Is there anything we can do? What should we be exhorting our governments to do? Are there charities that will get food and/or hard currency to you? How free is the banking system?

reconciliation? IMHO the onus must be on the aggressor to seek reconciliation - or sweat it worrying about the next knock on the door.

For me, I think there is only one person who can protect democracy, fairness and justice. That is me. And if I am you, then it is you. We will get as much democracy as we insist upon every day of our lives.

If there is one child in Zimbabwe not school, I must be as horrified as if it is my child. It there is one mother without a midwife, I must think that is my daughter, etc etc.

I would like to see the news begin each day with proper facts.
1234 houses got electricity for the first time today
6 villages got a borehole today - that is 753 since Christmas
ZWD were paid in taxes today
57 businesses paid tax for the first time
13456 young people signed their apprenticeships today

We paid this much in electricity to SA today. We paid this much forex for aviation fuel today. Some transparency so we can ask questions.

When we move on, those of us who have got used to internet should continue making sure real-time facts and figures are available to anyone who can get to a computer And $100 computers for rural schools - they work without phone lines - the signal goes from computer to computer and they get power from being wound up.

No more coverups and secret deals for chefs!

Our old man is smart but I don’t think he is computer literate. Maybe some CIO operative is sitting there compiling a report (hello there, how are you doing?) but not the old man! Internet savvy is not the ZPF forte.

To js, on another thread, that is really good work. Those container numbers are important. Someone can confirm those containers have arrived.

If you can, take a picture of the container, the numbers, the seal, and the transport carrier that delivers. If not just memorize the details and pass them along.

Who has read the story on the new forex system? That is interesting - who will trust government enough to trade with them? And if the big chefs can’t by cheap currency so easily, will they hang around?

Or do they intend to bring their currency home, get a good price,then tomorrow, reverse the system again? My suspicious mind!

Va Mugabe kana makateerera tinzwirewo tsitsi veduwe. Tanzwa. Tinoziva kuti mugona kuuraya munhu wese munyika menyu. Imi makaguta hamudi kuti tigutewo here nhaye vasekuru… Siyakucela baba Mugabe. Sizwele nathi bakithi. Indlala isisiphethe. Sifuna impilo egcono hayi i sovereignty.. HOPE HE (MUGABE) WILL UNDERSTAND. I HAVE PUT IT IN VENECULAR. I KNOW HE IS ONLINE RIGHT NOW..

At the Reserve Bank it is 60K.

Check my maths. That means 5 pounds buys 15 loaves of bread if you are povo, and 1 mercedes-benz if you are a chef.

Money is the crux of all of this. These chefs and their hangers-on couldn’t get a real job. A lot of people who seem successful now will not be able to survive when they have to do a day’s work for a day’s pay (not that I feel sorry for them).

What amazes me is why some people bother to go to work. But there we have it. I know some countries to the north went through periods when a university lecturer’s salary was worth one chicken. And the university still functioned - not as well as they should or could - but they functioned.

People always tell the story about the gap, unfortunately - what didn’t happen - rather than what did happen - and what we learned from that.

I know that I learned heaps and heaps at UZ because I had to teach stuff that wasn’t my field and I had to get on and do it.

Now I go to conferences in developed countries where the keynote speech is stuff we were teaching students 15 years ago. It is amazing - you can see most of the audience is hearing it for the first time - and I am sitting thinking - you had all these libraries and facilities - what have you been doing all this time?

We should look for lessons in what we get right , celebrate the Zim spirit, and build on it.

I am collecting stories, pictures, under a general title of “Resilient Zim” - so if you have any, point me to them please! One day, maybe we can make scrapbook of the zim spirit.

The starving does not only apply to little 6 year old children. These are grown adults starving too.

My family, who are white, are also on the bones of their ass.

We live in North America and we pay for part of their helps pay. Every month we send food and clothes just to help them along. A bag of candy puts smiles all around for weeks.

This is affecting the entire country, not just some.