By Cathy Buckle
I met a young man back from the diaspora this week and as we talked I knew that if our country’s oppression and economic collapse had done anything good for Zimbabwe, it was this.
After some years of living outside the country he had come home full of enthusiasm, patriotism and innovative ideas. Already working to develop a business and improve his neighbourhood, his creative attitude was like a breath of fresh air.
He had seen how democracy works, seen how things should be done and wanted to reproduce that way of life here. I asked him why he had chosen now to return to Zimbabwe. A time when the struggle for political power was intensifying, a time when another bloody and violent election seemed inevitable.
“Zimbabwe isn’t about Mr Mugabe and Mr Tsvangirai,” he said, “it’s about you and me; it’s about us, the people.”
The next day this train of thought was reinforced when I received a newsletter from the Friends of Hwange Trust. Thanks to an innovative idea and the determination of a group of people who were not going to give up, a solar system has been installed at a watering point in the Hwange National Park.
A truck and crane were needed to move the specially designed stand for the solar panel which will run the water pump at Kennedy 2 pan, A mammoth task that has been years in the making to provide what the Trust describe as: “an adequate, environmentally friendly source of water for the animals that drink there.”
Later in the week I got a message from a friend in Harare who is an astronomer. He described a viewing he had just made of the International Space Station passing through the belt of Orion and then of the Space Shuttle Endeavour.
Mike wrote: “the event took place only 22 degrees above the horizon, and there was a Full Moon to contend with. The International Space Station came along right on schedule…very bright…so I tracked back along its apparent path with binoculars, and about 90 seconds later, Endeavour popped out from behind the tree-line! It was easy to see in binoculars… I was able to follow it for about 3 minutes before it followed the station into the Earth’s shadow.”
Mike ended his message by saying what a privilege it had been to see the last ever flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. What a fantastic experience this was, and seen from the skies of Zimbabwe by a born and bred Zimbabwean who knew where, when and what to look for and then took the time to share his observation.
So, despite the news of yet more disappointment from the latest SADC meeting in Namibia and the absurd detention of top lawyers and a journalist in Windhoek, ordinary Zimbabweans continue to look for and achieve the good.
If only the politicians would stop scrabbling for power and look to the people, how great we could again be.
Until next time, thanks for reading, love cathy 21 May 2011 Copyright Cathy Buckle. www.cathybuckle.com
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