Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children

[andyoxon]

BBC2 now.  Difficult to watch - you want to just give the kids a big hug - and feel so angry to see what Mugabe has brought about and continues to do...and not do.

This moving documentary, filmed under cover over nine months, follows the lives of three children growing up in a nation that was once "the bread basket of Africa" but is now unable to feed its own people. As 12-year-old Grace rummages through rubbish dumps in Harare to find bones she can sell to pay for school fees, nine-year-old Esther cares for her baby sister and mother, who is dying of an Aids-related illness. As for 13-year-old Obert, he also dreams of getting himself an education, but for now he pans for gold so that he and his grandmother can eat.

[Wendy]

I just cannot watch that, call me a coward.

[andyoxon]

No, I know what you mean.   I do think our two will be interested in watching it; especially since one of the girls featured is 12 yrso.

Good to see that some charities are able to make some difference...

SOS Children: Child Sponsorship Charity

[Peter]

Wendy, I know what you mean.  it's not going to change my feeling of helplessness but hopefully it will shock people who don't already know.  (However, it was a repeat.)

Andy, I did VSO in what was then Rhodesia in the mid-sixties, and it all seemed so hopeful: there was a strong presumption that majority rule would happen and that one of the richest countries in Africa would be able to say that it had made a successful transition to decent government.  Then came the war and the rest is Mugabe.  There is a big tribal element in the conflict but it's got to the stage where everyone is going to be in the same mire before long - except the syphilitic Mugabe and cronies.  It's just a tragedy and none of the surrounding African states seem to want or to be able to get involved either.

Is your tag-line Shona?  What does it mean?

[andyoxon]

Peter, yes, programme an update, first shown a yr ago apparently. BBC iPlayer - Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children - Update

Sig is part of an Ndebele bible verse, Is 44:3a. "For I will pour water on the thirsty land, [and streams on the dry ground;]"

I grew up in Rhodesia/Zim 1970-90 (last 5 yrs visiting).  

[Peter]

Andy, I should have recognised the Ndebele from all the Ns!  I never learned any of the African languages while I was there (1964-5), regretfully.  Had I done so, it would probably have been Shona, with all the Ms!  I was in Marandellas (Marondera), although I travelled extensively in the holidays.  Were you in Bulawayo?  I seem to recall that the Matabele are of Ndebele "descent".

[Cunobelin]

I always feel that much of this is "sticking plaster" that hides a wound and lets us think we are doing something beneficial.

Don't get me wrong, I admire charities and their work, but it does not resolve the main issue, and in some cases seems to end up in the wrong place anyway due to the endemic corruption


Is there an easy answer - I doubt it, but if any country needs "Regime change", then the next on the list should be Zimbabwe!
 

[andyoxon]

I always feel that much of this is "sticking plaster" that hides a wound and lets us think we are doing something beneficial.

Don't get me wrong, I admire charities and their work, but it does not resolve the main issue, and in some cases seems to end up in the wrong place anyway due to the endemic corruption


Is there an easy answer - I doubt it, but if any country needs "Regime change", then the next on the list should be Zimbabwe!
 

I don't disagree; but you have to say that it makes a big difference to those individuals that the charities do manage to help.  

Regime change is desperately needed, but as we know, the will to do anything about it is just not there amongst other African leaders.  The African Union is pretty toothless... from wiki

Among others, Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister of Kenya, called for suspension of Robert Mugabe and Zimbabwe from the AU.[23] However, the summit eventually adopted a resolution that did not apply any sanctions against the government of Robert Mugabe but merely urged the two main parties in Zimbabwe to negotiate a solution to their differences.[24]

[andyoxon]

Andy, I should have recognised the Ndebele from all the Ns!  I never learned any of the African languages while I was there (1964-5), regretfully.  Had I done so, it would probably have been Shona, with all the Ms!  I was in Marandellas (Marondera), although I travelled extensively in the holidays.  Were you in Bulawayo?  I seem to recall that the Matabele are of Ndebele "descent".

Yes Bulawayo (for my secondary school yrs +)...   We used to go through Marandellas en route to Inyanga.  Still miss the country, because when you grow up somewhere - it becomes 'part of you'... but no visit likely in the forseeable future.  

[Peter]

Andy, I should have recognised the Ndebele from all the Ns!  I never learned any of the African languages while I was there (1964-5), regretfully.  Had I done so, it would probably have been Shona, with all the Ms!  I was in Marandellas (Marondera), although I travelled extensively in the holidays.  Were you in Bulawayo?  I seem to recall that the Matabele are of Ndebele "descent".

Yes Bulawayo (for my secondary school yrs +)...   We used to go through Marandellas en route to Inyanga.  Still miss the country, because when you grow up somewhere - it becomes 'part of you'... but no visit likely in the forseeable future.  

I can imagine how you miss it, Andy.  I had one of the scariest experiences of my life hitching back from South Africa one holiday.  A chap gave me a lift in a Jaguar from Beit Bridge to Bulawayo and the needle rarely dropped below 80mph.  Terrifying.  On the plus side, I had a wonderful weekend in the Inyanga mountains.  Pretty much Shangri-la.

What a mess.