Zimbabwe parties condemn spate of political violence

http://news.yahoo.com

Reuters

By Cris Chinaka Cris Chinaka – Sat Feb 5, 7:25 am ET

HARARE (Reuters) – Zimbabwe's main rival political parties on Saturday
condemned a spate of violent clashes among their supporters, which Prime
Minister Morgan Tsvangirai blames on President Robert Mugabe's youth
brigades.

In the last two weeks, Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has
traded accusations with Mugabe's ZANU-PF party over attacks on some MDC
members in townships around the capital Harare, including the burning down
of a satellite party office.

In a rare joint statement by the rival parties -- which was also signed by a
small third party in Zimbabwe's unity government -- the ZANU-PF and MDC
Harare provincial leaders called for an end to political violence, and the
police to act.

But they did not apportion blame on any party, saying investigations were
still in progress.

"We agreed that what is happening in Harare is not good for our country and
is completely against the spirit of the global political agreement signed by
our leaders," they said in reference to a pact on Zimbabwe's power-sharing
government.

"We believe it is within our power to stop the violence, which poses a
threat to the lives of our people," they said, adding that it only required
political will and police help.

Tsvangirai says ZANU-PF militants, led by war veterans, are targeting MDC
structures ahead of a possible general election later this year, while
ZANU-PF rejects the charge, and accuses its opponents of provoking clashes
for propaganda purposes.

Critics say Mugabe, who co-led Zimbabwe's independence war in the 1970s, has
used veterans of that war as crack political troops in his battles to hold
onto power.

Zimbabwe is likely to postpone a parliamentary election that President
Robert Mugabe's party wanted by mid-year in order to allow completion of
constitutional reforms, a state-owned newspaper reported on Sunday.

Mugabe is pushing for an election two years ahead of schedule despite strong
opposition from his rivals that the political climate is not yet right for a
free and fair vote.

Mugabe, 87 later this month, and Tsvangirai were forced into a coalition
government two years ago after a disputed 2008 poll which was marred by
violence and exacerbated an economic crisis in the country.

The unity government, which also includes a small MDC faction led by
Industry and Commerce Minister Welshman Ncube, is credited with stabilizing
an economy crushed by hyperinflation and reducing political tension.

But analysts say tension and violence is likely to rise ahead of the next
general election, which is expected to follow a referendum on a new
constitution the parties are working on.

The Zimbabwe coalition has been hobbled by quarrels over the pace of
political reforms, policies and state positions, and Mugabe has said he sees
no need to extend the coalition beyond the middle of this year.

JOMIC, Zim Political Parties Condemn Violence

http://www.radiovop.com

05/02/2011 16:13:00

Harare, February 05, 2011 - The Joint Monitoring and Implementation
Committee (JOMIC) will next week set up a 24 hour political violence hotline
as it moves to curb rising incidences of political violence in Harare and
its surrounding areas.

Zanu (PF) JOMIC representative Oppah Muchinguri told Radio VOP on Friday:
“We are setting up a 24 hour hotline to receive and act on incidences of
political violence before they happen,” said Muchinguri.

The move to open the hotline is just one of the many strategies that JOMIC
will be using to try and stop violence in Harare townships, Mainly Mbare
suburb.

“We are going to meet the police with a view of discussing ways of stopping
violence before it occurs. The police has been doing a good job but off
course like in any situation there are some trigger happy people who are
just subjective,” Muchinguri said.

“We will work to produce weekly reports on these incidences of political
violence which we will give to the police to act on.”

Furthermore Muchinguri said JOMIC will establish inter political party
committees which will constantly meet to discuss issues of political
violence.

She also had a direct message to leaders of the country’s three political
parties party to the Global Political Agreement (GPA).

“They must speak with one voice so that there are no different views which
will confuse the nation, they should lead us by example,” she said.

Meanwhile the country’s three main political parties denounced the political
violence that has engulfed some parts of Harare in a joint statement
released Friday.

“As the provincial party chairmen of Zanu (PF), MDC and MDC T we want to
denounce the wave of violence which has taken place in several Harare high
density areas such as Mbare, Epworth and Chitungwiza in the past two weeks,”
the statement read.

“We believe it is within our power to stop violence which poses a threat to
the lives of our people. Today it is violence tomorrow it could be death.”

The Harare provincial chairpersons of the three parties, Amos Midzi of Zanu
(PF), Morgan Femai MDC T and a Mr Monera of MDC agreed to work together to
stop the violence.

“We now commit ourselves to work closely together as provincial chairmen to
stop the scourge which is fast becoming a second culture every time there is
mention of elections,” the three said in the statement they co-signed.

Meanwhile in a group of well known Zanu (PF) youth in Zaka North
constituency are threatening to beat up villagers and teachers if they fail
to support the constitution draft during a referendum which is expected this
year.

Youth led by a man identified as Musase in ward 23 are moving in every ward,
demanding meetings with teachers even during working hours.

Progressive Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) president Takavafira Zhou
said: “We are worried because our members in Zaka are living in fear every
day. Teachers are unnecessarily called to attend Zanu (PF) meetings and
often they are humiliated by people who never went to school."

The National Constitution Assembly (NCA) members in Masvingo also said they
were being persecuted ‘for no reason’. NCA is campaigning for a no vote of
the new constitution because it was not people driven.

Sungano Zvarebwanashe a field officer with NCA said members of the
organisation had received threats from Zanu (PF) youth in Bikita.

“They (Zanu PF) youth are calling us on our mobile phones threatening us.
They are saying we must not continue going into rural areas having meetings
with villagers. I was personally banned from going to Zaka.

“I received a call instructing me that I will be in trouble if I go to Zaka
anytime from last week,” said Zvarebwanashe.

A local headmaster said: “We are very afraid. We do not know what will
happen to us here."

Chinotimba Wants Unity Govt To End Next Week

http://www.radiovop.com

05/02/2011 18:36:00

HARARE, February 05, 2011 - Controversial war veterans leader Joseph
Chinotimba has said Zimbabwe's power sharing government should not be
extended next week when the Global Political Agreement (GPA) expires.

Chinotimba said the former liberation war fighters who are staunch backers
of President Robert Mugabe,s Zanu (PF) party said the war veterans want the
inclusive government to end as it has failed to have sanctions removed.

"This unity government must end on February 11. It must not be extended,
sanctions are yet to be removed. We must then go back to the old
constitution where
President Mugabe remains the head of state," Chinotimba said.

"We met as war veterans and that is what we want. And to go for an election
later this year."

Mugabe, who turns 87 this year has complained that the unity government is
not working according to what he expected when the GPA was signed between
himself and the two leaders of MDC formations, Morgan Tsvangirai and Arthur
Mutambara who was by then still leader of his faction. He has said the
inclusive government must be ended as the parties in the GPA continue to
disagree on fundamental issues. Mugabe always turns to war veterans for
support during election time.

However, a new war veterans group calling itself the Zimbabwe National War
Veterans Coordinating Committee recently published press statements saying
they are pushing for the formation of a non partisan association for the
former liberation war fighters.

“In an effort to unite all war veterans, the coordinating committee is now
finalising consultations with all stakeholders in order to form a new non
partisan
organization which will represent all war veterans, ” the Zimbabwe National
War Veterans Coordinating Committee said.

“The current confusion and conflict within war veterans is caused by
politicians who want to use war veterans for personal political gain.The new
organization will represent all war veterans regardless of their welfare,
give them recognition, dignity and respect for liberating and serving the
country.

It is never too late to re-organize ourselves and re-gain the respect of the
people we liberated and served by guaranteeing them peace and stability.”

War vets vow to defend Mugabe

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Chengetai Zvauya
Saturday, 05 February 2011 16:07

HARARE - War veterans have vowed to defend President Robert Mugabe's
besieged government as  political violence spreads countrywide.

Andy Mhlanga the former leader of the Zimbabwe Liberation War Veterans
Association  says he is mobilising the war veterans in readiness to thwart
Movement For Democratic Change (MDC) supporters who are pushing for the
ouster of Mugabe.

''We know that the MDC is mobilising its structures countrywide to rise up
against our leader and patron President Mugabe and we are ready to meet them
and stop their agenda. MDC members are excited about the political upheavals
happening in Egypt and Tunisia  and are hoping that it can happen here ,''
Mhlanga said in an interview.

''We are warning the MDC that we are going to deal with them if they want to
start an uprising in our country. We fought for our country and we are ready
to die for it," Mhlanga said.

''We are aware of the intentions of MDC youths and we are watching them
closely, but we are warning them not to start violence to disrupt our normal
activity because we are going to deal with them once for all. They are
youngsters and they must not be excited for nothing because we will defend
our leader Mugabe,'' said Mhlanga.

Events in Tunisia and currently Egypt have unsettled some govenment leaders
on the African continent who the electorate blame for overstaying.

Mugabe has been in power since 1980 and many people feel  that he has
destroyed the economy and must go because he has overstayed in office.

His  Zanu PF party is agitating for an election this year, hoping to regain
total control of Parliament after the disputed 2008 elections which led to a
coalition government with the opposition parties.

Mhlanga said war veterans are  members of a reserve force who can be called
in times of emergencies to help the army.

Since the formation of the MDC a decade ago,war veterans and Zanu PF militia
have been terrorising MDC supporters countrywide.

In the rural areas, they have subjected MDC supporters and people suspected
to be MDC sympathisers to torture and harrasment.

The war veterans have unleashed an orgy of murder and mayhem and war
veterans' leader Jabulani Sibanda is causing bedlam in Masvingo province to
coerce the electorate to abandon the MDC and join Zanu PF as the country's
prepares for a general election and referendum.

There has been an increase in the number of political clashes between Zanu
PF and MDC youths in the high density areas of Mbare, Budiriro and Kuwadzana
where scores of MDC youths were arrested and charged of inciting and public
disorder.

The incidents of political violence have prompted war veterans to threaten
the  MDC youths  who are holding their campaigns countrywide.

ZEC's Mtambanengwe hits ground running

http://www.dailynews.co.zw

By Chengetai Zvauya
Saturday, 05 February 2011 16:16

HARARE - Simpson Mtambanengwe, Zimbabwe Election Commission (ZEC)
chairperson, is back home to head  the ZEC Secretariat on full a time basis
in anticipation of the referendum and general election to be held  later
this year.

In an interview with Daily News, Justice Mtambanengwe confirmed that he will
not be going back to Namibia, where he worked as a Supreme Court judge. He
has officially retired.

