So amazing and sad

[susandennis]

My father was a textile executive and when he retired he signed up with an outfit that sent executives to other countries to help businesses get started and grow.  That program sent Mom and Dad to Zimbabwe.  They lived there six months and loved the place and the people.  Daddy worked at a sock factory run by a woman.  Mom worked a deal to visit elementary schools and help in classrooms.  She was never big on kids but she got a huge kick out of the kids in Zimbabwe.  They learned as much from the people there as they taught, I am sure.

This was in mid 90's.  There was corruption.  But, life was not bad.  They stayed in a lovely hotel and enjoyed luxuries.  They visited in the homes of people they met and found a very comfortable lifestyle.  The future was so bright.

At one point I got a postcard from Mom asking me to send her a cassette of Abba.  ??  I was astounded but I sent.  I later learned that the kids asked her what music American kids liked.  Mom told them Abba so she wanted them to hear it.  The minute they got home I asked how in the hell she knew about Abba.  It took some work but finally I dug out that she knew them from crossword puzzles!

The current mess started before Mom died.  She was able to correspond with some of their friends there via email and learned first hand of how life had changed and not in a good way.  Several of the people they knew were tortured.  The white people they knew had had their land and homes taken from them.  The school where Mom spent most of her time was burned to the ground.  And the sock company put out of business and food was becoming scarse.

And that was more than 3 years ago.  (She died in March of 2005.)  It seems so much worse there now. 

Comments

[davmoo.livejournal.com]

Stuff like this happening in Africa is how I know for a fact that George W. Bush is so full of shit that he sloshes when he walks when he says that oil had nothing to do with the invasion of Iraq, and it was all about the tyranny of Saddam.

it is so very sad

[henare.livejournal.com]

zimbabwe used to be able to feed itself *and* its poorer neighbors. not so much anymore. money loses tangible value as it is placed in your hand. worse--there's no light at the end of the tunnel. it's not even clear the tunnel has an end.

Re: it is so very sad

[rsc.livejournal.com]

And it's so frustrating because it was possible, for a couple of days back in March or so, to convince oneself that there was a chance they were about to break out of it. (Not that a change in government would have immediately made the economic situation noticeably better, but it would have been a start.) But no, we have yet another madman who simply cannot give up his power.