This was written by Cathy Buckle, author of "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" ,she lives in Zimbabwe.

Date: Wed, 22 Jan 2003 17:09:08 -0500

Dear Family and Friends,

I, along with 11 million others living in Zimbabwe, was desperately searching either for food or petrol. There was none of the latter so I spent my Friday morning trudging from shop to shop and after three hours gratefully clutched 2 loaves of bread I had finally tracked down for 4 times the official price. I know I should not buy food on the black market but principles pale into insignificance when you have a hungry child to feed.

This is the face of life in Zimbabwe today and yet the English Cricket Board are still debating whether or not it is right to come and play cricket here and are worrying about who will pay them compensation if they don't come. I wonder if the ICC know that it is illegal for 5 or more people to hold a meeting in Zimbabwe without police permission? I wonder if they care while they stay in our 5 star hotels, we can't even buy food on the black market without first producing cards proving we support the ruling party. I am sure that both the ICC and the cricket players themselves know all of this but they say they are purely a sporting body and not a political one. It was OK for them to boycott sport in apartheid South Africa and Ian Smith's Rhodesia but not in Zimbabwe now. White people oppressing blacks was wrong, now it is black people oppressing black people, it is apparently OK. The ICC have shown who the real racists are here. Their hypocrisy and racism is disgusting and nauseating.

The South African Minister of Labour visited Zimbabwe and declared that South Africa had a lot to learn from us. If I was a South African I'd either be picketing parliament right now or packing my bags. We have: 144% inflation; 70% unemployment; Zimbabwe has completely run out of petrol so if one hears of any to be had (probably unpaid for from SA) 5 kilometre queues form and there is no bread, milk, maize, sugar, flour or cooking oil to buy. One dozen eggs cost R66.00 and 4 loo rolls cost R70 now. 6.8 million Zimbabweans are facing starvation, 2 million of our citizens have been forced to leave the country, one person dies every 5 minutes from aids related  malnutrition, inflation is at 175% and yet the world is in an
uproar about 6 cricket matches. Cricket doesn't really seem appropriate does it?

State House is next door to the grounds where the World Cup Cricket matches are to be played. One of my friends was on the way to the cricket grounds, took a wrong turn and did a U turn near State House. His car was  surrounded by armed men, everything was pulled out of his car, he was interrogated, taken behind a wall where he was knocked down and kicked in his head. 5hrs later he got home exhausted in shock and his ear drum had ruptured. 

I finally tracked down some very expensive vegetable seeds in a butchery but my shock at their price was overshadowed by the sight in front of me. Sitting in a supermarket trolley was a cow's head - eyes, ears, horns and fur intact. I made a point of expressing my disgust to the owner of the shop who simply shrugged his shoulders. Zimbabwe has slipped into a contagious epidemic of moral decline where no one cares, no one complains and everyone just shrugs their shoulders.

There no gas which means there are month long backlogs of bodies waiting to be cremated at the morgues where gas fired ovens are used. The chronic shortage of fuel means there are very few delivery vehicles. The supermarket shelves are getting emptier by the day. In our small town this month our only commercial veterinary  urgery closes down, our only private dentist has closed, two of our private doctors have announced that they are
leaving, one headmaster has already left and another leaves before winter.

A 100 year old town is on its very last legs.

I thank you for helping me spread the word about my two books: African Tears and Beyond Tears, which are both, still the only eye witness accounts to have been written about Zimbabwe's horrors since 2000. I hope I am able
to send this letter now and that you are able to receive it because Zimbabwe's entire email system collapsed this week.

with love, cathy.
>http://africantears.netfirms.com Copyright cathy buckle Jan 2003.

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