''I am back for good as I will no longer be shuttling back and forth from
Namibia. I finished all my legal assignments in the Supreme Court of Namibia
in December and from now on  I will be working in the ZEC office on a full
time a basis,'' said Mtambanengwe.

Mtambanengwe  who  is deputised by Joyce Kazembe, took over the running of
ZEC from Judge President George Chiweshe who was seconded to the High Court
last year after  supervising  the disputed presidential election in June
2008.

''I have no doubt that we will be able to carry out our duty professionally.
I know that all the political parties have agreed on reforms that need to be
done to improve our elections. If these reforms are implemented  I have no
doubt that we can work well and it will bring confidence to our
electorate,'' said Mtambanengwe.

Mtambanengwe said the Commission needs at least three months to clean up the
voters' roll as the register is in a shambolic state.

''There is a lot of work that needs to be done and we are ready for it, and
it can be done. All the political parties want to see the voters roll
cleaned up and this is what we have agreed with the Registrar- General
office to  do before we have any election in the country,'' Mtambanengwe
said.

ZEC is located at the Rainbow Towers amongst constitutionally duties it
organises voter registration and maintaining of the voters roll. It is also
involved in the preparation for the conducting and supervising
all elections and referendum in the country.

Mtambanengwe has worked in Namibia's Supreme Court for over two decades,
since the 1990's, after serving in the Zimbabwe High Court from the
independence days.

The soft spoken lawyer is one of the country's top legal minds. He relocated
to Namibia after the country attained its independence in 1990  joining the
Supreme Court as a judge before his retirement last year.

New Zimbabwe Deputy Prime Minister Wrangle

Five MDC activists  badly injured

FEWSNET predicts more hunger

http://www.zimonline.co.za

by Own Correspondent     Saturday 05 February 2011

HARARE – The Famine Early Warning System and Network (FEWSNET) has
downgraded Zimbabwe’s food security forecast amid revelations that 400 000
more people are in danger of starvation between now and the harvest in
March.

The US-funded early warning system said 1.7 million Zimbabweans – about a
quarter of who are in towns and cities – are in need of food aid during the
next two months.

Both FEWSNET and the Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC)
had last year estimated that about 1.3 million rural households would be
food insecure between January and March.

“The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)/World Food Programme (WFP) Crop
and Food Supply Assessment Mission estimated that an additional 400 000
people in the urban areas will not be able to meet their food needs in the
2010/11 consumption year,” FEWSNET said in its latest assessment report
released this week.

This brings the estimate of food insecure people in Zimbabwe to about 1.7
million.

The urban food insecure households are mostly concentrated in peri-urban
areas and high-density suburbs.

Outside of the urban areas, the food security areas of concern through the
end of the lean season include Beitbridge, Gwanda, Matobo, Mangwe, Bulilima,
Hwange, Kariba, Binga, Chiredzi, Chivi, Zaka, Gutu, Bikita, Buhera,
Chimanimani, Nyanga, Rushinga, Mudzi, and Mberengwa.

“These areas also have projected low acute malnutrition levels over the
outlook period,” warned FEWSNET.

It is estimated that these districts are likely to experience a relatively
high prevalence of food insecure people between January and March due to low
household level purchasing power.

The organisation however said food assistance programme plans for the
January-March period would be sufficient to cover the assessed needs.

Assistance programmes ranging from general vulnerable group feeding to
special targeted feeding by the government and the humanitarian community
have plans to cover about 1.6 million people between January and March.

Zimbabwean Police Vow to Crush Any Egyptian-Style Uprising in Harare

http://www.voanews.com/

Senior Assistant Commissioner Clement Munoriyarwa, in charge of the province
of Harare, told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation that Egyptian-style
mass protests would not be tolerated

Blessing Zulu, Thoma Chiripasi & Mzenzi Tshabangu  04 February 2011

Confidential documents leaked to the press by human rights groups allege
that ZANU-PF militants currently wreaking havoc around the country were
trained at the Inkomo Army Barracks west of the capital beginning last
Novembe

A senior official of the Zimbabwe Republic Police has threatened to crush
any Egyptian-style protests by the Movement for Democratic Change formation
led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, further stressing the power-sharing
government.

Senior Assistant Commissioner Clement Munoriyarwa, in charge of the province
of Harare, told the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation that Egyptian-style
mass protests would not be tolerated.

"This is wishful thinking," he said. "The situation in Egypt will never be
tolerated anywhere in Zimbabwe..We want to assure the nation that we are
fully prepared for such violent activities and our officers are already on
the ground to ensure peace and tranquility prevails in the country."

His statements were swiftly condemned by Co-Minister of Home Affairs Theresa
Makone of the Tsvangirai MDC formation, who called them inflamatory.

"If he said that it is regrettable and I would like personally to have that
statement investigated so that wecan establish on what basis he said that,"
Makone told VOA. She added: "It is a serious statement, it is highly
political and it is inflamatory."

Hardliners in President Robert Mugabe's ZANU-PF party have seized on remarks
by Mr. Tsvangirai while at the recent World Economic Summit in Davos,
Switzerland, to the effect that the people of Zimbabwe had the right to
protest if they felt their rights were being infringed upon, contending that
he was calling for street protests.

Violence has been escalating in the populous Harare suburb of Mbare and
elsewhere in the capital and the surrounding region. Sources say some 60
families have fled their Mbare homes in the past 48 hours and been lodged in
MDC safe houses following attacks by gangs of youths alleged to be under the
control of ZANU-PF.

Confidential documents leaked to the press by human rights groups allege
that ZANU-PF militants currently wreaking havoc around the country were
trained at the Inkomo Army Barracks west of the capital beginning last
November when the army started recruiting graduates of the National Youth
Training Program turning out militia members.

Sources say the militia has launched "Operation Ngatizivanei," shona for
“Lets get to know each other,” targeting known or suspected backers of Mr.
Tsvangirai's MDC.

But Youth Minister Savior Kasukuwere, also ZAN-PF’s deputy youth secretary,
told VOA reporter Blessing Zulu that no youths are being trained at Inkomo
Barracks.

Police spokesman Oliver Mandipaka, maintained Friday that all was calm now
in Mbare - contrary to most reports.  Mandipaka denied allegations by the
MDC and others that the police have been standing by while ZANU-PF militants
rampaged.

Makone said reports of violence are cause for concern police inaction is
deplorable.

Meanwhile Friday the Joint Monitoring and Implementation Committee
established to monitor compliance with the 2008 Global Political Agreement
for power sharing promised to investigate the violence that has roiled
Harare and the region in recent days.

Harare correspondent Thomas Chiripasi reported on the JOMIC initiative.

Elsewhere political parties in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second-largest city,
agreed to form a multi-party liason committee to combat rising violence tied
to the elections President Robert Mugabe has insisted should be held this
year, Mzenzi Tshabangu reported.

Human trafficking horror exposed

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

Written by John Chimunhu
Saturday, 05 February 2011 14:34

BEITBRIDGE - A human trafficking racket perpetuating the sexual exploitation
of women has been exposed by The Zimbabwean On Sunday.
Human trafficking gangs known as Omalaitsha are preying on people,
especially young unmarried or married women fleeing political turmoil blamed
on President Robert Mugabe. They demand money upfront in Beitbridge but as
soon as they enter South Africa, demand outrageous additional sums which the
hapless passengers of their often South African-registered vehicles cannot
pay. They also confiscate mobile phones and jewellery.
The victims are detained at houses set up for that purpose on farms and
other outlying locations, sometimes with the knowledge of the SAPS,
according to eyewitnesses from a local church group, which recently rescued
seven women who had been trapped by being offered jobs as tobacco mules. The
church members asked not to be named. The shrewd Omalaitsha then phone
relatives of the victims demanding more money. The victims are brutalized
and sometimes driven into virtual slavery.
"They put you on the phone and beat you up while your relatives are
listening so that they come and rescue you quickly. They usually demand
R5,000," Killa Zivhu, President of the Zimbabwe Cross-Border Traders
Association told The Zimbabwean On Sunday. A three-month investigation by
this newspaper showed the practice to be widespread while the gangs were
well-organized and getting more vicious.
Witnesses said women were often forced to commit sexual acts with various
men as part of their ordeal, to force them to act. Men were often led into
crime. In one known case, a married woman died after she was infected with
HIV. The International Organisation on Migration (IOM) has put up giant
billboards warning people about the dangers of illegal migration.
The IOM has also set up reception centre for survivors, where most are
tested for sexually-transmitted infections and assisted to return home and
start a new life. But every day at this border post hundreds are crossing
illegally with the help of the ever-present Omalaitsha, aided by the Guma
Guma gang, a brutal network of border control thugs allowed to flourish by
Mugabe's misrule, according to experts. Law enforcement officials said the
courts were trying to be firm but the crimes were hard to prosecute.

MDC Formation of Zimbabwe PM Tsvangirai Prepares for May Congress

http://www.voanews.com/

Prospective MDC candidates in municipal elections would be required to be
able to read and write to understand relevant laws, while those aiming for
the office of mayor would have to show management qualifications

Sandra Nyaira | Washington  04 February 2011

Shaping up for a party congress later this year, the formation of Zimbabwe's
Movement for Democratic Change led by Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai has
drafted proposals which would require five years membership for anyone
seeking to run for office.

Sources said the pre-congress proposals also say a prospective candidate in
municipal elections must be able to read and write in order to understand
relevant laws.

To run for mayor a would-be MDC candidate would be required to have
senior-level management skills, though it was unclear what this might mean
in practice.

Sources within the former opposition party said the proposals could
intensify squabbling within the party ahead of the May congress.

MDC Organising Secretary Elias Mudzuri said proposals to change the party
constitution regarding the selection of candidates came from the grass roots
level.

But MDC Bulawayo Provincial Secretary Albert Mhlanga told VOA reporter Chris
Gande that the proposals are unfair because they would exclude newer party
members.

EU To Review Zim Sanctions

http://www.radiovop.com

05/02/2011 16:11:00

Harare, February 05, 2011 - The European Union (EU) Ambassador to Zimbabwe
Aldo Dell’Ariccia told Radio VOP on Friday that the grouping will next week
review its position on restrictive measures imposed on President Robert
Mugabe and his Zanu (PF) party officials.

