Off to Victoria Falls

April 16, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Bulawayo » Carfill Auto Glass

Yesterday night, after cramming 8 people in a worn out Renault 2chevaux, we struggled to the Book Cafe and the Mannenburg to have a good night of fun in downtown Harare.
The lodge being quite full at the moment, it was good to go out with the new crowd, although an English lady who will not be named here seemed to only lighten up when talking to the local population. After we returned from Vic Falls, Darlington told us that a friend of his we talked to at the Mannenburg left the lodge early the next morning.

Darlington took us back at 1am, although he went on partying till 4, together with Nigel. We got up at 6am, still wasted, so needless to say, I forgot a couple of things when Ivor and Jacqueline picked us up at 7 to leave for Vic Falls. I spent the first three hours sleeping in the back of the car with a thumping headache, a very upset stomach and dangerously active bowels.

All went reasonably fine, although shortly after leaving Harare, a big stone hit our windscreen, creating a huge crack in the glass. Ivor contemplated turning back, but decided he wanted to try and replace the window in Bulawayo.
Given the problems we had had around the new year with the broken window of a fairly new car in Budapest, I didn’t expect a replacement window to be available for a 1992 Nissan Primera in, of all places, Bulawayo. After finding Carfill Auto Glass, we drove away with a perfectly good window only two hours later. Earlier, Ivor had stated a new windscreen would, at least, cost a 1000 euros. They ended up paying a meager 120.

Patriotism on the field

April 15, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » National Sports Stadium

On Monday, right after coming back from the Eastern Highlands, we hurried to Borrowdale to run this week’s hash. The run was set by various maroons (marines) from the US navy. Their house. Man. Huge, separate fitness building, swimming pool, handball court, basketball court, well stocked bar, pool table, TV room with a huge plasma screen TV and enormous leather chairs *and* a cinema room. Sick.
On the Hash, I met Bianca, a German girl. She’s the granddaughter of the brother of Goebbels. Yes, the guy who died in the bunker with Adolf Hitler. Go figure. Hitler himself is only 5 degrees away from me (Bianca never knew her grandfather).

‘Thank you president Mugabe’

Meanwhile, this week, outside my window, down on the soccer field in the stadium, the army is practicing for its show of force on the 18th, Zimbabwean Independence Day. Marching, music, singing and low flying jet fighters. Originally, I really wanted to see the show come this Sunday, but Ivor almost went crazy when I mentioned this. It seems whities aren’t really appreciated on the 18th of April.

Later in the week, kids also were practicing. One big group on the terraces, holding colored signs to form big displays saying things like ‘3rd Chimurenga’, ‘Arrest inflation’, ‘Productivity’ and ‘Our land is our prosperity’ (which is also the theme of an annoying song that gets played on Zimbabwean radio every thirty minutes), another group on the field, walking, running, doing exercises and singing ‘Thank you president Mugabe’ over and over again.

The cold

Some weeks ago, I read an article on inZIM.com that predicted a very cold winter. It seems to already have started. Evenings and mornings are freezing. Yesterday morning, it was too chilly to wear shorts and I even considered putting on a sweater when going to work.

Contract

And yesterday, finally, I signed my contract. It still has to be signed by the Director General, but it appears that, after seven weeks, my working here is almost official. What’s even funnier is this. Last week, I created a document that recommends the to-follow IT strategy for the SRC, from building a network, through upgrading and servicing of existing hardware, to creating a sports information system. As a reference, I passed these documents on to Herman, my ICCO contact in the Netherlands.
I also told Herman last week that it’s not going all that smoothly over here and he suggested pushing the SRC from his side. And it worked. Suddenly, John started working on my contract again and the signed Terms of Reference, which still hadn’t made it to Herman, will now also be faxed to the Netherlands, maybe even this week. Remember, that the ToR, my contract and a job description all had to be part of the package needed for starting the application process for my residence permit. Therefore, all the work that is currently being done on all this has been done before already.

