h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi, I lived In Zimabawe until recently. When were you there? What part were you in? I lived in Harare and Bulowayo for a while, then in a village called Gambiza. I'm very worried about everything thats happening there now, and would love to hear from you if you know anything in particular. My sister was born in Zim and her middle name is Tonderai .
hope to here from you
Clare (aka Chiedza)

mangwanani! marara sei?

good to hear from you - apologies i haven't logged on for a while. anyhow, yeah, i was there in '99 for about six months and absolutely loved it. i travelled pretty much all over the country, but was most of the time in harare, then we did some youth projects in the rural areas ne of harare, and around chipinghe.

i've also visited chimanimani (such an amazing place - we went to the arts festival around easter), kariba (quite scary how many animals roam the streets at night there), bulawayo, victoria falls (soo misty after the rains) ... there are so many fantastic places heh.

the last time i had contact with some zim friends was around six months ago i guess, and everything was fine then. its difficult to be able to tell how things really are on the ground because the media usually exagerrates. but even then i had the impression, at least in harare, that this slide into dictatorship was kinda anticipated, or 'in the air'. in the rural areas things are so different - i don't whether you've been to a zanu meeting, with the chanting and all. dubious election tactics even then, with party distribution of fetiliser, seed etc pre-election, and i fear its got much worse than that.

anyway the people in zim are so friendly, i wouldn't want to give the wrong impression by talking about politics. hope to hear from you soon!