“The EU ministers will be meeting on the 16th in Brussels to take the final
decision on Zimbabwe. We can’t anticipate anything but we are reviewing the
positive and the negative to
see whether the conditions have improved,” Ariccia told Radio VOP in an
interview without saying whether the grouping will extend or remove the
restrictions.

“That review will lead to the decision on the sanctions. The situation in
the country will also be looked at and if there are growing signals of an
improvement these factors will be taken in.”

He said a lot of other aspects will also be factored in citing the context
of the Government of National Unit (GNU), the Zimbabwe –EU re-engagement
plan currently underway, input from SADC (Southern African Development
Community) appointed negotiator Jacob Zuma, political parties and civic
groups.

“We have received requests for the removal of restrictive measures from many
sources. The three political parties in the GNU and President Zuma have
asked for their removal but there are reasons for which the sanctions where
imposed and you can not just overlook that,”
said Aricca.

The EU imposed restrictive measures on Mugabe and his inner coterie in 2003
as a way of forcing them to embrace and respect human rights and rule of
law.

Among some of the measures has been an asset freeze, travel bans and a ban
on European companies from doing business with companies owned or linked to
Zanu (PF).

Zanu (PF) supporters have been forcing residents in Harare and Bulawayo to
sign a petition to remove sanctions, sparking violence in mostly township
areas. The party blames Zimbabwe's lack of economic progress on the
targetted sanctions.

Muchinguri says Zanu full of crooks

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

Written by Tony Saxon
Saturday, 05 February 2011 12:43

RUSAPE – Zanu (PF) politburo member and one of President Robert Mugabe’s
closest allies and trusted lieutenants Oppah Muchinguri has lashed out at
some senior party members for grabbing farms and looting diamonds.
In an unprecedented attack on the party’s top brass, Muchinguri said Zanu
(PF) has been infiltrated by “crooks” who are abusing their positions to
amass wealth through corruption and under-hand dealings. Addressing Zanu
(PF) supporters at the memorial service for five members of the Zimbabwe
Liberation War Collaborators who perished in a car accident in November last
year, Muchinguri said war veterans were being used by senior party officials
to meet their selfish ends.
“There are true heroes out there, but they are languishing in poverty.
But some crooks within us do not appreciate the supreme sacrifice that the
liberators made and how hard it was to liberate this country. They do not
even care about the upkeep of true liberators of the country,” said
Muchinguri who is also the Zanu (PF) National Secretary for Women’s Affairs.
She threatened to expose the corrupt officials “no matter how big their
names”.
“Zanu (PF) is now full of crooks. I will not hesitate to expose these crooks
who are fattening their pockets and amassing a lot of wealth at the expense
of true liberators of this country who have nothing to show for their
sacrifice,” said an emotional Muchinguri. Muchinguri admitted that war
veterans and liberators had nothing to show yet they played a pivotal role
in liberating the country.
“You sacrificed your lives and brought the country independence. It is now
almost 30 years of independence but it is painful that you have nothing to
show at all,” she said. Some of the corrupt officials are now multiple farm
owners after
abusing their positions to grab several farms under Mugabe’s controversial
land reform programme. Mugabe and his ruling cabal comprising some 2 200
Zanu (PF) officials, cabinet ministers, senior army and government officials
and judges are
said to now own more than half of the most profitable land seized from white
commercial farmers since 2000. They reportedly own nearly five million
hectares of agricultural land, including wildlife conservancies and
plantation land.
“It is regrettable that the party is losing its grip because of these
criminals who are dealing in diamonds and stealing people’s money,”
Muchinguri said.
She said most of the Zanu (PF) officials and ministers “are liars who are
misleading President Mugabe that all is well from the cell level going
upwards yet on the ground it is disastrous”. War veterans in the country
have been accusing Zanu (PF) for “forgetting” them and only love them when
elections approach.

Poachers Target Rhinos in Limpopo Park

http://www.portalangop.co.ao/

2/5/11 10:50 AM

Maputo

Maputo — The authorities of the Limpopo National Park (PNL) in southern
Mozambique fear that well-organised gangs of poachers are driving to
extinction the small rhinoceros population in the park.

Vino Macamero, the PNL official in charge of protecting its wild life, cited
on Radio Mozambique on Friday, said that a wildlife census in 2010 found
that ten rhinos, introduced into the park three years ago, were missing.

Macamero feared that they had fallen victim to the poachers, who are well
equipped and work with international criminal gangs. Rhinoceros horns are
sold in Asia where they are considered a powerful aphrodisiac and fetch
enormous prices.

The belief that rhino horn will boost sexual prowess is particularly
idiotic, since the horn is made of keratin, which is exactly the same
substance found in human hair and nails. Chewing your fingernails will have
exactly the same effect on your sex life as eating powders made of rhino
horn - none at all.

It is not only credulous Asians who believe in the magical powers of rhino
horn. A "traditional doctor" named Kantona Hawa has been distributing
leaflets on the streets of Maputo promising "rhinoceros horn powder to
increase the size of your penis". This charlatan has not yet been arrested.

Poaching is a serious threat to the continued existence of both species of
rhinoceros (black and white) throughout southern Africa. In 2010, according
to the South African authorities, 300 rhinos were slaughtered for their
horns in that country. Recently, seven black rhinos were poisoned or shot in
Zimbabwe.

SURVIVING IN ZIMBABWE: Supporting Zimbabwe's children

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/

By GALEN EAGLE
Updated 3 hours ago

After almost two hours on a rocky, winding, dirt road, braving flooded
sections, grazing cattle and speeding trucks heading in the opposite
direction, a Land Cruiser drops us off in a picturesque setting.

Rolling mountains rise out of grassy plains against a backdrop of wide blue
sky. Now, this is Africa.

We're among a collection of about 15 properties, small groups of huts in an
otherwise desolate swath of rural Zimbabwe.

Here, some 12,000 kilometres from Peterborough, local dollars from Milkweed
Preschool on Burnham St., are hard at work.

Manyara Mutkani meets us on the dusty road and invites us onto her property.
She's the chairwoman of God Knows Orphanage.

Standing in her dining hut, she tells us how the orphanage began in 2004
when she adopted the first child.

Like the majority of rural Zimbabweans, the buildings on her property are
made from mud bricks. Farmers make their own bricks by packing red soil and
water into molds. The molds are stacked and covered in mud and a fire is
lighted to cook the bricks.

Most huts are round. When they are finished those who can afford it will
cover the bricks with a cement-like mix.

Mutkani has a cooking and dining hut, a sleeping hut and a hut to smoke and
dry tobacco.

Coned thatched roofs cover the structures.

AIDS and disease often attack people in their prime here. The average life
expectancy is a mere 44 years. Parents die young.

There is often a stigma attached to orphans, Mutkani explains. With farmers
in this rural area making an average of $1 a day, the idea of providing food
and shelter for one more body isn't necessarily tempting.

Mutkani did just that seven years ago, taking in a local orphan, and now has
five living at her home. She has spent her time spreading the word to the
surrounding villages that it's OK to show compassion.

God Knows Orphanage, an orphanage without borders, includes 79 children
spread across 48 different families. All the children are enrolled in some
form of schooling, she said.

"At times it is difficult. I am a farmer. Most of the time we are busy
working in the garden or the fields," she explained. "But I feel happy. I
feel the children have a good future."

Milkweed Preschool has raised more than $2,000 for the God Knows Orphanage,
enough to send more than 50 children to school.

The school has also sent school supplies, toys and books.

PCVS has also connected with orphans in Zimbabwe through a connection with
Nyachuru Secondary School located in the Mazowe district of Mashonaland
Central Province. The school was built 11 years ago and has benefited
heavily from Peterborougharea donors Rev. Bill Peacock and Fran Fearnley.

The majority of the high school's 376 students are orphans or vulnerable
children from the province's poor, rural areas.

PCVS students have been corresponding with students here and have sent
supplies such as sewing machines.

"Our existence has been made possible through the assistance of people in
Peterborough and Canada," headmaster Thomas Kavhai said.

The high school is nearly fully sustainable, growing its own crops and
raising its own cattle and chickens.

The work at the high school has attracted the attention of Zimbabwean
president Robert Mugabe, who recently donated a tree to the school.

NOTE: Students at Kawartha Montessori School in Peterborough donated $250 to
supply desks at Nyachuru Primary School, located on the grounds of the
Salvation Army's Howard Hospital.

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

SURVIVING IN ZIMBABWE: Chasing Dr. Thistle

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/

By GALEN EAGLE
Updated 3 hours ago

GALEN EAGLE Examiner

Dr. Paul Thistle walks towards the children's ward at a brisk pace,
briefcase in hand.

A commotion stirs.

Mothers and children who were playing in the grass outside quickly dart
inside, sit on their beds and await the doctor's attention.

It's a little after 9:30 a.m. and Thistle's speed is daunting. He has good
reason to be quick. This is his second stop of the morning after checking
the new mothers in the maternity ward.

He has to fit in a morning meeting with the administrators, check in on some
80 patients in the women's and men's ward and head into the operating
theatre by 11:30 a.m.

More than 30 patients are waiting in the children's ward alone.

"If I spend five minutes on each patient in this ward, I'd be here more than
three hours," he said, adding humoursly: "I don't have time for that. I have
a golf game this afternoon and a squash match."

Thistle's sense of humour, along with a greater sense of spiritual calling,
keeps him grounded as he deals with some 300 patients a day.

"You have to keep things moving. You have to pick your fights," he said.

In the one minute he has with a patient, Thistle assesses, reassures,
educates and decides on a course of action. He speaks to the people in their
native tongue of Shona. Within 60 seconds he connects with them on a human
level. He's brisk, but caring.

Howard Hospital, a Salvation Army facility in the rural north of Zimbabwe,
is a teaching hospital.

Nurses, midwives and student doctors learn from Thistle's approach. His idea
is to combine health care with an equal combination of quality and
compassion.

Roselyn Ndawona, 22, holds her five-year old boy Denzel on her lap while
waiting her turn.

Denzel has a large burn on his back from a cooking oil accident.

In broken English, Ndawona offers a few short words that exemplify the
service at Howard.

"They treat you good. The people care," she says.

While Howard is the central hospital for the Mazowe district of the
country's Mashonaland Central Province, it's not rare for people to travel
here from distant parts of Zimbabwe and neighbouring areas.

A different type of care is what attracted 51-year-old Peter Chidouvi away
from a district hospital in the capital Harare where he was being treated
for chronic illness.

