Monday, February 11, 2008

211: How Zimbabweans are Coping

I just returned from another Stephen Lewis Foundation trip to Zimbabwe. Upon examining my American passport upon entry at the airport in Harare, the official stared at my hyphenated double-surname and croaked, “Are you German?” “No, my husband is,” I answered cautiously. The man broke into a broad smile. “Germans make very good husbands,” he asserted. “Go on through.”

Now, how the heck does HE know?

One thing that has always been true is that Zimbabweans love to play around with names. So on this trip I met a girl named Pardon, several men named Blessed, and a whole lot of Lovemores. But when I learned that my driver’s name was Cain and he had a twin brother named Abel, I knew I would be in for an unusual trip. Cain warned me the electricity averaged only two hours a day, that it had been raining for two weeks’ straight, and that there are potholes on virtually every road the size and depth of caves. I also had read that life expectancy had dropped to 33 in this country, that 3000 people a week were dying (mostly from HIV exacerbated by hunger), and that only one tenth of the people eligible for anti-retroviral treatments (the AIDS-drugs) were getting them.

Zimbabwe has, quite literally, the worst-performing economy in the world. Last year, the inflation rate hit 26,000% -- the world-record.

On the other hand, in Zimbabwe you can become a billionaire overnight. If you change money at the official rate of exchange, the rate is 30,000 Zim-dollars to one American dollar. But find someone who is willing to do it at the so-called Parallel rate that (also known as the informal or black market), and you could get 200 times that amount: 6 million Zim- dollars for one greenback. Unfortunately, the largest bill available (just printed) is “only” for 10 million Zim dollars – about US$1.65 and dropping fast – so you end up carrying bags full of cash wherever go you. I swear it looks like Monopoly money. Most of the bills are so worthless that you can see them lying around unprotected; the money is not even worth stealing any more.

To hedge oneself against inflation, bartering has become common. So has hoarding. Prices change every day. Those who can, spend their money on fuel-vouchers and then sell them when the cost of fuel increases: it's better than any bank around. But this contributes to the chronic fuel-shortage. One result is that Zimbabweans are fit: they don’t think twice about walking 9 or 10 miles in one direction and back again – to attend school, go to work, buy some eggs, or attend a meeting.

Many organizations these days try to pay their staff in US travelers’ checks. (If your business has a foreign exchange account, this is legal.) Then once a month every staff person must travel across the border -- Botswana is usually preferred because Zimbabweans don’t need a visa -- to buy up whatever they can there, and then cart it back home in bags or boxes. Whatever commodities you don’t use you can sell to friends and relatives, as most local store-shelves are virtually empty.

Every one asks, Why don’t Zimbabweans stand up and rebel? The answer is, because they are too resilient. They work harder than just about anybody else I know and each time another aspect of their society collapses, they simply take a deep breath and say, “Let’s make a new plan.” Also, Zimbabweans don’t look generally look to rich folks and say, “I wish I was like them,” but they look to people who are even worse off and say, “Shame: I’m glad I’m not as badly off as they are.” Remarkably, voluntarism continues to thrive: Neighbor continues to help neighbor, with the understanding that now it’s my turn but next time it may be yours.
There are a few contingencies. Many Zimbabweans have friends and relatives outside the country who send in remittances - even US$40 or $50 from overseas is more than most people earn in a month. Moreover, literally everyone in Zimbabwe has become an expert gardener. Every front lawn and back yard has been turned into a small farm-plot, where people typically grow sweet potatoes, cassava, maize, ground-nuts, tomatoes, peas, soy beans, and various green vegetables. It’s amazing! Across the street, if there is a half-empty church-yard, abandoned property, or a bit of soil in a median-strip, it’s the same thing: plant, plant, plant.

Because Western medicine has also become prohibitively expensive and difficult to find, many organizations have started teaching people how to use various herbs and medicinal trees for their health. By law, every government health clinic now has a model herb garden, with free lessons from a local herbalist.
How did things get this way? For many people, the main cause is Zimbabwe's land reform program. Most of the country's productive farmland remained in white hands after independence in 1980, and through the 1990s the government of President Robert Mugabe worked to shift ownership. But when these policies yielded little progress, the government unveiled plans to seize land without compensation. As hundreds of farms were taken over - sometimes by local people, more often by senior government officials - production and the export of grain and tobacco collapsed.

Government corruption and huge spending on the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo also drained the public purse. But as far as President Mugabe and his ministers are concerned, these factors have nothing to do with the country's economic travails. They blame sabotage by the West in general (especially the UK, the former colonial power), as well as the sanctions imposed upon the country -- although these are aimed at leaders rather than at the economy as a whole.

On March 29th, Zimbabweans will go to the polls once more. Most people I spoke with believe that the election will be stolen again, but two weeks ago a new opposition candidate emerged for President, and as one friend put it, “Hope springs eternal.” Whenever change finally comes, I’m convinced that Zimbabweans will rise up like a phoenix from the ashes and become one of the strongest nations on earth. The good thing is that most of them have not lost their sense of humor, their warm smiles, or their belief in finding a peaceful solution to their problems. Strange as it may sound, the rest of the world has a lot to learn from Zimbabwe.