Cathy Buckle's Letter From Zimbabwe.

Dear Family and Friends,Three afternoons in a row I could hear what I thought was a kitten crying and stopped what I was doing to concentrate on listening and try and workout where the sound was coming from. On the fourth day, the mewling was loud and persistent and as the sun sunk into the horizon my son and I went out onto the road to see if we could find the kitten. We looked in the long dry grass for movement, in the sand for footprints and up in the trees in case the kitten was stranded. We called and listened, checked the drain under the road and culverts near gates but the plaintive crying had stopped and we could find nothing. It was almost completely dark when we got home and I stood looking out in the direction the noise had come from.The temperature was dropping dramatically, the first stars were coming outand then suddenly I saw people emerging from the bush. A woman in the background and then three young children whose clothes were very tattered, big holes in their T shirts. They were collecting something on the ground, in the dust where I had just been. I couldn't see what it was but when I moved they saw me and ran away, disappearing back into the bush.The next afternoon I did not hear the kitten crying and have not heard it again since . The woman and three children have disappeared too and I am haunted by the sound wondering if it was in fact a baby crying and not a kitten mewling. Everywhere you go, the only topic is the ongoing demolition of informal housing and we all wonder where all these hundreds of thousands of people who have been made homeless are going to go. This week thousands more were made homeless when houses on Porta Farm were demolished and four people died in that process. There are only questionsand no answers. How are these multitudes of people going to survive this winter, what are they going to eat and what hope is there of any of the children going to school. As I sit here on a very cold winter morning in Zimbabwe writing this letter the first Live 8 music concerts are underway. I do not have any hope whatsoever that even one dollar of the money raised there will go to a woman and three children who are living under a bush in a freezing Marondera winter. This woman and her babies are on the move, on the run from their own government. Who will give this woman her Live 8 dollar, which corrupt official?This week I close with the wonderful news that former Chimanimani MP Roy Bennett has been released from prison after serving 8 months of the sentence. I know that many people have signed petitions, written letters and prayed for the safe release of Mr Bennett and it has done our souls good to know that this man of the people who is so admired and respected, is safe again with his family. Until next week, with love, cathy Copyrightcathy buckle 2nd July 2005http://africantears.netfirms.com/My books on the Zimbabwean crisis, "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" areavailable from: orders@africabookcentre.com ; http://www.africabookcentre.com/ ;http://www.amazon.co.uk/ ; in Australia and New Zealand:johnmreed@johnreedbooks.com.au ; Africa: http://www.exclusivebooks.com/