"Here is better than Harare," he said. "Dr. Thistle, he talks to the people.
He loves the people. He doesn't throw people out."

In a country that is 98% black, it can be challenging for a white Canadian
to fit in.

But Thistle walks among the people here, not as a revered white man, but as
a member of their own, a man they know will treat them as equals.

The 48-year-old graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto
in 1989 specializing in obstetrics and gynecology.

At 30, he already had his mind set on the developing world.

"I always wanted to practice abroad. I wanted to practice where there was a
need," he said.

He joined the Salvation Army, now holding a rank of captain, and in 1995
landed in Zimbabwe.

The Salvation Army began Howard as a school in 1923. The facility grew into
a hospital slowly as the need for a regional health care provider became
apparent.

It was Thistle's mentor, Calgary native Dr. James Watt, who led Howard's
full-fledged expansion into a semi-modern hospital in the 1960s.

Watt passed the title of chief medical officer to Thistle in 1999 and
retired a year later.

In his first years in Zimbabwe, Thistle met his wife Pedrinah, a Zimbabwean
born nurse and midwife, who is now an educator at the hospital.

They have two sons, nine-year-old James and six-year-old Alex. The boys
attend a private school in Harare but spend their weekends on Howard
grounds.

"They get the best of both worlds. They go to an internationally recognized
school. Then they come out here on the weekend and they play soccer in the
backyard and they dig for termites and they have friends here."

Thistle, who spent time growing up fishing on Pigeon Lake and Lake Scugog in
the summers, remains a Canadian at heart, organizing a weekend hockey game
with village children and remaining connected with friends across the
country.

"It's a mix. I have assimilated with Zimbabwean culture, but there is a big
chunk of me that's still Canadian," he said.

Pedrinah is a Canadian citizen and both boys have Canadian passports.

Thistle likes to give Canadian visitors some good quips about the homeland,
but being in Zimbabwe for 15 years has dated many of his references.

"It's like Ernie Eves's Ontario here," he jokes as the power at the hospital
goes out, referring to the 2003 brownout that plagued then premier Eves.

Joking aside, Thistle doesn't minimize the challenges faced at Howard, where
he and two Zimbabwean doctors provide health care for a population of more
than 250,000 people.

HIV and AIDS are the underlying health factors for the majority of patients
and where there is HIV/AIDS there is always tuberculosis, he said.

"Tuberculosis is sort of the cousin of HIV," he explains.

Hundreds of patients line up weekly for the hospital's Tariro (a Shona word
meaning hope) Clinic where they receive antiretroviral and TB treatments.

The expectant mothers, the sick, the dying and their healthy relatives and
friends are exposed to AIDS awareness and education at Howard Hospital.
Counseling and spiritual care are provided with support from the local
Salvation Army church and an education team reaches schools, churches and
community centres using song, art and puppetry.

The country gets hit with sporadic epidemics, such as the recent cholera
outbreak in 2008 that strained its already fragile health care system.

Cobra and crocodile bites aside, much of what happens at Howard would be
typical to any Canadian hospital. Some 2,500 births take place here each
year.

Sandos Mwale, a 48-year-old truck driver, contracted malaria while in the
Democratic Republic of Congo.

"My headache was bad. I was unable to see. I had no appetite. I had
abdominal pain and achy joints," he said. "I decided to come here because of
the Howard Hospital reception, the way you are treated when you are here."

Nurse Nancy Chihiya has been at Howard Hospital for one year.

Born in the town of Marondera about 150 kilometres away, Chihiya trained at
a government-run district hospital before coming to Howard.

"There are a great number of challenges here, but Howard's philosophy suits
my personality. It creates a good relationship between you and your
patient," she said. "People in the government hospital are more reluctant to
get to know the patients."

Howard's outreach program spreads far past its own boundaries. The inpatient
and out-patient departments treat 75,000 patients a year and the home care
unit has 5,000 registered patients assisted by some 400 volunteers.

Sixteen-year-old Regina Karomo opens the door to her mother's mud hut in a
remote village some 100 kilometres from the hospital.

It was a long, harrowing drive to her home for the home care crew. The
hospital's Land Cruiser had to cross water-drenched patches, avoid grazing
cattle and oncoming traffic along skinny, uphill portions of the road.

Karomo's mother lies on a rug in the hut beside a burning fire. The mother
became a quadriplegic in 2008 when she was carrying firewood on her head
down a nearby mountain.

Nurse Justin Maikana checks the patient's catheter and asks her questions
while a physiotherapist works with Karomo to perform her mother's exercises.

"As you can see, these people live very far from the hospital so they have
the problem of raising the funds for transportation," Maikana said. "When
the care is given at home it's easy and it's given with the co-operation of
the primary caregiver."

In a village closer to Howard, Smart Zinyemba, a 65-year-old farmer, said
the health of his wife and six children depends on Howard's affordable
services.

Having recently fallen out of favour with the local government that
stringently controls the sale of fertilizer, Zinyemba said he has struggled
to keep a roof over his family's head. He has no electricity or running
water.

Farmers in the areas surrounding Howard Hospital live on an average of $1
per day.

Howard charges $2 for a consultation, between $1 and $5 for medication and
between $5 and $100 for surgery. Children and seniors receive free health
care.

Thistle said he finds it hard to charge for health care, but the hospital
would be completely overwhelmed if it removed its fees.

"That's difficult for me personally. I'm born and bred in Canada into the
universal health system. At the same time, you need to put value to your
services," he said.

The hospital has a serve first, pay later policy. It asks families to pay
for surgeries in installments after the fact. Most families do their best to
repay the debt, Thistle said.

Zimbabwe is still recovering from the effects of its inflation crisis that
culminated in 2008 with the loss of its currency shortly after the
introduction of a $100 trillion note.

"I was making millions with the Zimbabwe dollar. I had a six-figure salary,"
Thistle joked.

Back at the hospital, Thistle dons his surgical garb, puts on white rain
boots and enters the operating room.

It's a chaotic place as several patients wait on gurneys in an intake hall
before one is wheeled into a blue room with outdated equipment. Only one
surgery is performed at a time.

"We don't have enough human resources, so we can't run more than one surgery
at a time," Thistle explained.

Contending with constant power outages, surgery must be performed in day-l i
g ht without use of complicated machinery.

On the table is a young girl with a broken arm suffered during a sports
game.

She's awake, but she stares to one side with huge dilated pupils. She's
drugged with the hallucinogenic Ketamine, a favourite form of anesthesia in
the developing world because it's easy to administer and doesn't require the
same amount of post-surgery attention.

A nurse pulls on the girl's shoulder while Thistle pulls on the broken arm,
setting it back into place.

Today Thistle is joined by Canadian doctor Curtis Krahn, a family doctor
from Manitoba who's supporting two local students through medical school and
came to monitor their progress for a week.

On top of the hectic hospital operations, Thistle oversees a revolving door
of international travellers, all of whom come to Zimbabwe with different
expectations.

"It's a juggling act when you're dealing with visitors because there is
nothing like Howard anywhere in the world," Thistle said. "There's going to
be a learning curve."

After spending a day with Thistle in the operating room, Krahn had nothing
but praise. Thistle performs feats with such basic materials that more
specialized North American doctors wouldn't be able to handle, Krahn said.

"I'm very impressed. Bekkie Vineberg, 31, from Toronto, has been visiting
Howard Hospital for 10 years as a member of the Jewish humanitarian group
Ve'ahavta.

Thistle is a special person whose commitment never seems to waver, said
Vineberg, who's studying to be a midwife.

"Paul is all the things they say he is. He is tireless, wholeheartedly
committed and extremely well connected," she said. "He's always an
ambassador on behalf of the people here."

It's nearing 5 p.m. by the time Thistle exits the operating room and heads
towards his office. A line of about 25 people is waiting. Many are expectant
mothers waiting for ultrasounds.

An extreme human resources shortage at Howard means Thistle is the only
person qualified to perform the basic procedure.

The lineup will likely keep him busy for hours.

And he's got dinner plans tonight. His wife is organizing a feast for Krahn
and his wife Debbie, Vineberg, three Peterborough volunteers and a
Peterborough Examiner reporter.

Pedrinah will expect her husband to entertain.

During a typical day, Thistle watches helplessly as mothers die at birth,
babies die of malnutrition, men and women are stuck down in the prime of
their lives.

Somehow, he returns to his family each night, remaining positive with his
sense of humour intact. Somehow, he gets up in the morning and does it all
again.

"You have to have a sense of humour. If you didn't laugh, you would cry and
you can't spend your entire years of service weeping. Yes you deal with all
the horror, but you have to work that out and see if you can improve your
service," he said.

"But when it does fail, you have to be able to pick up the pieces and move
on and treat the next person and the next person. By the Grace of God, the
majority of the people who come to Howard walk out alive on their own two
feet."

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

SURVIVING IN ZIMBABWE: Big on care, small on resources

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/

Howard Hospital
By GALEN EAGLE
Updated 3 hours ago

GALEN EAGLE Examiner

A large crankshaft sits in a wheelbarrow with four grim faces looking at it.

Three of those faces belong to maintenance men, wearing overalls, covered in
machine oil and grit.

The third is a hospital administrator wearing a bright white Salvation Army
dress shirt tucked into khaki pants.

The four create an interesting image standing in front of the Howard
Hospital administration building in the centre of the hospital's sprawling
grounds.

Decisions made here keep the busy hospital operating day in and day out.

Staff walking past the four with their bowed heads fixed on the crucial
engine part know what's at stake.

The 30-year-old generator, donated to the hospital by the Swedish military,
broke down the day before. Now the hospital is relying on the
ever-so-not-reliable national power grid.

For the past 24 hours electricity has been scarce. Because the plumbing in
most buildings relies on electric water pumps, no electricity also means no
water.

Zimbabwe is faced with a severe national power shortage and a hospital that
sees 300 patients daily (running four busy wards that are often over
capacity and an operating theatre) cannot afford to be in the dark long.

Dr. Paul Thistle, a Toronto native and Howard's chief medical officer, is
the international face for the hospital. His web of donors and contacts keep
the facilities operating.

The Zimbabwe government once provided about $40,000 annually to keep the
doors open to a poor, rural population of more than 250,000 that has been
ravaged by the AIDS epidemic.

Now, Howard receives only $8,000 from the government along with
antiretroviral drugs for the thousands of HIV/AIDS patients who seek
treatment there every year.

