Dear Family and Friends,
“Inspire us,” someone wrote to me from the Diaspora recently,
urging me to “be the change you want to see.” Whew, I thought
that’s exactly what I was doing: fifteen years of telling the story
of life on the ground in Zimbabwe; never giving up; never shutting up
and always standing up for what I believe in. That, more than
anything, is the change I want to see in Zimbabwe: a country where
people aren’t afraid to speak; a country where people aren’t
afraid to get involved in the affairs that govern their lives; a
country where the perpetrators of wrong-doing are held to account for
their actions regardless of race, sex, political persuasion or office.
Sometimes my letters over the years have been intensely personal:
painful to write and difficult for people to read. Many times I’ve
seen things or had encounters with people that I haven’t been able
to write about; those untold stories remain part of the collective
national secret that so many of us have lived, witnessed or heard.
There’s no sugar coating on life in Zimbabwe for the vast majority
of people where every day is a case of “chop wood, carry water,”
both physically and metaphorically.
“It’s not hard to see that life is being squeezed out of the
ordinary person,” someone visiting from the Diaspora said to me
recently and those words describe us exactly. We are so worn down with
the events of the last fifteen plus years that it’s all we can do to
put one foot in front of the other and just survive.
As to the challenge from the Diaspora to “ inspire us,” what can I
say except this: speak out for your homeland, complain, lobby,
demonstrate, have think tanks, write. Do all the things that it is so
hard for those us at home to do. Don’t just send money home, send
ideas and initiatives too. Your money is saving lives but your ideas
and innovations could change generations. We here at home are so proud
of the achievements of Zimbabweans in the Diaspora. Every day we hear
the stories: my child is a doctor, a judge, a nurse, an artist, a
dancer, a film maker, an IT specialist and we puff out our chests at
their achievements from such harsh beginnings.
My inspiration this week came after visiting a couple in their
eighties living in a run-down Harare suburb. The husband spent his
life as a policeman and then in a government department. His wife
looked after the family, rearing five children. Pensions, assets and
savings were eroded or lost in the economic collapse of 2008 and
theirs is not an easy retirement. For an hour we talked, laughed and
sweated under the blazing sun together. We didn’t talk of politics,
just of life in Zimbabwe. Our age and race were different but our
hearts were the same: proud Zimbabweans; proud of what we have
achieved and proud of how we have held our heads high during these
worst of times. Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy 4th
December 2015. Copyright © Cathy Buckle. www.cathybuckle.com
<http://www.cathybuckle.com/>
For information on my new book: SLEEPING LIKE A HARE” or my other
books about life in Zimbabwe: “MILLIONS, BILLIONS, TRILLIONS,”
“CAN YOU HEAR THE DRUMS,” “INNOCENT VICTIMS” “AFRICAN
TEARS”, “BEYOND TEARS” and “IMIRE,” or to