And to make things slightly more challenging, I’ve asked for the receipt from the immigration department. This was two weeks ago and I was forwarded throughout the organization a couple of times before ending up with Gerald, a clerk in accounting. The receipt can be useful at roadblocks and other police checks and entitles me to the local’s price at hotels.
For ten days, Gerald has been apologizing, promising me the receipt tomorrow morning. Yesterday, I had to sit with him in order for him to go through his archive. That is, his pile of papers on the floor. He didn’t find the receipt but was sure it had to be in his office somewhere.
This morning, I returned and the first thing he did was questioning whether he had the receipt and if I really needed it. This time he promised we go to the immigration office together to pick up a duplicate. To make sure I left with something, I sat with him so that he would write a letter that would state I’m working at the SRC and that they’re in the process of obtaining a work permit for me. The three-sentence letter took Gerald 35 minutes to write. When we arrived with it at the DDG’s office, the DDG wasn’t happy with the letter, so it had to be redone. I received it only minutes before I left.

Gerald and I did go, in the afternoon, to immigration. But all they had was a copy of the receipt with Betsy’s name on it. Not with mine. We went out to make a copy and bumped into a friend of Gerald who works at the immigration offices. He was able to get help from someone higher up in the chain, who turned out to be white.
This guy said he had sent a letter back to the SRC on March 19th, saying that Betsy and mine ‘registered cohabitation’ is not accepted in Zimbabwe, meaning we’re not seen as being married, meaning seperate immigration forms have to be submitted for Betsy. Back to square one.

On top of Zimbabwe

April 10, 2004 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Zimbabwe » Nyanga national park » Mount Inyangani

The morning was spent climbing mount Inyangani, together with Wayne and Andrew. They totally beat me to the top as I arrived some 10 minutes after these killers. The Lonely Planet says that climbing the mountain, which is the highest point in Zimbabwe, takes between 90 minutes and three hours. When Foxy (Andrew) told me I had taken 90 minutes to climb the damn thing, I felt much better.
Going down was much worse, a complete assault on my knees. But before going down, I made sure that, although it only was for a couple of seconds, I personally was the highest point in the country.
When on top, another group of people were waiting for us. They had set of quite a while earlier and had been lounging for some time when we arrived. One of them picked up her mobile phone and called home, having to poke someone's eyes out be saying where, at that exact moment in time, she was.

In the afternoon, although everyone was tired from our early rise and climbing the mountain (that is, Betsy, Belinda, Linda and Erik didn't even go as far as halfway), we went for a two-hour horse ride, visiting one of the old forts in the area. With two other riders and a guide, we totaled ten people. Man, can horses shit. And does it stink!

During the evenings, we played Scrabble. It was tough, but I managed to win once and all other games were a very close call. Still, I had to accept the superior Scrabbling mind of Linda, we claimed to hate the game but started to help out everyone before we obliged her to partake in the game. After that, she won every game.

Sunday was spent on the grounds of Troutbeck inn, a classy colonial style hotel/restaurant with great views of the valley below. It seemed no one had recovered from the day before, since we didn't move from our chairs for hours after arriving at the inn.

Meanwhile, rumors are coming in that Mugabe is stepping up the activities of his Green Bombers. On his trip to Bulawayo last weekend, Ivor encountered no less then 12 road blocks. He also came across two trucks filled with Green Bombers.
There's talk of them putting on the pressure in the urban areas in the country because of the elections that are scheduled for next year. Cities have been proven to be MDC strongholds and ZANU-PF wants to make sure they stand a very good chance at the elections.

Eastern Highlands

April 09, 2004 • Blog

1 / 1
World » Zimbabwe » Nyanga national park » World’s view

During our night at Ramblers, the plan to go to lake Kariba over Easter was born. Annemarie, a Dutch lady working in Zimbabwe as a consultant on building greenhouses, had to visit Zambia and would be driving back on Good Friday. Andrew, Wayne, Betsy, myself and some others would drive down to Kariba on Friday, after which we all could go back to Harare on Easter Monday.
On Thursday night, after Betsy sent Andrew a text message, asking about the plan for the next day, she got a reply we would be going to the Eastern Highlands, not lake Kariba. Needless to say, Annemarie was pissed and spent the Friday sending angry messages to Andrew's phone.

