“Blissfully” ignorant..?
My office phone rang – a call from a friend. “I don’t believe it”, she said in a weak voice. I sat up with a start! What was wrong? “Are you okay?”, I asked? “No – I don’t think so”, came the simple reply. Had she had an accident? “No” again. “So what’s the matter then?”, I asked, now quite worried. Slowly she began to settle down and tell me her story.
It was a short, simple story – one which would have had absolutely no relevance in a normal society. But then Zim is rapidly precipitating from normality. The cause for her shock? She had phoned her stationery supplier! Now that is hardly any likely cause for shock, is it? All she had wanted was a ream of thin white A4-size card. “No problem”, said the supplier, “That will be Z$295,000 per sheet”. PER SHEET???
Now I thought that I was used to inflation! I thought I was used to profiteering, but no way – I was not ready for that! Some simple maths – that’s Z$147,000,000 for a ream of thin A4 card! Yep – now I knew that cause of my friend’s shock. Let’s look at this a bit closer – Zim’s highest denomination banknote is a Z$20,000 “Bearer Cheque”. You would need a wad of 7375 x Z$20,000 Bearer Cheques to buy one ream! Some more simple maths – Bearer Cheques are usually packed in bundles of 100, which are about 15mm thick. That is then a pile of notes about 1.1 metres tall! Even when it comes to profiteering, those are awesome stats!
Okay – that’s the simplistic way of looking at it. Let’s put that into more human terms to get the real live perspective. The minimum wage for a domestic worker is about Z$ 1,000,000. That means that their pay is worth the cost of 4 sheets of card!
I don’t think that the enormity of the unfolding disaster that is engulfing our country has even begun to enter the minds of the majority of our people, 70% of whom are unemployed. They are caught up in the unrelenting daily struggle to survive. If one could use the word “blissfully” in this context, I would say they were blissfully ignorant of what is about to hit them – but “blissfully” has absolutely nothing to do with it! I think a more appropriate picture to describe ignorance of what is about to happen here would be that of the American bomber “Enola Gay”, flying in a clear blue sky over an unsuspecting Hiroshima on 6th August 1945 – just before they dropped the first atomic bomb …
But then who really cares? Mugabe hasn’t dropped any atom bombs, has he? He is just slowly starving the opposition in Zim to death behind his disinformation screen, even a fool knows that. But it’s so much easier on the world’s consciences, isn’t it?
December 8th, 2005 18:15
Your last sentence is so true! I recently wrote to my MP asking why the British Government was turning a blind eye. His reponse (yes I actually got one!) went like this:
“Having voted against military action in Iraq in the absence of specific UN authority, I will not call for that approach to topple the odious regime in Zimbabwe. There does need to be a strong international policy, and indeed it is difficult to see how the regime can survive much longer given the damage it is doing to the country”
So – in a nutshell – Western politicans are hurting after Iraq and won’t dare dip their toes anywhere near Zimbabweabn waters! Their policy is to wait until Zimbabwe implodes, no matter what effect that has on the innocent people of Zimbabwe.
It stinks really. And I elected these people!!
December 9th, 2005 13:59
Thank you for taking the time to write to your MP – we think that’s fantastic and hope that more people will do so. There will be a time again when he’ll come to you asking for your vote again. Please don’t be discouraged by his response. Keep writing, keep up the pressure. What is the strong international policy? What is he doing to ensure something is being done?
December 11th, 2005 12:25
Don’t think that the world doesn’t care! We do, and you are not alone. The work you’re doing here is vital in raising awareness elsewhere in the world of the realities of life in Zimbabwe, and the complacency of the international community.
The problem is that we elsewhere in the world rely too much on the goodwill of our politicians. Too many of us assume that “everything that can be done” is being done, when in reality these guys never do anything without a good hard push. The more we push them, the more they will do. And on Zimbabwe, there’s a whole lot more to be done.
Your latest campaign call is excellent. I’ll certainly be faxing my MP. We have to keep increasing the pressure on politicians around the world, until the weight of that pressure is irresistable. In the meantime, don’t ever think that the world doesn’t care!
December 12th, 2005 12:47
Thank you RW! It’s an easy feeling for Zimbabweans to have when they’re cut off from news outside their country and have little free information within. So it’s very nice that you took the time to state that, both for us and the people reading this blog. Thanks.
January 5th, 2006 08:27
[...] Check this by yourselves (on the talk of inflation).and don’t forget to vote for This is Zimbabwe! [...]