Trumpeter Hornbills And Punishing Honesty
Dear Family and Friends,
Just when we thought winter was over an icy blast swept into Zimbabwe in the past week. Overnight temperatures dropped to 2 degrees in my home area and left frost carpeting the ground, ice crystals crisp and crackly under our feet. We put on heavier, thicker coats, pulled our wooly hats lower down on our heads and left a fleeting, misty cloud of exhaled breath in our wake. For the next couple of days the temperature staggered up to just 12 degrees Celsius by midday.
A young man I met who has to leave home at 5:00 am to walk to work every day said the frost was ‘ever-white,’ on grass, roadsides and paths but said he felt lucky to have a job when most people are just ‘making their own.’
You don’t have to go far to see the truth of people making their own jobs, they are pushing wheelbarrows, carts and hand trolleys, selling groceries on roadsides, fixing cars under trees, making furniture in alleyways, you name it, they’re doing it.
The reality of what we see everywhere was revealed this week by Zimstat (the National Statistics Agency) who said 49.2% of young Zimbabweans aren’t in employment, education or training and that the ‘informal sector’ has grown to 76.1%.
In the Mid Term Budget yesterday the Finance Minister said ‘companies in Zimbabwe make more money on the wrong side of the law than when complying with it,’ exposing a regulatory system that punishes honesty and rewards evasion. (NewsDay)
The Minister of Finance promised business reforms saying they would reduce fees and charges, lower the cost of doing business and decrease the steps needed to acquire licences. But then, hot on the heels of that moment of relief, he said the government would be ‘expanding the tax base’ to fund ‘key developmental programmes.’ And so everyone goes back to square one and heads back out into the cold and operates informally in order to survive and support their families.
Contemplating all this, giving with one hand and taking away with the other, I thought of all the people I’d met and the stories they’d told me in what seemed only moments before when I was camping in Zimbabwe’s beautiful wilderness recently.
The days start and end with a thin whisper of blue smoke rising into the trees here. The boiler has been stoked, another log has been pushed into the still-glowing embers and soon the water will be piping hot.
As the sun hits the top of the trees a pair of Trumpeter Hornbills fly in, squawking and complaining before landing at the very top of the highest leafless tree to catch the sun. The wails of the Hornbills sound like a baby crying and every morning their routine is the same as ours, get out there, find a bit of sun, complain a while and then just get on with it.
I end this letter with thanks for the wonderful support of my new photobook “Zimbabwe’s Timeless Beauty The 2025 Collection” and the news that my Beautiful Zimbabwe 2026 Calendar is now also available.
They can both be ordered from my website or from LULU. Click here to order www.lulu.com/spotlight/cathybuckle2018 I hope they bring sunshine and hope into your life and remind you of the beautiful things in Zimbabwe.
There is no charge for this Letter From Zimbabwe but if you would like to donate, please visit my website. Until next time, thanks for reading.
Ndini shamwari yenyu (I am your friend)
Love Cathy 01 August 2025. Copyright © Cathy Buckle https://cathybuckle.co.zw/ www.lulu.com/spotlight/cathybuckle2018