Zimbabwe -- Cathy Buckle -- Last handshakes

There is a desperate air in Zimbabwe as we approach the 10th August when almost 3000 commercial farmers have been ordered to cease all agricultural production and move off their properties.

There has not been the slightest indication from our government that they will change their minds and stop this catastrophic situation; even the fact of 6 million starving people already needing food aid will not deter them.

I would like to try and put the reality of this horror into words for you and apologise for what will be a long letter.

Recently I had four people sitting around my kitchen table and they had come to say goodbye to each other. They were a white farmer and his wife and their two black employees.

The white farmer had been evicted from his home of 23 years by a bunch of thugs claiming to represent the government. The farmer had not received any notification of compulsory land acquisition from the government but was powerless to protect himself, his wife, their employees, livestock, equipment or property.

The farmer lost everything he had worked his entire life for. He lost his land and house, the fencing and timber plantations. He lost his borehole and it's motor, the farm buildings, cottage, dam, cattle race and dip tank. He lost his tractor and plough, fuel and tools. He lost all his laying hens, their feed and all the equipment in the runs. Perhaps worst of all he lost his retirement and pension, his security and peace of mind.

All was taken by a mob of men who arrived at the gate and took over. The farmer and his wife are leaving the country because they know only farming.

Across the table from the farmer sat the last two workers. Both men had worked for the farmer for almost two decades, both are married with a number of children and both knew that this was the last goodbye.

The older of the two men, Sekuru, doesn't know exactly how he old he is. His eyesight is not too good anymore and most of his teeth are gone. Sekuru's wife is blind, diabetic and asthmatic and it took almost all of his monthly wage on the farm to buy her medicines.

These two men have also lost everything to the bunch of thugs that came to the farm gate. They have lost their jobs, their homes and their income. They have lost the ability to buy food and medicines and pay school fees for their children. They have lost the eggs, chickens, meat, vegetables and fruit that the farmer regularly gave them. Worst of all these two men have lost the ability to provide for their families.

The eyes of all the people around my kitchen table were filled with tears as the farmer and his wife paid off their last two workers. They had shared so much and I could hardly bear to watch their last handshakes or listen to their final good-byes.

This scene is about to be played out on 3000 other Zimbabwean farms with at least a quarter of a million people having to say goodbye.

In the midst of this human tragedy is the animals and no one know for sure what is going to happen to them - cats and dogs, horses and ponies, sheep and cows, chickens and ostriches. For many many months the Zimbabwe SPCA have been rescuing animals forcibly abandoned by farmers who have been given as little as one hour to vacate their homes by militant mobs.

Recently a terrified cat was rescued from its hiding place under a bricked in bath tub on a farm in Bindura by the ZNSPCA director, Meryl Harrison. Meryl reported that when young Thomas Bayley was lying on the floor with his arm through the crack, just able to touch the fur of the cat and with tears streaming down his face, she went and met with the war veterans and gained their approval to break down the brickwork. The traumatized animal was finally rescued and reunited with the family.

In order to gain the war veterans' consent Meryl promised to return the following day and treat their animals, which she did.

Only a miracle will stop this mass eviction of farmers on the 10th of August. If you are religious I humbly ask that you pray for us, our farmers, thousands of farm workers and their families. If you have a few dollars to spare and would like to help may I suggest the following three options:

For all victims of political violence (with specific emphasis on farm workers) who have been displaced and require support and rehabilitation, contact Rob Monroe at the Zimbabwe Trust, email:r.monro@virgin.net for details.

For farmers and their workers desperately trying to stay on their feet and who have lost their homes and security, contact James Maberly at the Zimbabwe Agricultural Welfare Trust, email admin@zawt.org for details.

For the animals, often forcibly left unfed and uncared for at the mercy of militant thugs and desperately in need of food and drugs, contact Ann Kempen at email:solemio@iafrica.com

All three of these organisations are registered charities; all guarantee that your money will get to exactly the intended beneficiaries and will not be diverted to other purposes.

"Pity about Africa..."

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Well, you can forget about Sekuru and his blind wife. What a crime, it's almost like Pol Pot in Cambodia. The 78 year-old Mugabe will eventually be driven from power, but not until enormous disasters take place and all his thugs will have to be driven out also.

"The older of the two men, Sekuru, doesn't know exactly how he old he is. His eyesight is not too good anymore and most of his teeth are gone. Sekuru's wife is blind, diabetic and asthmatic and it took almost all of his monthly wage on the farm to buy her medicines."

Here is a man, aged and infirm with an infirm spouse to care for, who has held a job and brought home an income in the employ of an evil white colonialist oppressor and who will, along with his spouse, be privileged to, as the saying goes, sleep under bridges and beg for alms in the steet, courtesy of the once internationally respected leader of a national liberation movement.

Oh, but you have to remember, since it is by definition the fault of of the evil white colonialist oppressors, we must conclude that if they hadn't oppressed his country in the first place, he would have died at age 30 of disease in the course of the natural order which has been disrupted and altered by the interferences of the evil white Western society which...

oh, never mind...

Is there an aid organization dedicated to salvaging the remnants of the civilized portion of Rhodesia, and helping them emigrate to the U.S., where their experience with the savages and barbarians of the Third World and their Socialist accomplices in the "International Community" is sadly needed among our voting electorate?

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