Toward a World that Works for Everyone
Looking for hope for Zimbabwe’s wild places Dear Family and Friends, When you sit outside during the mystical hours in Zimbabwe’s wild places everything seems new, undiscovered, never seen before. It’s the time when the night sky looks only black, the stars only silver and the yellow moon hangs in the darkness, tracking you through […]
Zero to Hero in a Mouthful Dear Family and Friends, This is the story of one day in Zimbabwe six weeks before elections. It is mid-winter and we trudge a weary path to the polls in the midst of a crazy stranglehold shrinking everyone’s ability to survive. Inflation has gone mad, the CZI (Confederation of […]
Under the Big Old Tree in Mutare Dear Family and Friends, In almost the last of the balmy golden days before winter tightened her grip on us in late June, we gathered under the big old tree in Mutare. The mountains towered in front of us, a startling blue sky covered us and we bowed […]
Patriotism and Popcorn, Zimbabwe on the Edge Dear Family and Friends, How do you know when Zimbabwe is teetering at the cliff edge? After nearly three decades of turmoil it’s hard for outsiders to see the signs that are the big red flags to people living in Zimbabwe. We don’t really need the numbers to […]
Under the Sausage Tree Dear Family and Friends, For over two decades I have been telling you the story of our lives in a country stuck in a multi-faceted stranglehold. Zimbabwe is in a new stage of rapid economic meltdown and the currency is crashing again but my letter today is coming from a different […]
Giants of Men and Women in Zimbabwe Dear Family and Friends, When someone they called a ‘giant of a man’ asked me to write a book about his life I knew it was a story that needed to be remembered. It was over a decade ago but is as fresh in my mind today as […]
Walk in my shoes in Zimbabwe Dear Family and Friends, It’s been a long time since I described what everyday Zimbabwe looks like. Come, walk in my shoes, have a look. Our economy and our life is on the pavements, at the intersections, on the roadsides, under the trees. Need toilet paper? There’s a guy […]
Gold, the Curse of Zimbabwe Dear Family and Friends, These mid April days it is cool and misty in the mornings. The grass is dying back and turning golden. T he red hot pokers are flowering in the wetlands and the termites are back in the trees, their orange soil tunnels tracking skywards. We wake […]
The Story I Cannot Tell Dear Family and Friends, Writing this Letter From Zimbabwe to you every week or fortnight for the last 23 years has taken some effort, and that’s an understatement! Some weeks it’s easy, words pour out faster than I can type them; other weeks I sweat blood, stare at the blank […]
The Snake and the Shooting Stars Dear Family and Friends, Our hearts are heavy for our neighbours in Madagascar, Mozambique and Malawi who have been repeatedly in the frontline of Cyclone Freddy for over a month as it has circled, retreated, returned and left a trail of destruction each time. Rivers of mud, houses washed […]
Zimbabwe’s Greatest Treasure Dear Family and Friends, On an overcast and stormy day friends and I set out for the ancient monument. We were excited, it was a very long time since we had last seen it. We set out early, none of us sure exactly where to go but there would be signs, wouldn’t […]
Red Mud and Gold Bars Dear Family and Friends, Nine young guys came running fast along a narrow path through the long grass which was as high as their shoulders. When they were almost at the road they all stopped and bent down and I wondered what was going on: had they seen something, caught […]
Grab that farm and don’t wear yellow Dear Family and Friends, When the time finally came to literally put one hand on 4 metre high stump of a huge old Msasa tree in my garden and push it over, it was an emotional moment. For two years I had held the tree up with a […]
The Big Ball of String Dear Family and Friends, Growing up as a little girl in Southern Rhodesia, one of my most poignant memories is of my Mum’s visits to the Leper Colony across the valley at Mount Mutemwa which was opposite our home in Mutoko. Our house was at the foot of a black […]
Time Goes Backwards In Zimbabwe Dear Family and Friends, Early in the morning when the clouds are smudged with pink, the dawn chorus fills Zimbabwe’s cool air: robins and flycatchers and the koo-ku-ing of Red-eyed Doves. As the sun lights the horizon a pair of mousebirds take up position at the top of a bush, long […]