Stopping, en route, at Melwatte lodge, we arrived in Nyanga in the early afternoon. Andrew's family owns a house there so the seven of us had very decent accommodation. The first challenge was getting running water since the water meter turned out to have been stolen before our arrival.
We drove up to the world's viewpoint to see the sun set on Zimbabwe and had a fantastically clear view and good vodka.

Illusions

April 08, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » National Sports Stadium

I still have no contract, but there has been some progress this week. On Wednesday afternoon, I was part of a meeting between the two Deputy Director Generals (DDGs). One is responsible for sports development, the other for finance. Getting them together to talk about the things I’ve been doing over the past six weeks was, well, six weeks overdue.
Although I don’t think they fully understood the extent of the implications for building a computer network for a sports information system, but it got them closer.

It is surprising that meetings between higher and lower management are only seldom occur. The obvious result is that the organization is built up around uncertainties and miscommunications so that every employee employs his own version of crisis management. Meanwhile, just a little bit of planning and organizing would save everyone loads of time!

Today, I came back from lunch only to find the offices deserted. Only the head of HR was still around, telling me that she had asked one of her people to phone everyone to let them know everyone could go home for the afternoon. “You must have been out when he called.” Sure. Inkosana, in the office next to me, also hadn’t a clue. He’s been working with the organization for about six months now.
After I showed my irritation with the situation, she arranged for one of the drivers who was also still there to drive me home. He spent thirty minutes fixing the car, before we could leave.

Workshop blues

April 04, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » ZESA training center

I was told on Tuesday I had to be in a workshop on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It was bad, very bad. The schedule that was handed out on Wednesday morning was only useful for making notes or drawing and irritation levels reached highest on Thursday evening. Presentations were shuffled around, took too long and were totally uninteresting. What was worse, both the Director General (DG) and the Deputy DG made it clear that the SRC, in practice, very much is a governmental organization. Their remarks could very well be enough for ICCO to withdraw my posting here.
However, on Friday, my feelings changed from irritation to compassion. I realized that the whole group acted like a bunch of kids who are expected to act like grownups but have no clue as to what that means. It was sad to watch them struggle with their responsibilities and lack of knowledge, stuck with a political agenda that can change on a daily basis, lack of funds, no training, murky decision procedures and professional ineptitude.

Currently, I can’t decide, yet, whether I should leave as soon as possible because the organization is too political, or that I should help installing a network and information system so that the organization can start working much more efficiently.

Meanwhile at the lodge

On Thursday, Darlington (who runs the lodge) and Andreas (a Swiss guest who was staying a week longer as planned after his passport, money and tickets had been stolen in Bulawayo) left for fishing at lake Chivero. It was agreed that Betsy would make dinner, using the fish they would surely bring back as a main course. Not only did Darlington’s car break down, they came back with two tiny fishes they ended up throwing in the lodge’s pond.

Tamara and her 15 year old son Jason have finally left the lodge. Both had never been outside of the US and Tamara had decided it was time for her to help Africans drill water holes. Her son was supposed to be doing missionary work.
Some two weeks ago, they left for Mozambique, but they returned two days later: “The border is terrible.” Jason isn’t saying much but Tamara kept on bitching about every aspect of Zimbabwe. The dirt, the cars, the roads, the people. They left for Malawi today.

Pete, Rachel (the owner) her husband came back from a trip to Uganda last week and is now hanging around a bit. He’s also a tour guide in Chimanimani and the bus he uses for that has been standing around at the lodge for a couple of days. It was being served by, what was according to Pete, the last good white mechanic in Harare.
On Thursday, he learned the man had committed suicide three days ago. He had gone for a checkup to his doctor, in relation to a neck injury. The doctor had told him he had AIDS, after which he went home and killed himself, leaving a wife and four kids.

