Today, a nation is dying – dying because of a despotic and corrupt leader who has turned against his own people in his desire to hold on to power despite the wishes of the people; the nation is of course Zimbabwe and it’s President, Robert Mugabe.
I’m sure that many folks across the world are watching in horror as events unfold – hopes that somehow this human disaster would end seem to be sadly over optimistic and every day we hear of some new atrocity, some new injustice. I was touched by the text of a letter written by a 16-year old Zimbabwean girl – a cry for help if ever there was one.
So I’m devoting my Blog today to this letter in the hope that somehow, someway this will make a small difference – if only by encouraging more folks to join the tide of protest and disgust that is sweeping the World.
I am a 16 year old person living in
It's tough here now. The inflation rate is so high that if you don't change money within 6 hours you could get half the amount of foreign currency that you would have originally received. We're starving now; people die around us. In the last year alone at least ten people associated personally with my family have died despite the fact that they were only middle-aged. Other people don't make it to middle age.
They don't even make it past childhood.
Our once-proud nation is on its knees. We flee or die. This beautiful, bountiful once-rich land has become a living hell. We have dealt with it until now; we have made a plan. That was the Zimbabwean motto: "MAKE A PLAN". But now we can't make a plan. We're too tired, too broken and too bankrupt. We can't afford life, and life does not cost much, not really.
We cannot afford to eat, we cannot afford to drink, and we cannot afford to make mistakes, because if we do we die. We don't have the capital to support ourselves, and those few who do, have to deal with the horror of watching their friends and family fall into absolute poverty as they cannot afford to help them.
We're waiting desperately for a great hand to pick us up out of the dirt because at the moment we are outnumbered by Fate herself and so we close our eyes and pray. We have fought for too long, and have been brought to breaking point. We simply stand, heads down, and bear it.
Our spirit has gone; we are defeated. After a valiant struggle of over fifteen years, we have been broken. There is no will left, no spirit.
Like a horse that has been beaten until it cannot fight anymore; we are the same, and, like that horse, we stand dusty, scarred and alone, with dried blood on our sides and lash marks along our flanks. Our ribs too stand out; our hide is also dull. Our eyes are glazed, our throats are parched, and our knees struggle to support us so that we stand with splayed legs to bear the brunt of the next beating, too dejected even to whimper... This is my plea. The thought of picking ourselves up again is sickening; one can only take so many blows before oblivion is reached, and we are teetering on the rim of the bottomless void.
One more push will be the end of us all...There must be someone out there who can do something. There must be someone out there who cares!
We are a destroyed nation, and the world sits back and watches, pretending they cannot hear our cries. I appeal to you all.
One day, not too far away now good WILL prevail over evil in Zimbabwe and this lovely Country will live again – let’s hope that the Zimbabwean people don’t have to wait too long!
Go to Help Save Zimbabwe to learn more.