With a patient list that would rattle many North American doctors, Thistle
would love to dedicate all of his time to treatment, but, as he explains,
you can't run a semi-modern hospital on $8,000 a year.

He's in the business of saving lives, Thistle adds. Here in Zimbabwe, fuel
for the generator is as important as his success in the operating theatre;
that's why his job description includes reaching out to the international
community.

"We are not a hospital with a big PR machine. In fact, we have no real
machines at all," Thistle said.

With one working email account and a satellite phone, Thistle must find time
in his long, more than 12-hour workdays to shake the donation tree.

In his 15 years at Howard, 11 at the helm, Thistle has managed to create
international awareness about the work at Howard despite being tucked away
in a northeastern province of Zimbabwe.

Canadian donors play one of the biggest roles.

In a week's time, the hospital is expecting a container full of medical
supplies, a donation from the Montreal- based Health Partners International
of Canada that ships millions in supplies to Howard bi-annually from a
Toronto warehouse.

The Toronto Jewish group Ve'ahavta has been partnering with Howard since
1998, funding major medical research projects focused on prevention of
maternal transmission of HIV/AIDS through birth and through breastfeeding,
as well as diagnostics and treatment of tuberculosis.

Projects in the past have focused on volunteer placements and capacity
building, including training of local staff and the development of the
hospital's Tariro Clinic, which serves as the centre of its HIV/AIDS and TB
treatment program.

Ve'ahavta continues to support Howard through regular shipments of medical
supplies, school supplies and pharmaceuticals.

Thistle said his support in Canada is coast-to-coast with recent
contributions from Victoria, Calgary, Saskatoon, Manitoba and Windsor.

In the last decade Peterborough donors have consistently provided Howard
with financial contributions as well as volunteers on the ground.

The donors are currently raising $50,000 for a new building to shelter
medical professionals as the hospital aims to attract more permanent doctors
and technicians.

Howard is also the hub of the Children First project, a five-year program
funded by the United States Agency for International Development, aimed at
mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS on orphans and vulnerable children in
Zimbabwe.

It's these efforts that keep Howard Hospital afloat, but just barely.

The hospital's four main wards -the children's, women's, men's and maternity
wards -were built in the 1960s and are crumbling.

The roof of the maternity ward collapsed last week, narrowly missing nursing
mothers.

"I was hoping to get a rock star to host a benefit concert," Thistle joked,
as he surveyed the damage.

Many of the hospital's onsite accommodations are constructed from mud bricks
and have thatched roofs.

In the late 1990s, the Salvation Army welcomed a generous,
multi-million-dollar private donation to construct a completely new hospital
on adjacent grounds. The modern building was almost fully constructed by
2003 when the inflation crisis put a halt to the project.

Building material that would cost $20 per square foot one day would cost
$100 per square foot the next day, if the materials were even available.

The nearly constructed hospital now sits empty, used mainly as a storage
facility.

Goats graze the grounds, vandals have smashed windows and the hospital
employs a security guard, armed with an aluminum baseball bat, to watch the
place at night.

Estimates to complete the facility, which has sat vacant for about eight
years, start at about $1.7 million.

For a hospital that manages on a shoestring budget and can barely staff or
equip its current facilities, the unused building is a frustrating reminder
of what could have been.

But there's too much positive at Howard to dwell on the disappointments.

Amid its myriad of hospital programs designed to better the lives of rural
Zimbabweans, the hospital also trains new doctors, nurses and midwives. The
hospital property is also home to Salvation Army primary and secondary
schools for children who would have no access to schooling otherwise.

The best type of donation, Thistle explains, is the donation with no strings
attached.

Peterborough money has purchased what may seem like simple things such as
bed linens or school supplies, but those are tangible contributions to the
Howard community, Thistle said.

It's that tangibility that keeps donors coming back too, he said.

"A lot of the stuff we do is small, tangible, and I think that's what
attracts us to the Peterborough group," he said. "When they donate, they
know it will make a difference, fast and in a very real way."

And every day the hospital keeps its doors open, despite the fierce
challenges in this part of the world. That's a success that inspires Thistle
onto a new day.

"As we struggle to stay afoot, hundreds of thousands of people are getting
accessible, quality and affordable health care."

NOTE: Hospital staff said the broken crankshaft could be replaced in the
capital Harare and they were hoping to have the generator operating again in
days.

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

- - -

Quick Howard Hospital Facts:

The Salvation Army started the facility as a school in 1923

Today it serves a rural population of more than 250,000 in the Mazowe
district of Mashonaland Central Province

About 2,500 babies are born at Howard each year

It's estimated more than 60% of the hospital's patients have AIDS or HIV.

The hospital facilities, mainly built in the 1960s, feature four main wards
and an operating theatre The Salvation Army operates a primary and secondary
school on the hospital grounds

Peterborough donors raise about $30,000 in funds and supplies for the
hospital each year

Howard reaches 75,000 people through it's in-patient and out-patient
departments

Some 5,000 patients in remote areas receive home-care provided by Howard

Howard receives about 300 patients per day

- - -

How to give to Howard Hospital

* Locally, a grassroots group of Peterborough volunteers collects some
$30,000 a year for Howard Hospital issuing tax receipts through Donwood
United Church. Peterborough psychotherapist Brian Nichols takes donations
and supplies to Zimbabwe annually. All money raised in Peterborough goes to
the hospital with no administrative costs.

Nichols can be reached at:

705-876-0946

SURVIVING IN ZIMBABWE: Making connections

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/

Volunter Brian Nichols
By GALEN EAGLE
Updated 3 hours ago

It's mid-afternoon on the men's ward. The sun has reached its peak in the
sky, throwing sunlight through hospital windows onto beds and patients.

A man with cloudy, cataract-filled eyes is on one bed; an infection has
resulted in the recent amputation of his left leg above the kneecap. He's
extremely skinny but has lean muscular arms. He appears to be in his 30s.

He speaks broken English and says his name is Americo. He was born
Zimbabwean but came to the hospital from neighbouring Mozambique. He is
alone. No family members have visited.

Peterborough psychotherapist Brian Nichols, a 58-year-old who runs his
practice from his 160-year-old East City home, has been visiting Americo for
several days.

Nichols arrived in Zimbabwe in early January with Millbrook lawyer Julie
Kirkpatrick and Peterborough carpenter Jeff Mathers, owner of Hickory Lane
Kitchens on Perry St. The three will spend a month here before heading home.
They will donate all their possessions and leave solely with the clothes on
their back.

It's Nichols' sixth trip to Howard Hospital, a Salvation Army facility 80
kilometres north of Zimbabwe's capital Harare in the Mazowe district of the
country's Mashonaland Central Province.

Nichols fell in love with Zimbabwe, and the work at the hospital, during his
first visit six years ago.

"It gets in your blood," he explains.

He now calls the grounds his second home, flying in every year with
thousands of dollars in Peterborough donations and suitcases full of clothes
and supplies.

If the hospital had the time or resources to erect plaques, Nichols' name
and those of a loose affiliation of Peterborough volunteers including Larry
Gillman and Jenn Reid would be here.

Peterborough donations, collected through Donwood United Church, have
contributed to everything from bricks and mortar to bed sheets to school
sponsorships for the Salvation Army schools on the hospital grounds.

Reid, a midwife who teaches health sciences at Fleming College, first came
to Howard Hospital in 2001. Gilman and Nichols soon followed, making annual
pilgrimages.

Nichols figures Peterborough raises about $30,000 in cash and supplies for
the hospital each year.

But it's the intangibles, the hands-on care provided by Nichols and the
volunteers such as Kirkpatrick and Mathers, who make the two-day voyage to
Zimbabwe, that leave a more lasting impression.

Here lays Americo, wearing a beaded bracelet on his skinny wrist. His eyes
light up as the white-haired, bearded Nichols enters the ward, taking out a
MP3 player and placing speakers above Americo's bed. Shona music echoes
through the ward, which has 20 male patients.

The dull mood in the room leaves. Patients sit up and start talking.

Nichols pulls out a container of beads and cuts a line of fishing wire for
Americo to start a necklace. He then prepares him for a massage.

"There is a lot of pain from lying in the bed. The muscles waste and the
patients get bed sores, so this prevents some of that," Nichols said,
performing a Thai massage on Americo. "I believe the energy in my hands can
be transferred to the person."

Americo moans in gratitude as Nichols moves on to the next patient.

It's estimated more than 60% of the hospital patients are HIV-positive.

As stigma surrounding AIDS remains prevalent in Zimbabwe, family members are
often wary of touching loved ones with the disease.

It's likely Nichols will be the first person to touch some of these patients
in many months, said Dr. Paul Thistle, the hospital's chief medical officer.

Nichols has worked hard over the years to teach family members, and even
hospital staff, that touching is not only OK, but beneficial, Thistle said.

"He provides this physical, spiritual support -hands on -to patients who
traditionally would not be touched. Because of the stigma of HIV/AIDS, they
have been the untouchables," Thistle said.

"Brian comes in and tears down those barriers and shows the nurses and the
staff and the patient's family that there is no concern."

Nichols, who along with his wife Paulette, has raised two children in
Peterborough, said a sense of calling draws him back to Howard every year.

"When I arrive, people say welcome home," he said. "Each time I have come, I
have learned something more."

Learning to overcome suffering is a work in progress, he said. Howard
Hospital has fewer than 150 beds, but it's not unusual to be dozens of
patients over capacity, lining the halls and cramming into the four wards.

Zimbabwe has one of the world's worst infant mortality rates and is prone to
epidemics such as the 2008 cholera outbreak that claimed thousands of lives.

Death is a daily part of the hospital's reality.

Part of the hospital's role is to provide palliative care for dying
patients. Nichols often finds himself accompanying people in the last days,
hours and minutes of their lives.

"I have held people as they struggled to die," he said. "We don't keep track
of numbers, but one week I did, and there were 14 deaths in the children's
ward."

Every death leaves a scar, he said. To wake up and bring joy to the ward the
next day, he has had to hone his coping tools.

Those tools became oil pastels, paintbrushes and paper, tools he uses to
create an ongoing series of paintings, his attempt to share with the world
what he sees in Zimbabwe.

"I'm able to take the suffering here and make meaningful work that can
connect to people in the Canadian context," he said. "I want people in
Peterborough to care."

The paintings adorn the walls of his home and were featured in September at
The Spill on George St.