The day after

Today was spent battling a fierce hangover after visiting Ramblers last night. Bann’d for life, the hash band, was playing their one-before-last gig there and it was a complete hash reunion.
Lots of fun, dancing and ending with Radar Love by the Golden Earring made it a highly entertaining night. Although the run was way to cheap, at Z$2000 per shot. Sunday was painful.

Meanwhile, Betsy and I are now the only guests at the lodge.

Sidenote

If you’re wondering about my few updates and the fact I’ve uploaded only so few pictures, it’s because my connection at the office sucks. No. Let me rephrase that: It SUCKS!

Mad March at Pax Park

March 27, 2004 • Blog

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World » Zimbabwe » Lake Chivero » Pax Park

This weekend saw the ‘Mad March’ hash weekend at Pax Park right next to lake Chivero, some 30 kilometers out of Harare. The two runs were terrible, both coming in at a bit under 1000 meters, I’m sure no one in his right mind would be able to call them ‘runs’. The fun was spread out over the rest of the weekend. Lots of drinking (what else?), a dress up on Saturday night with the ‘Alice in Wonderland’ theme, sports, wild life viewing and lots of Queen.
Stonehenge is nuts over Queen (the band) and, bringing his laptop, four speakers and a hazardously big amplifier, we had much more than a healthy share of Queen over the weekend. What was more, his uncle went to school with Roger Taylor. And, to make things even better, someone else’s boss went to school, in Zanzibar, with Freddy Mercury. This means that Freddy Mercury is four AND three degrees away. I immediately felt much, much better.
The wildlife we saw, besides the hashers on the weekend, consisted of: Giraffe, ostrich, impala, zebra, kudu, hartebeest, warthog, monkey and loads of beetles and spiders. Betsy even found a nice big beetle in her bed one morning.

Most of the hashers are native Zimbabweans or at least have lived here a very long time. It was rather disturbing to hear how the land reforms have hurt so many people directly. At least one person on the hash has lost her own farm due to the land reforms. Several people, working at import/export businesses have seen their turnover dwindle after so many of ‘their’ farms stopped producing after being taken over due to the reforms.
It is no surprise therefore that the locals mostly are quite bitter about the current situation in general and todays Zimbabwean power brokers specifically.

Death of a queen

March 26, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Dutch embassy

Today, together with Ivor, his wife Jacqueline and Betsy, I signed the condolence register for the former Dutch queen Juliana at the Dutch embassy. She’ll be buried in Delft on the 30th of March, so unfortunately, well miss that event on which the ‘famous’ Bourdon will sound once more.

A good day at the office

March 25, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » National Sports Stadium

Today was one of the better days so far. Business-wise, that is. For one, I finally got my external hard disk working. I brought it, containing my digital self, but I’ve been fighting with it over the past week to get it working. Machines wouldn’t recognize it, or it would stop working mid-way. Turned out, after screwing the thing open, the internal power cord wasn’t connected all that well.

And I talked to the assistent DG (Director General) today. A good thing. Already in my first week here, I created a couple of handwritten (!) documents with observations and suggestions. No follow-ups on these documents have been done so far. Also, I still don’t have a signed contract and no Internet connection (I’ve hijacked someone else’s). The contract is quite pressing. Without a contract, I don’t get paid by PSO. If I don’t get paid, why am I working?
I’ve been voicing my concerns about this non-action from my first week here. This week, as it turned out, my ‘boss’ has gone away, for a week, to Bulawayo. It was time to take it to the next level.

I wrote a memo, but preferred a chat. Wednesday morning, I made it clear to Joseph (assistent DG) I thought it wise to talk. He agreed we would talk later in the morning. Nothing. So I left the rather ‘strong’ memo in his inbox at the end of the day. The next morning, less then five minutes after my entering the office, Joseph wanted to talk. He claimed he hadn’t read the memo yet, but I’m not so sure about that.
The memo and our talk made it clear that if what I’ve been seeing of the SRC over the past four weeks is typical, my position won’t be extended. In fact, if I don’t get my contract signed rather quickly, I won’t be showing up at the SRC anymore. And I suggested it was time to act on the suggestions I had putten forward over the past weeks. It felt rather good to voice my concerns at a slightly higher level.

