CATHY BUCKLE'S WEEKLY LETTER FROM ZIMBABWE !

Dear Family and Friends,

Sitting in a glass on my desk are five Flame Lilies. The water they are standing in was milky and murky and had a brown sediment when it came out of the tap this week. The flowers are exquisite with frilled, scarlet petals edged in yellow and spear shaped leaves tipped with thin curling tendrils. Flame Lilies are synonymous with Christmas and New Year in Zimbabwe and this year they are almost the only thing bringing colour and cheer to our deteriorating situation.

This New Year most Zimbabweans are not saying Happy New Year they are instead shaking their heads and asking : how much longer, is there any hope? Just a week into 2007 and everyone is reeling at the massive price increases of everything. Despite all the government pronouncements and promises of an "economic turnaround," Father Christmas did not deliver this elusive gift. Before Christmas a loaf of bread was 295 dollars, now it is 850 dollars - the bakerssay its still not enough to cover their costs and more rises are imminent.. (Add three zeroes to get the real price!) Petrol, which continues to be mostly nonexistent, has apparently increased from 2200 to 3000 dollars a litre and transport costs are said to have gone up by 60%. Since the government announced new price controls and began arresting businessmen before Christmas, almost all basic essentials have disappeared from the shelves. It is now virtually impossible to find sugar, flour, milk, margarine, cooking oil or maize meal in supermarkets. In one large wholesaler this week there were three great long aisles just filled from floor to ceiling with salt. Fine salt, coarse salt, bulk salt - you name it, there it was, just salt. All the oil, flour, sugar and maizemeal normally stacked there, had completely disappeared - turned to salt.

I stood next to a young teenage girl looking at the school writing exercise books piled on one shelf. When children go back to school in a few days time they have to provide their own writing books. Most senior school children need 15 exercise books and they are now just over 1000 dollars each. The girl next tome picked up a pack of ten books, turned it over, looked at me, shook her head and said 'eeeish' - and put the books back on the shelf. 'I don't have enough' she whispered and walked away. It is tragic to see bright young teenagers struggling to stay in school like this. They know that if they can't, it won't be long before they are forced into vegetable vending, begging and prostitution because there are very few jobs for qualified people and no jobs for school drop outs.

School fees for this girl were three thousand dollars last term in a rural government school. This term her fees are fifteen thousand dollars. That cost is the tip of the iceberg. Her exercise books will cost another fifteen thousand dollars and the plain soft black tennis shoes she can get away with wearing are fourteen thousand dollars.

This first week of 2007 it is hard to see how the systems can hold together for very much longer. Water is close to collapse, electricity workers are strikingfor 1000% pay rises and junior doctors have been striking for over a fortnight. I close with a quote from a letter from a friend which is appropriate for us all at the start of the EIGHTH year of Zimbabwe's decline: "Will we be able to look our children in the eye one day in the future and say truthfully 'we did our best' for Zimbabwe?" I hope so. Until next week, thanks for reading, love cathy.

Copyright cathy buckle 6th January 2007http://africantears.netfirms.comMy books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available from:orders@africanbookcentre.com