightful, have just as little possessions, without the prospect of really getting more (and we're talking clothing, food stuffs here), but seem to keep struggling on. For comparison, mobile phones are everywhere amongst Sowetans, but I heard 1 mobile phone ring in the entire time we were there..
We were fortunate enough to be able to discuss politics with some people, and really most seemed to acknowledge that Mugabe must go.
How to Help:
We didn't have time to really put together a great plan...
I have a contact in Vic Falls who will distribute goods which are sent to him. The list is endless, but the practical things would be any clothing, (for any ages), shoes, pens (I was able to almost buy things with pens), paper, simple food stuffs, It doesn't have to be a big box, and more ideal would be smaller packages send distributed throughout the year. Luckily, packages are not opened by Zim authorities, and there is no import tax on goods. Please email me (javamania75@hotmail.com) if interested and I will email you the information and instructions.
Next post likely from Nepal.
BPB