At the end of our talk, Joseph seemed sincere in his concern and he said he would take immediate action. I’m still waiting.

An action packed weekend

March 22, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Small World Backpackers Lodge

A PC should have been waiting for me upon my arrival in Zimbabwe. This was promised, weeks before my entering the country. As it turned out, I had to come up with the required specifications myself, the day after my arrival and had to shop around for it, myself, a week later.
I didn’t really mind the slow process for obtaining a PC. I WAS annoyed by the fact that ICCO and myself were simply lied to. Even on my first day at the SRC, the DG (Director General) said the PC would be purchased today. Right.

Two weeks later, the check had finally been issued by the SRC, and we left for picking it up. However, no one had phoned in advance, meaning, of course, the PC wasn’t assembled yet. We had to wait another two days before we could collect the system. Then, two days later, the SRC wanted them to deliver the PC!

It took another four days before the PC finally entered my office, last Friday. The next step was to get an extension cord. I wanted to pick one up, while driving back from the computer store, but the guy driving me made it clear we had no more time to stop anywhere. The car needed to be back at the office, it was needed for preparations in relation to ANSA, the Annual National Sports Awards.

And then, after purchasing the extension cord myself on Monday, I found out the sound card was having a problem. I have to bring it back. Getting a driver takes at least a day!

To cool down, in the evening I came home to Precious and Darlington preparing a wonderful braai, barbecue. All sorts of salads, meats, rice and more. Guests of the lodge and friends of Darlington were all over the place, resulting in a nice evening of chillin’.

ANSA

Saturday evening saw the more or less official close to the Francophone week. Although on Sunday, we did visit Le Tam Tam and enjoyed the finales of the petanque competition, Saturday marked the actual ending of the week with a concert by Magic System, a band from Burkina Faso.
I had wanted to go there, but attended the ANSA ceremony at the Sheraton instead. I made sure I wasn’t going to drink any red wine that night. This event, where the SRC commemorates the best sport players of the year, seemed like a better choice and also gave us the possibility of being seen on television. Some of our friends did watch at home, and it seems our faces weren’t shown on the tube. Then again, it would have been impossible to stay awake during the whole show. Although the squealing of the sound system probably awakened some sleeping viewers at home.

To keep up the suspense, with three nominees in each category, they would announced third place first, then second place, before, surprise surprise, announcing the winner. Most people didn’t really seem to notice.

Keys

March 16, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » National Sports Stadium

Just after I came home yesterday, I realized my office key wasn’t in my pocket. Normally, right after opening my office door, I put my key back in my pocket but, for some reason, this time I hadn’t. The office I work from used to be a commentators booth at the stadium. This means that some of these offices have windows from where you can look into the room next to you. So this morning, from the office right next to mine, I could see my key laying on my desk.
After having to write a memo to my ‘boss’, a locksmith was called. There was no spare key on the premises. An hour later or so, he arrived and opened my door. Since administration realized having a spare key to my office seemed reasonable, the locksmith was sent off again and was supposed to return later, with my keys. He didn’t show up.
As a result, I read a novel most of the day.

Over the weekend, some soccer players died in a car crash, driving from Harare to Bulawayo. Today, there was a ceremony which took the funerary procession to the stadium, before heading for the cemeteries the players were going to be buried at. I didn’t know, at first, but was confronted with the festivities while I was reading my book, inside the stadium.

A new arrival

March 14, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Small World Backpackers Lodge

Betsy arrived today, flying British Airways, which meant I had to get out of bed at 6 in the morning. Ivor was so nice as to pick me up and drive me to the airport and back, after which he went to a sporting event on the University grounds. Later, when Betsy and I were enjoying a beer at the lodge, we heard on the news that a kid had actually died there, after running the 10km.