An introspective person at heart, Nichols spends sundown with his fellow
Peterborough travellers reflecting on the day's events.

Sitting on the porch of a small shop in a neighbouring village, Nichols sips
a quart of cheap Zimbabwean beer and talks about Americo.

Thistle has given the man a 50/50 chance of surviving his amputation.

The conversation is interrupted by a local man the Peterborough group has
nicknamed -Wire Boy -an untreated schizophrenic named Tonganai Chakenetsa
who wears a wire crown on his head.

Many of the local villagers tease Wire Boy, who is intelligent but struggles
to make sense of his words, often rambling on for minutes at a time.

Nichols stops his conversation and begins a dialogue with the young man.

Within minutes, the two are on the ground, using a stick to scrawl images
into the red, dirt road. The art project turns into a dancing match. The two
perform flips and break-dance to the entertainment of about 50 onlookers who
have circled them.

"I just wanted people here to know he's likeable," Nichols explains as he
walks back to the hospital grounds in the dark.

For Nichols, coming to Zimbabwe is about making connections, if only
briefly.

Faced with the daily reality of death, Nichols has developed a positive
outlook in the past six years that he attempts to teach each new visitor.

"I know many of the people I see on the ward won't make it through the
night, but wasn't I fortunate to make that connection with them before they
died."

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

SURVIVING IN ZIMBABWE: Big ideas met with bigger problems

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/

Volunteer Jeff Mathers
By GALEN EAGLE
Updated 3 hours ago

Peterborough carpenter Jeff Mathers is going to have some explaining to do
when he gets home from Zimbabwe.

What was supposed to be a one-time visit to the Salvation Army's Howard
Hospital for the 54-years-old owner of Hickory Lane Kitchens on Perry St.
has morphed into plans to return year after year.

"I would like to come back here every year and tackle one big project,"
Mathers said, as he walks along the dusty paths of the hospital grounds
carrying a yellow duffle bag full of tools. "My wife pushed me out here and
said 'get it out of your system.' Now I think I'm hooked."

Mathers, who with his wife Denise, has raised two grown children and lives
on Chemong Lake, travelled to Zimbabwe with Peterborough psychotherapist
Brian Nichols and Millbrook lawyer Julie Kirkpatrick.

As he prepares to hand over his business to a new generation in the coming
years, Mathers said he was spending less time at work and more time driving
his wife crazy.

"I need a project or I go nuts," he said.

That's what brought him to sub- Sahara Africa ready to get his hands dirty.

"Life has been pretty good to me. I got the urge to give it back somehow,"
he said. "I had always wanted to do this for years but never knew how to go
about it."

Upon seeing the dilapidated and crumbling hospital infrastructure, however,
Mathers fell into a funk for the first few days of his visit.

"The first few days I found it very disappointing and depressing," he said.
"The place is just falling apart."

Compounding issues, Mathers came with big ideas of raising roofs, building
homes and tackling major hospital projects.

Those ideas were soon crushed with the reality of Zimbabwe and the lack of
construction materials.

Basic items such as paintbrushes are hard to come by in rural Zimbabwe.

Mathers was able to arrange a shipment of wood screws, rollers, paintbrushes
and small materials to come into Zimbabwe when The Examiner left
Peterborough.

Within a week at the hospital, Mathers had settled into some construction
projects. Hiring some local villagers to help, Mathers and his crew have
been building much-needed benches for a local church congregation.

A donation from Kawartha Montessori School in Peterborough to Nyachuru
Primary School on the hospital grounds has kept Mathers busy assembling
desks purchased with the donation.

Mathers planned to spend the remainder of his month-long trip helping out
where is he is needed and fact-finding for his future projects.

In his first two weeks, Mathers said at times he has found the need
overwhelming.

He had to fight the urge to help every child he came in contact with.

"It costs a few hundred dollars to send a boy to college," he said. "It's
peanuts to us and that's what makes it so hard. You want to give all the
time but there are millions of kids here and you can't help them all."

Mathers said the people and their genuinely positive outlook, despite their
poverty, have inspired him.

"We have got ourselves into such a rut and a rat race back at home. I think
they have a good idea here," he said.

"I remember watching these things on TV. After a while, you stop paying
attention. When you come over here, it's a different story. You get to know
the people. You see that kids are kids no matter where you are in the
world."

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

SURVIVING IN ZIMBABWE: The healing power of the little things

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/

By GALEN EAGLE
Updated 3 hours ago

Palming a bottle of nail polish, Millbrook lawyer Julie Kirkpatrick has
found the key to her patient's heart.

"It's amazing what a little nail polish will do for a girl," Kirkpatrick
says beaming.

It's nighttime on the women's ward, a time when Kirkpatrick slips away from
her fellow travellers and walks the dark paths towards the hospital with a
flashlight.

"I like coming at this time. It's quiet. I can do my own thing."

A set of big, bold eyes peer up from the bed Kirkpatrick sits upon. They
belong to a tiny woman named Miriam Chiwaro. She smiles and shows off her
newly painted fingernails. Her 13-year-old daughter sits by her side and
will sleep under her mother's bed tonight.

Dozens of family members who pack into the wards at night will do the same.
The wards come alive with families laughing, exchanging stories.

Some just remain silent and hold a loved one's hand, but the hustle and
bustle is a warming contrast to the often sterile daytime.

A month ago, Chiwaro, a 30-year-old farmer, was walking across a river with
her baby boy when a crocodile attacked her.

She threw her baby to the shore as she attempted to fight off the attack.

But the baby drowned, the croc took her leg and she barely escaped death.

Since Dec. 17 she has sat in her Howard Hospital bed on death's door. Nurses
said she had lost her will to live.

Her body weight dropped excessively and doctors feared her leg amputation
would become infected.

This is how Kirkpatrick, 42, found the despondent patient who appeared to
have given up hope.

When Kirkpatrick arrived in Zimbabwe, marking her first trip to Africa, she
said she struggled to understand how she could be effective here.

As a law professional, she felt she didn't have anything to offer a
suffering woman like Chiwaro.

"My first week, I wasn't touching anybody and I wasn't getting too close to
sickness or suffering," she said. "My skills don't really have a practical
application here."

On the advice of long-time Peterborough friend Brian Nichols, a
psychotherapist who joined Kirkpatrick on the trip and makes an annual visit
to the hospital, Kirkpatrick sucked up her fears and began connecting with
patients on a much more physical level.

With 20-year-old Dorcas Mwabvu, a woman suffering from complications of
childbirth, Kirkpatrick made origami cranes, distracting the woman from
thinking about the surgery that awaited her the next morning.

With mothers in the children's ward, Kirkpatrick strung decorative streamers
and helped organize an art workshop. The art pieces are now displayed at the
ward's entrance, covering up the drab, peeled paint of the 50-year-old
building.

With Chiwaro, it just took a woman's touch and a little bit of nail polish.

The two bonded immediately. Chiwaro began teaching Kirkpatrick Shona, the
language spoken by the majority of Zimbabweans.

Within days of Kirkpatrick's arrival on the woman's ward, the hospital's
chief medical officer Dr. Paul Thistle said he saw a complete turnaround in
Chiwaro's outlook.

"She started to respond right at the time (Kirkpatrick) arrived," Thistle
said. "She was on death's door for two months. She's getting better
medically. There is such a large part of medical care that is social and
spiritual."

Chiwaro's condition remains dynamic, Thistle warned. An amputation such as
hers is highly prone to infection, but the most recent signs look good, he
said.

Kirkpatrick came to Zimbabwe on the heels of a major change in her life.

After running a busy law firm, Kirkpatrick took a pause in July 2009 and
joined her daughter in Europe, tackling an 800-kilometre route in Spain
known as the Camino de Santiago trail.

She turned the trip into a project, asking 26 friends to give her a task for
each day of her walk.

What she received, she said, was a list of tasks that required a lot of
inner examination.

Nichols asked her: "What are your 40- year-old fears and what would you do
if you didn't have them?"

At the end of each day, she would sit down and write a letter to the friend
who assigned her the task for the day. The end result was a book entitled
The Camino Letters: 26 Tasks on the Way to Finisterre.

She started up a publishing house - Pyxis Press -with her husband George and
the initial printing of her book, 1,500 copies, sold out in about eight
weeks.

It was that process she said, that gave her the courage to come to Zimbabwe.

"I would not have come here before. I would have found so many reasons not
to," she said.

She and Nichols are currently working on a book about Howard Hospital.

"The thought is, if a book does come out of it, there is an opportunity to
generate some money for Howard," she said.

In her first two weeks, Zimbabwe has already taught her much about life and
death, Kirkpatrick said. She plans to come back and continue the lesson
regularly.

"When you strip everything away...we are actually very vulnerable
creatures," she said.

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

SURVIVING IN ZIMBABWE : Finding the human spirit in the horror

http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/

By GALEN EAGLE
Updated 3 hours ago

GALEN EAGLE Examiner

Hockey night in Zimbabwe begins with a clatter in the red, dusty roads.

Plastic blades, connected to wooden Sher-Wood and CCM shafts, long abandoned
by their Canadian donors, drag in the dirt.

Dozens of young, black children and teens are on the road, forming what
looks like a parade route to a basketball court just outside the grounds of
Howard Hospital.

Several boys wear soccer jerseys with names and logos on them from
Peterborough, Newmarket and Toronto.

A weekend tradition at Howard Hospital, a Salvation Army facility situated
in the Chiweshe communal land of Zimbabwe, is about to begin.

A pale, white man in his late 40s, wearing khaki shorts, running shoes and
white socks pulled up well past his ankles, arrives with the game ball.

The hard, orange ball the size of a baseball, is a coveted commodity here in
sub-Saharan Africa. An open outhouse behind one of the makeshift goal posts
has been the final resting place of many of these balls.

Dr. Paul Thistle, a Toronto native and the hospital's chief medical officer
since 1999, speaks to the players in their Shona tongue.

The teams are divided and Thistle drops the ball. For the next hour a
chaotic swarm of players hack, kick and take golf-like swings at the ball,
skillfully avoiding the dung piles on the court and the barbed wire fencing
marking the boundaries.

The game includes goalie kicks, corner kicks and throw-ins.

"It's really less hockey and more a mix of soccer, rugby and cricket,"
Thistle jokes.

Amid the comfortable 25 C weather, set against a canvas of a plush,
rainy-season floral display -Zimbabwean mountains rolling in the
background -the sights and sounds of young boys laughing and joking leaves a
favourable impression on new visitors to the hospital grounds.

