Zimbabwe!

The last two weeks of March I took leave and followed Mandla to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where he grew up. He had gone ahead to start sorting a few things out. We stayed in Tshabalala, a township just outside the city. This is where Mandla spent much of his childhood up until he moved to South Africa in 2003. I enjoyed meeting his old friends and family. I had especially been looking forward to meeting the members of Rainbow Blaze, the marimba group that Mandla helped start in 1998, I believe. They are all sweet guys and I enjoyed watching them rehearse together.
I loved staying in the township. The flats were mostly identical, originally built for the minors who came there to work. Each flat had four rooms, including a kitchen and usually a sitting room. They all had beautiful gardens and the second floor flats had verandas that overlooked the township, green and orange with trees and wildflowers. Daily power meant that if the power was on, everyone scrambled to get meals cooked and water heated. Everyday we walked to the little town center to get groceries. We often snacked on sweet cane between meals.
I was surprised by the many differences between Zimbabwe and South Africa. The most noticeable was how much safer it felt. I never once felt nervous around someone, even walking through the dark streets at night during power outs. Both in the township and the city I felt completely safe. In South Africa people look or even stare at me (and especially Mandla and I, when we're together) constantly. And much of the time those looks seem to be searching for some weakness or vulnerability that might be taken advantage of. In Zim people stared at me even more than in SA, but I never had the sense that their motives went beyond curiosity.
Also I noticed a huge difference in customer service. In SA, the word "serve" is more aptly used in the context of "you got SERVED!" I wonder if the fallen economy has created a more competitive atmosphere in business, thus improving customer service. But I also think people are just a bit nicer in Zimbabwe.
The economy has had a huge impact on the country in the past few years. Zimbabwe used to use, the Zim dollar. I've been told that at one point this was equal in worth to the British pound. I don't understand what all led to the hyperinflation of the past few years, but I heard lots of stories of how it affected people in their daily lives. One woman told us that the last salary she received in Zim dollars was just enough to buy one tomato and one onion. Most people said this really hard time began in 2006 and was at its worse in 2008 and 2009. I asked how people were able to survive and the response was often "by the grace of God." Practically speaking, this usually meant there was a relative in SA or another neighbouring country who was sending money or groceries to their family in Zim. During that time the stores were empty. I do remember in October or November hearing on the news that the situation in Zim was improving. When I asked a Zimbabwean friend of mine about it, he had said that yes, there was now food on the shelves, but still people did not have money to buy it. In Zim it was explained to me that store owners were selling their goods on the black market rather than in their stores. I think this was because the hyper inflation meant that money was really worth nothing, so merchants didn't want to accept it for goods. I was told that if a boy was walking down the street with a bag of maize meal, he would undoubtedly be robbed. The robber might throw money at him in return, but it could never be worth the value of the maize meal. I was also told that if you saw someone with maize meal, you would ask them where they bought it and the answer might be "the mortuary." It was in late 2009 that Zim switched to U.S. dollar and South African rand, which has begun to stabilize the economy. Now people seem to be doing fine. They're gaining weight again, they say. Of course, Zim is still economically unstable. I think almost everyone blames this on Mugabe. It seems the country is just waiting for him to die.
It took us awhile to adjust to the new monetary system while we were there. One day we paid with $10 for groceries and got back $5, 10 rand and 5 pula (from Botswana). We also received change in the form of candy fairly often. It was nearly impossible to spend any large bills.
Bulawayo is full of evidence of the recent history. It's obvious that the city was thriving and exciting not too long ago. People often speak about the glory days of the 80's and early 90's. The city was prosperous and lively with art and music. There are fancy malls and beautiful buildings down town. But everything seems to be just beginning to be revived after a long period of inactivity. The roads are not busy, but not empty either. Most grocery stores are full of food, but with very little selection. In the small grocery in Tshabalala the only canned foods were baked beans and tuna. We rarely found more than one brand of any given food or other commodity. I often had conversations like this, while reading a menu: "How much are your milkshakes?" "We don't have milkshakes." "What about your floats?" "We don't have those either." "What do you have?" "We have plain cones and cones dipped in chocolate or caramel." "Ok, I'll have the chocolate cone."

Though most of our time in town was spent in the passport office trying to get Mandla’s passport renewed, we did get to explore the city a bit. We visited the National Gallery of Art, which was clearly suffering from the recession. It did have a few nice exhibits, including one of paintings interpreting Ndebele proverbs. There were also several working studios there, where we met one woman who paints with her feet, due to a disability. I was impressed by the attitude of Zimbabweans to people with disabilities. I frequently saw slogans such as “differently abled” affirming the abilities rather than disabilities. We also visited the park, which was huge and overgrown and felt like a jungle.
The big highlight of the trip was our visit to Victoria Falls! We loved seeing the falls and even hearing them from our rest camp at night. We got soaking wet from the rain that falls continually. It seems to skip evaporation and precipitation and is instead propelled simply by the force of the falls and the gravity which brings the spray back down. But as much as I loved the falls, I also enjoyed lounging by the pool at our rest camp and having no responsibilities or things to do but relax. These last few months at the School of Creative Arts have been so hectic. It was nice to have a vacation.