We didn’t do much today. Went for a movie and a bite and, in the evening, had a couple of drinks with Darlington, the manager of the Small World lodge. We talked about the acceptance of gays in Zimbabwe, mozzarella cheese, mobile phones and a man Betsy and I had seen at Italian Bakery: Bright yellow, the shirt he was wearing contained several big pictures of Mugabe and texts like Vote Robert Mugabe, Zanu PF and Indigenization.

On Saturday, I went to the market at Avondale shopping center and discovered that CDs, DVDs and videos are relatively expensive. DVDs (illegal copies) sell for 75000, around 17$. Meanwhile, going to the cinema will set you back a hefty 1$. Or less.

Books, too, were expensive. Second hand paperbacks are supposed to fetch, at least $6, although some haggling got it down to $3, but still. Meanwhile, old National Geographics go for as little as 12 cents per copy.

Bugs in my wine

March 11, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Sheraton hotel

There's another Dutch guy working at the SRC. He started nine months ago but was in Holland over the past four weeks. His name is Ivor. We met, just before I left for Zimbabwe, and today he returned. We had Sadza at the canteen inside the stadium and talked about some of the problems Zimbabwe is facing.

In the evening, the SRC had a function at the Sheraton hotel. The nominees of the Annual National Sports Award (ANSA) were presented and some of the sponsors held small talks. Most of the evening was your average boring ceremony with lots of drinks, lots of talks and mediocre food. The shock came near the end of the event. When I got close to finishing my glass of red wine, I noticed some sediment at the bottom. After drinking a couple more sips, I was able to investigate the 'sediment' a bit better. I counted seven small, dead, cockroaches.

Slow day

March 10, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Italian Bakery

My work for the day? Looking at the hosting plans of four hosting companies providers in Zimbabwe.
Yesterday, totally kaput after Monday’s hash, I quit early to visit Marlyn, one of the hashers, in Chisipite. I tell you, those estates are HUGE. She runs a modeling agency called The Agency and Gary, another hasher, had asked me if I was interested to look at some models he needs for an advertisement campaign he’s running. In the evening, I was happy to go to bed early.
Not so tonight. But there’s absolutely nothing to do. No transport, so I have to stay at the lodge or go to Avondale shopping center. But hanging around in a restaurant is also not my thing. And the movie theater there shows nothing interesting at the moment. And practically no one at the lodge. Read.

You’ve probably read it in the news. A plane was confiscated at Harare’s airport full with so-called mercenaries. A friend of mine (in the Netherlands) told me that Mugabe had put the army on alert. Hadn’t read anything about that, but when I came home from work yesterday, you could see soldiers everywhere!

The Harare hash

March 08, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Aurora terrace

Last week, I had unfortunately missed the hash. It was too far out of town and although I had secured a lift from Tawanda, and we left the offices at 3:30pm, we didn't arrive at my place, to pick up some sporting gear, until 5:30, the time I had to be at the other side of town, to start running.

This week, arriving way to early, I had a good time at the hash. The crowd's fairly old (on average 40+), but fairly raunchy and fairly large (about 50 people), so all was well. We started close to the stadium at a HUGE house with a HUGE garden and after returning, a short circle, fantastic Indian food and amazing chocolate cake, I ended up with a small group, drinking, dancing and being force-fed with vodka.
What a world.

The hair!

March 07, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Small World Backpackers Lodge

After coming back from partying in Tropicana with Darlington, Max and Rachel we found Nando’s to be open around the clock, during the week, and went for two big bags of fries.
Eating the fries, Rachel’s sister Suzanne stumbled out of bed to join our snackfest and I couldn’t make up my mind as to which one was the cuter one. That is, until this morning, when we were having breakfast at the lodge and Suzanne pulled up her trousers a bit, to display the lower part of her legs. The hair on them could rival the hair on my legs. I silently shuddered and was amazed that she shaved her armpits, but not her legs. And I shuddered again.