The challenges in this part of world can overwhelm the international
visitors going through the revolving door to Howard with the best
intentions.

In the heart of an AIDS epidemic, an estimated 12% of the country's 13
million residents are HIV-positive. Hospital staff estimate more than 60% of
the 300 patients found at the hospital on any given day are infected. It is
an unforgiving plight that attacks men and women in their prime, weakening
the country's workforce and leaving thousands of orphaned children each
year.

In rural areas surrounding Howard Hospital, local farmers live on an average
of $1 per day. Few families have running water or electricity. According to
the World Health Organization, the average woman can expect to live to 43, a
man to 44. If faced with underlying health complications such as AIDS and
tuberculosis, the average person's lifespan can drop by a decade.

The introduction of a 100 trillion- dollar note in 2008 marked a changing
moment in the country's inflation crisis, a downhill economic decline
beginning in the late 1990s.

Now Zimbabwe relies on foreign currency. It was only several years ago it
would take a wheelbarrow full of the country's cash to buy basic groceries.

The country's political situation has stabilized with the formation of a
coalition government in 2008. The power-sharing agreement, however, is set
to expire. Signs of campaigning are already present and people like Thistle,
who must do their work regardless of the political climate, can see storm
clouds on the horizon.

But laughing children are laughing children, no matter where they are in the
world. After the 80-hour work weeks Thistle routinely does, the weekend game
is an obvious pleasurable break for the Canadian- Zimbabwean.

At Howard, Thistle explains, the struggle between life and death is the main
currency. Amid horror, there is always joy and the perseverance of the human
spirit around the corner.

You have to appreciate "the good" when it hits you in the face, Thistle
said.

It's unlikely the Peterborough Petes will be scouting Thistle's prospects
any time soon, but on this Sunday evening, it's the love and fun of a good
game -whatever game that might be -that's taking centre stage. The good is
hard to miss.

Much like the weekend hockey game, Howard Hospital is chaotic. It runs on a
shoestring budget with hand-me-down equipment. The hospital has adapted,
inventing its own rules.

Crumbling infrastructure, continuous power outages, medicine shortages and a
struggle to train, and keep, medical professionals plague the daily
operations.

Yet, somehow, Howard Hospital works. Every day, about 300 patients, from a
catchment area of 250,000 rural Zimbabweans, receive quality, affordable
health care.

There is often more laughter within the walls of Howard Hospital than
misery.

The Examiner spent a week behind the scenes on the hospital grounds,
shadowing Thistle and three Peterborough area volunteers where they spent a
month donating their time.

In this special section, The Examiner will show Peterborough residents how
thousands of dollars in local donations have helped the hospital and the
surrounding communities.

From a connection between Peterborough high school PCVS and a Zimbabwe
secondary school for orphans to larger infrastructure programs fueled by
Peterborough funding, the work being done in Zimbabwe is great and varied.

Financial contributions aside, The Examiner will explore how the hands-on
approach of three Peterborough area volunteers - a therapist, a lawyer and a
cabinetmaker -and simple things such as nail polish, massage oil and a bag
of wood screws can also change lives.

geagle@peterboroughexaminer.com

- - -

Getting there

Zimbabwe's capital Harare is 12,899 kilometres from Peterborough

The trip involved stops in Washington and Addis, Ethiopia

Plane tickets cost $1,550, an entrance visa cost $75, media accreditation
cost $300 and malaria pills cost $190 for one week.

Howard Hospital is located 80 kilometres north of Harare

It's currently the rainy season in Zimbabwe with temperatures reaching
comfortable highs of about 20 to 25 C.

OPINION: As African tyrants fall

http://www.zimonline.co.za/

by Alemayehu G. Mariam     Saturday 05 February 2011

Mohandas Karmachand Gandhi (The Mahatma or Great Soul) is today revered as a
historical figure who fought against colonialism, racism and injustice. But
he was also one of the greatest modern revolutionary political thinkers and
moral theorists.

While Nicolo Machiavelli taught tyrants how to acquire power and keep it
through brute force, deceit and divide and rule, Gandhi taught ordinary
people simple sure-fire techniques to bring down dictatorships.

Gandhi learned from history that dictators, regardless of their geographic
origin, cleverness, wealth, fame or brutality, in the end always fall: ‘When
I despair, I remember that all through history, the way of truth and love
has always won. There have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time they
seem invincible, but in the end, they always fall. Think of it, always.’??

Last month, it was Tunisia’s Zine El Abidine Ben Ali’s turn to fall, and for
the Tunisian people to get some respite from their despair. In the dead of
night, Ben Ali packed his bags and winged it out of the country he had ruled
with an iron fist for 23 years to take up residence in Saudi Arabia, where
he was received with open arms and kisses on the cheeks. (Uganda’s
bloodthirsty dictator Idi Amin also found a haven in Saudi Arabia until his
death in 2003 at age 80.)

Ben Ali’s sudden downfall and departure came as a surprise to many within
and outside Tunisia as did the sudden flight of the fear-stricken Mengistu
Hailemariam in Ethiopia back in 1991.

When push came to shove, Mengistu, the military man with nerves of steel who
had bragged that he would be the last man standing when the going got tough,
became the first man to blow out of town on a fast plane to Zimbabwe. Such
has been the history of African dictators: When the going gets a little
tough, the little dictators get going to some place where they can
peacefully enjoy the hundreds of millions of dollars they have stolen and
stashed away in European and American banks.??

The end for Tunisia’s dictator (but not his dictatorship which is still
functioning as most of his corrupt minions remain in the saddles of power)
came swiftly and surprised his opponents, supporters and even his
international bankrollers.

President Obama who had never uttered a critical word about Ben Ali was the
first to ‘applaud the courage and dignity of the Tunisian people’ in driving
out the dictator. He added, ‘We will long remember the images of the
Tunisian people seeking to make their voices heard.’ Those memorable images
will be imprinted in the minds of all oppressed Africans; and no doubt they
will heed the President’s words and drive out the continent’s dictators to
pasture one by one.??

After nearly a quarter century of dictatorial rule, few expected Ben Ali to
be toppled so easily. He seemed to be in charge, in control and invincible.
Many expected the 75 year-old Ben Ali to install his wife or son in-law in
power and invisibly pull the puppet strings behind the throne.

But any such plans were cut short on 17 December 2010 when Mohamed Bouazizi,
a 26-year old college graduate set himself on fire to protest the police
confiscation of his unlicensed vegetable cart. Apparently, he was fed up
paying ‘bakseesh’ (bribe) to the cops.

His death triggered massive public protests led by students, intellectuals,
lawyers, trade unionists and other opposition elements. Bouazizi was
transformed into a national martyr and the fallen champion of Tunisia’s
downtrodden – the unemployed, the urban poor, the rural dispossessed,
students, political prisoners and victims of human rights abuses.??

Bouazizi’s form of protest by self-immolation is most unusual in these
turbulent times when far too many young people have expressed their despair
and anger by strapping themselves with explosives and causing the deaths of
so many innocent people.

Bouazizi, it seems, chose to end his despair and dramatise to the world the
political repression, extreme economic hardships and the lack of opportunity
for young people in Tunisia by ending his own life in such a tragic manner.
He must have believed in his heart that his self-sacrifice could lead to
political transformation. ??

Truth be told, Tunisia is not unique among African countries whose people
have undergone prolonged economic hardships and political repression while
the leaders and their parasitic flunkies cling to power and live high on the
hog stashing millions abroad.

In Ethiopia, the people today suffer from stratospheric inflation, soaring
prices, extreme poverty, high unemployment (estimated at 70 per cent for the
youth) and a two-decade old dictatorship that does not give a hoot or allows
them a voice in governance (in May 2010, the ruling party ‘won’ 99.6 per
cent of the seats in parliament).

In December 2010, inflation was running at 15 per cent (according to
‘government reports’), but in reality at a much higher rate. The trade
imbalance is mindboggling: A whopping US$7 billion in imports to US$1.2
billion worth of exports in 2009-10.

In desperation, the regime recently imposed price caps on basic food stuffs
and began a highly publicised official campaign to tar and feather ‘greedy’
merchants and businessmen for causing high prices, the country’s economic
woes and sabotaging the so-called growth and transformational plan.

Hundreds of merchants and businessmen have been canned and await kangaroo
court trials for hoarding, price-gouging and quite possibly for global
warming as well.

Former World Bank director and recently retired opposition party leader
Bulcha Demeksa puts the blame squarely on the ruling regime’s shoulders and
says price controls are senseless exercises in futility: ‘I’m not so angry
with the retailers and sellers. I’m angry with the government, because the
government counts on its capability to control price.

‘Prices cannot be controlled. It has been tried everywhere in the world and
it has failed. Unless you make it a totally totalitarian society it is
impossible to control prices.’ (When a regime claims electoral victory of
99.6 per cent, there is little room to dispute whether it is totalitarian.)

Aggravating the economic crises are chronic problems of reliable
infrastructure including unstable electricity supply, burdensome and
multiple taxation and agenerally unfriendly business environment.

Gandhi’s contemporary relevance ??

Without firing a single shot, Gandhi was able to successfully lead a
movement, which liberated India from the clutches of centuries of British
colonialism using nonviolence and passive resistance as a weapon. Gandhi
believed that it was possible to nonviolently struggle and win against
injustice, discrimination and abuse of basic human rights be it in
caste-divided India or racially divided South Africa.

Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence was based on the ancient Vedic (sacred
writings of Hinduism) idea of ‘Ahimsa’ which emphasises the interconnection
of all living things and avoidance of physical violence in human relations
and in the relations between humans and other living things, notably
animals.

For Gandhi, Ahimsa principles also applied to psychological violence that
destroys the mind and the spirit. He believed that to effectively deal with
evil (be it colonialism, dictatorship, tyranny, hate, etc.) one must seek
truth in a spirit of peace, love and understanding.

One must undergo a process of self-purification to be rid of all forms of
psychological violence including hatred, malice, bad faith, mistrust,
revenge and other vices. He taught that one must strive to be open, honest,
and fair, and accept suffering without inflicting it on others. Such was the
basic idea of Gandhi’s ‘Satyagraha’ or the pursuit of truth.??

Dismantling dictatorships in africa??

