Xmas and New Year in Zim

All in all, a rather quiet, pleasant holiday season... But, first, Zim:

It was very interesting getting back to Zimbabwe after having left in March 2006. At the point when we left, things were getting extremely difficult for a lot of people, including ourselves. We had reached the end of our savings, which we were living off even though Ian had a full time job as a geologist at a gold mine. Around us, we had been watching the general population find life harder and harder, while the children became borderline starvation cases. The cost of incredibly basic living had sky-rocketed to the extent that the monthly salary of an average farm worker might buy a bar of soap. Prices changed so rapidly and illogically that you never knew how much money you would need to go shopping. No one could carry enough cash to go shopping - cheques were the only way of paying for a typical grocery stock-up. Many basic goods, such as sugar, flour, rice and meat were often not available. It was almost impossible to find fuel unless you knew someone who could get it in from outside the country.

So, what had changed in 9 months? Well, they decided to knock a couple of zeros off the currency, to make things seem better (you feel a lot better paying $100 for something, rather than $10,000, even if the price has actually increased relatively). We found things quite cheap when converting from South African rands, but saw that for people living and working there, not earning foreign currency, life was even harder than when we left. Somehow though, most people came across as more content with their deal than before - maybe you just get used to a way of life, even if it isn't ideal, or you just give up fighting - I'm not sure why.

If you'd like a bit more info on the Zimbabwean situation or didn't know that there was one, check out http://zimbabwesituation.com for some daily news updates, or http://people.cs.uchicago.edu/~dinoj/zimsummary.html for more of an overview, slightly out of date but with lots of links.

For all of it's problems, Zimbabwe is still an incredible country, and we had a fantastic time. Before Christmas we spent time with Ian's folks at their place at Mazvikadei Dam. It was very relaxing...spent quite a bit of time on the water on Ian's dad's new pontoon. Then headed through to Harare for Christmas and Boxing Day with friends. The Henwoods, who have actually relocated to Australia but were back in Zim for a visit, managed to host Christmas lunch as if they'd never been away - fantastic stuff!

New Year was rather quiet, especially as I was being a good preggie girl and not drinking :) Needless to say, Ian didn't seem to find it necessary to abstain. Hmmph.

In January, we drove through to Richards Bay on the east coast of South Africa to visit my folks - a 2 day drive in total, but a good road trip as always.

Will add some pics to the posts as I manage to sort out all the photos we've taken over the last few months, so if you find this a bit boring, have a check back soon!

Busy times = no blog

Well, it's been a while since I updated. Sorry - but I really do have a few excuses...it's been a very busy couple of months! I'll update over the next few days, beginning with Christmas and New Year, back to Botswana, then the big move to Namibia.

Right now, Ian and I, along with our animals are very happily settled in Tsumeb in northern Namibia. As things stand at the moment, we'll be here for at least the next 6 months, but as you may be able to tell, our plans can change quite rapidly!