Party

March 06, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » The book cafe

They say that once Africa is in your blood, it’s impossible to get it out. Today, while dancing in one of Harare’s nightclubs, I realized what that is so: Africans are full of life. When you encounter this and realize you’ve lived a rather ‘dull’ life, you rediscover yourself through the African culture and environment. Like going through puberty, there’s no way back and Africa ends up in your blood.
It’s the same reason why I think Africa won’t get into my blood. I believe I’m already full of life enough. I can handle this without changing too much.

Progress

March 05, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Harare sports club

Right after sending an email today to Herman, my ICCO contact in the Netherlands, about there still not being a PC for me, things started to get moving.
Today, I sat around the table with four other people, one of whom is responsible for purchasing decisions. It took some explaining on my part, but it seems it’s now clear that a new PC needs to be bought for me and that, in the very near future, lots of network equipment will need to be procured.

For lunch, we went to Mereki, inside one of the high-density suburbs of Harare. Between the huts, on an open ‘field’, some 40 amai (mothers) were lined up with pans, stoves and the likes, all serving sadza ne nyama. The kids running around the area called me Semanyika, which means something like From Manyika, a province inside Zimbabwe, where, so it seems, everyone always stays home so that the word for stranger has become synonymous with “From Manyika”.
One eats sadza with his hands. Preferably, you take some sadza and role it into a ball. Before eating, you wash your hands, of course, but surprisingly, you don’t wash your hands with soap.

In the evening, Tawanda and I played squash at the Harare squash club, right across from the president’s residency. We didn’t get shot. At first, I tried to play a game, but Tawanda seemed to be indifferent to the rules. Then, a while into the game, he confided that he had much more fun playing when weren’t actually keeping score.

Some access

March 04, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » National Sports Stadium

With an uplink speed of only 26.4k and the pipe leaving the country only being 8Mbit, simple stuff like reading mail takes ages. So I spent most of the day, just getting rid of my email backlog.

In the evening, I came home to find none of my electrical outlets working and a black lizard on the ceiling. Just before, I had been sitting in the living room where one of the hostels cats, the blind one, had caught and eaten a white lizard. Hmmmm, what does it mean?

Cracks

March 03, 2004 • Blog

World » Zimbabwe » Harare » Small World Backpackers Lodge

After Jouwert was so kind as to pick me up in the morning and drive me to the Dutch embassy for registration, I spent the day doing next to nothing. Some Harare suburb was celebrating its youth sports games at the stadium and during the whole day, the area roared with activity.

I spent some hours online today, looking for a laptop in Holland. Tawanda his laptop got stolen a while ago, here at the SRC offices. He got money back through a Dutch insurance policy (the laptop actually belonged to a Dutch guy living in Mutare) and now he’s looking to buy a new PC.
Getting it here, in Harare, is not an option. A reasonable laptop will set you back Z$14mln, about $3500, more than twice the actual price. So Tawanda wants someone to buy it for him in the Netherlands and have someone take it along to Harare, when flying in. The only deal I could find was a Jewel notebook at 950 euros. Later, however, through a friend of his, he found a laptop at $600 euros. I’m quite interested to see what the cat will drag in.

When Tawanda and I visited a computer store today, I learned that PCs are overpriced a lot. Also, surprisingly, even the technical guys don’t seem to be able to answer simple questions like maximum screen resolutions. None of the quotes also contain that information as everyone seems to be focused on the size of the hard disk. “Yeah, my PC was slow”, Tawanda said today, referring to his stolen laptop, ‘it only had 5 gigs’.

Trying to get the process going for obtaining hardware needed to set up the internal network, I was reminded of the fact that Africans prefer talking about procedures than actually doing something. Not so much because they don’t like to do something, it’s very important to get the procedures right, because when you work according to procedures, no one will be offended. Everyone needs to be consulted and has to have his or her say, so that everyone can raise possible issues that need to be addressed before continuing.
Needless to say, getting something done takes ages. Solutions aren’t discussed. Rather, procedures are discussed that, when followed, are assumed to automatically lead to the right solutions.
Not trying to offend anyone also results in these people not being able to make decisions. If you have to choose between A and B and choose B, everyone who chose A might be offended.

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