Ben Ali left Tunisia in a jiffy not because of a military or palace coup but
as a result of a popular uprising that went on unabated for a month. Police
officers are the latest to join in the street demonstrations and protests
demanding an end to dictatorship and establishment of a genuine democratic
government. But the Ben Ali dictatorship is alive and well-entrenched in
power.

A few members of his old crew have been arrested or fired from their jobs,
but Mohamed Ghannouchi, other ministers and power brokers are still doing
what they have been doing for the last 23 years. To placate the public,
token members of the opposition have been invited to join a transitional
‘unity government’ pending elections in 60 days under constitutional
provisions that favour Ben Ali’s Constitutional Democratic Rally Party
(RCD).

Those who led the uprising do not seem to have much voice or representation
in the ‘unity’ government. For now it seems that the RCD foxes guarding the
hen house are buying time and making plans to finish off the hens. But the
best laid plans of mice and men often go awry, and the best laid plans of
Ben Ali’s lackeys may in the end fail and make way for a genuinely popular
government.

There are hopeful signs. For instance, informed observers note that there is
a measure of solidarity and consensus among major opposition elements on
such issues as democratic governance, human rights, release of political
prisoners, democratic freedoms and the functioning of civil society groups.
??

The Tunisian people’s revolution provides practical insights into the
prerequisites for dismantling dictatorships in Africa. The first lesson is
that when dictatorships end, their end could come with a bang or a whimper,
and without warning. Just a few weeks ago no one would have predicted that
Ben Ali would be swept into the dust-bin of history with such swiftness.

Second, there is always the risk of losing the victory won by the people in
the streets by a disorganised and dithering opposition prepared to draw out
the long knives at the first whiff of power in the air.

Third, when tyrants fall, the immediate task is to dismantle the police
state they have erected before they have a chance to strike back. Their
modus operandi is well known: The dictators will decree a state of
emergency, impose curfews and issue shoot-to-kill orders to terrorise the
population and crush the people’s hopes and reinforce their sense of
despair, powerlessness, isolation, and fear. Obviously, this has not worked
in Tunisia. After more than 100 protesters were killed in the streets, more
seem to be coming.

Fourth, it is manifest that Western support for African dictators is only
skin deep.

Ben Ali was toasted in the West as the great moderniser and bulwark against
religious extremism and all that. The West threw him under the bus and
‘applauded’ the people who overthrew him before his plane touched down in
Saudi Arabia. Some friends, the West!

Ultimately, the more practical strategy to successfully dismantle
dictatorships is to build and strengthen inclusive coalitions and alliances
of anti-dictatorship forces who are willing to stand up and demand real
change. If such coalitions and alliances could not be built now, the outcome
when the dictators fall will be just a changing of the guards: old dictator
out, new dictator in.??

The Tunisian people's revolution should be an example for all Africans
struggling to breathe under the thumbs and boots of ruthless dictators. It
is interesting to note that there was a complete news blackout of the
Tunisian people’s revolution in countries like Ethiopia. They do not want
Ethiopians to get any funny ideas.

On 11 November 2005, Meles Zenawi defending the massacre of hundreds of
people in the streets said, ‘This is not your run-of-the-mill demonstration.
This is an Orange revolution [in Ukraine] gone wrong.’ Ben Ali said the same
thing until he found himself on a fast jet to Jeddah.

From India to Poland to the Ukraine to Czechoslovakia and Chile decades-old
dictatorships have been overthrown in massive acts of civil disobedience and
passive resistance. There is no doubt dictators from Egypt to Zimbabwe are
having nightmares from Tunisia’s version of a ‘velvet’ or ‘orange’
revolution.??

The power of civil disobedience

In his ‘Quit India’ speech in August 1942, Gandhi made observations that are
worth considering in challenging dictatorships in Africa:??‘In the democracy
which I have envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence, there will
be equal freedom for all. Everybody will be his own master. It is to join a
struggle for such democracy that I invite you today. Once you realize this
you will forget the differences between the Hindus and Muslims, and think of
yourselves as Indians only, engaged in the common struggle for independence…
?

?‘I have noticed that there is hatred towards the British among the people.
The people say they are disgusted with their behaviour. The people make no
distinction between British imperialism and the British people. To them, the
two are one. We must get rid of this feeling. Our quarrel is not with the
British people, we fight their imperialism.’??

For Africans, the quarrel is not and ought not be about ethnicity,
nationality, race, gender, religion, language or region, but about the
injustices, crimes and gross and widespread human rights violations
committed by African dictators. As Gandhi has taught, dictators for a time
appear formidable, strong, golden and invincible. But in reality they all
have feet of clay. ‘Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes
from an indomitable will,’ said Gandhi.

The Tunisian people have showed their African brothers and sisters what
indomitable will is all about when they chased old Ben Ali out of town. All
Africans now have a successful template to use in ridding themselves of
thugs, criminals and hyenas in designer suits and military uniforms holding
the mantle of power.-- ?First published by Pambazuka News??

* Alemayehu G. Mariam is professor of political science at California State
University, San Bernardino. Follow him on twitter @pal4thedefense.

Stay tuned... yawn!

Dear Family and Friends,

How embarrassing the first week of February 2011 has been in Zimbabwe.

“British Envoy ‘attacked’ ” was the screaming headline in Zimbabwe’s
independent daily newspaper, Newsday. The paper reported that when British
Embassy Second Secretary, Sarah Bennett, went to open and formally hand over
a newly constructed mortuary at a mission hospital, the event was disrupted
by Zanu PF youths. The reporter described how the youths were bussed in,
were apparently strangers to the area and some: “openly smoked dagga and
were visibly drunk.”  Costing over eighty thousand US dollars, the mortuary
was a gift from the British government to the people in the Mutasa
community. “Sanctions in Zimbabwe are a crime,” “Keep your England and I
will keep my Zimbabwe,” read the placards of the Zanu PF youths who
surrounded the gathering.

The MDC MP present at function said he felt sorry for the Zanu PF youths and
that he would pray for them and “ask God to forgive them.”

Ordinary Zimbabweans hung their heads in shame and embarrassment.

That night on the main ZBC TV news there was no mention of the insulting
behaviour displayed to the giver of an 80,000 gift to the community. It was
the same day that a million people had been called to protest against the 30
year rule of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt. There was no mention of that on ZBC TV
either. Instead, at 8 pm, when the news should have started, it was
propaganda jingle time. The minutes ticked past and the screen was full of
women dancing and shaking and singing their praises to Zanu PF and Mr
Mugabe. News started 6 minutes late and began with the newsreader saying we
should stay tuned because during the next hour we were to be told how Prime
Minister Tsvangirai planned to incite youths in his party to hold protests
to unseat Mr Mugabe. The newsreader said that ZBC could confirm that MDC was
“inciting its supporters to demonstrate but they had been thwarted by
security forces.”  A repeated film clip showed a white pick up truck
carrying half a dozen police wearing riot helmets.

“So where’s the protest?” I kept asking every time the same 6 riot police,
sitting in the same truck, going round the same corner were shown, but the
camera never gave a glimpse of a protest.

The next night ZBC were still stuck in the same rut and this time said “stay
tuned for the next hour when we will show how the MDC has been castigated
for trying to incite protests to overthrow the government.”  Then followed a
string of reports where all manner of unknown and unheard of ‘analysts’
explained that the MDC were Rhodesians, puppets and supported by people in
the West who wanted to re-colonise the country. Yawn ! Yet again we were
shown the same film clips from the night before, the same six riot police,
same truck, same corner but still no protest. Yawn!

It took a couple of days to make sense of it all but comprehension finally
came in the form of a Voice of America, Studio 7 radio report. It turned out
that the only protest held had been a Zanu PF protest!

VOA said:  “…state media outlets said a demonstration on Wednesday at
Harare's city hall by ZANU-PF supporters was called to prevent Mr.
Tsvangirai from pursuing a strategy of fomenting an Egyptian-style uprising
in Zimbabwe.”

All of this absurdity has been going in a week when the whole world has been
watching Egypt’s revolution unfold live on TV; the world watched, but not
Zimbabwe!

This month marks the 11th anniversary since  Zimbabweans voted NO in a
referendum proposing the adoption of a new constitution. It was a vote of
defiance for a doctored constitution and a vote of bravery. It was a vote
which started us on our own road to change, a road still unfolding. Until
next time, thanks for reading, love cathy. 5th February 2011. Copyright ©
Cathy Buckle. www.cathybuckle.com

Learn Shona - Beginner's Lesson 9

http://www.learnshona.com The following is part of a series of Shona lessons provided by http://www.learnshona.com. The audio versions are available at learnshona.com.  Please note that learnShona.com courses are designed to teach you by listening and repeating the words, as this is similar to the highly effective and proven Pimsleur technique.  As such, it will be more difficult, and much slower, to grasp by reading alone. We recommend downloading the audio course to listen and repeat. You can also retrieve the course from the beginning on this site or at http://www.learnshona.com. We welcome your feedback and hope that you find this useful. This week’s lesson is about discussing practical details such as your address and telephone number. We then cover the topic of pets and animals.   The read (listen) and repeat formula is designed to increase your intuitive understanding of Shona sentence structures.   Address (Kero)   What’s your address (literally - your address is what)? - Kero yako inoti chii? My address is 34 Green Road - kero yangu i34 Green Road Where do you live (literally - you live where)? - Unogara kupi? I live at 34 Green Road - Ndinogara pa34 Green Road   Telephone Number (Nhamba Dzerunhare)   What - chii Telephone number - nhamba dzerunhare Your telephone number - nhamba dzako dzerunhare What’s your telephone number? - Nhamba dzako dzerunhare chii?/dzinoti chii? My telephone number is 305678 - Nhamba yangu yerunhare i305678 A mobile phone - nharembozha Do you have a mobile phone? - Une nharembozha here? Don’t have - ndina I don’t have a phone - handina runhare Yes, l do (have a phone) - hongu, ndine runhare What’s your mobile phone number? - Nhamba dzenharembozha yako dzinotii?   Pets/animals (Mhuka)   A pet - mhuka yekutambisa You have - une Do you have any pets - une mhuka dzekutamba nadzo here? Do you keep any pets? - Unochengeta mhuka dzokutamba nadzo here? Yes, I have 2 dogs and a cat - Hongu ndine imbwa mbiri ne katsi I keep - ndinochengeta Yes, I keep 3 fish and a rabbit - Hongu, ndinochengeta hove nhatu netsuro imwe