Counting my blessings

As longer term readers will know, I had a bit of a bumpy ride on the journey to adulthood. Divorced parents in an age when this was uncommon. A permanent shortage of money which meant that I went without a lot of things my peers took for granted. Add to that some bad choices both on my mother's part and mine, and you have a recipe for disaster. The fact that my life is far from disastrous today, is something for which I am permanently grateful.

On a recent trip home, my Mom told me "You did a good job of raising yourself," which I took as an apology for the choices she made in respect of me. And it is true that, by and large, I did raise myself. My childhood was neither easy nor happy, but over the course of the last 24 hours, I have come across two different stories that put things into perspective.

This story in Cape Town's Cape Argus newspaper tells the story of a boy of 15 called Tapiwe who left Zimbabwe after the death of both his parents in search of a better life in South Africa, only to find that the streets were not paved with gold, after all. He became one of Cape Town's many homeless people, sleeping under a bridge. He worries about his little sister, whom he left in the care of neighbours back in Kwekwe. He hopes to be able to find a way to support her, but is unable to get work in South Africa because he is under age. The Adonis Musati Project is trying to help him complete his education and improve his chances of securing a decent job.

Last night, our church heard from a young man called Minjun from North Korea whose father died in prison when he was only 9 years old, after the authorities learned that he was making trips into China to earn money to feed his family. Because of his father's criminal record, he was unable to get into a decent school. At 17, without daring to tell his mother, he left North Korea for China and from there made his way to South Korea to start a new life. He struggles with guilt for having left without telling his mother and he worries about the treatment she will receive because of his 'betrayal'. He told us of the many people in N. Korea who are dying of starvation and of the poor medical care provision which saw his little brother die in early childhood of TB - an eminently treatable disease (my own father had it and was successfully treated).

What hammered these two stories home to me is that my elder son is the age that Minjun was when he fled from North Korea, while my younger son is the same age as Tapiwe. I am so glad that neither of them needs to have to face a journey like this, all alone.

pic of the day - pineapple upside-down cake

I tried out a new recipe tonight... from the Tessa Kiros book that featured here a few days ago. Note - it hasn't burnt, the dark patches are where the syrup has carameised. Can't tell you how it tastes, yet. It's for tomorrow, when we will have a house full of Zimbabwean ex-pats popping in for lunch.

Main course, a barbecue - or more correctly, a braai (pronounced like the first syllable of bridal) with boerewors, ribs and chicken flatties, as well as sadza... and some salads.

The cake will be served as dessert with creme fraiche and/or vanilla ice cream. I might make a milktart as well (note: the photo in this link has wa-ay too little cinnamon on top, it should be more like this)

Two stories from southern Africa

My grief grows.

Robert Mugabe's recent 85th birthday bash cost an estimated £105K, while his country suffers hyperinflation of an order that recently saw the release of a 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar note! This after lopping 3 zeros off the end of all denominations in attempt to curb the spiralling figures. It is to be noted that the country's unemployment level is estimated at 94%. Of course, this presumably means taxpaying employment. No doubt there is a great deal of informal employment going on, with services being paid for in kind. Many Zimbabwean businesses no longer accept their own national currency, and instead demand South African Rands, US dollars or British Pounds.

If you have an interest in the story that is unfolding in the country once called the breadbasket of Africa - get it first hand from an insider.

Moving just across the river to my own homeland, we learn that a campaign of violence has been initiated by the ruling African National Congress against opposition parties ahead of next month's election.

Ahead of the 1994 elections, observers around the world predicted bloodshed. But the churches of all colours took to their knees and prayed. The people from all communities determined that they would prove the world wrong. And so they did. Standing in line to vote together for the first time, Black, Indian Coloured and White (for those were the racial classifications within the country) people were peaceable. They elected an ANC which was led by Nelson Mandela, a man of noble grace respected the world over.

But the age of Nelson Mandela is past. The man who now leads the African National Congress is a man without even a complete primary school education. A man who will assure a group of Afrikaans farmers in Bloemfontein that the Afrikaner heritage will remain and that their contribution to the economy and the future of the country is held in high regard. Shortly thereafter, that same man will assure a fulminating group of young activists that land redistribution in South Africa will follow his election as surely as night follows day. Many have taken delight in pointing out that Zuma has several wives. To me, this is an irrelevant matter - a legacy of his culture. Without looking it up, I would hazard a guess that there are other national leaders with more than one wife. What bothers me far more is that this is a man skilled in the art of saying exactly what people want to hear in order to secure the presidency for himself. Frighteningly, he seems to have no personal values which he holds sacrosanct.

No charges brought against him appear to stick, and one wonders, once he occupies the office of president, whether it will still be possible to level criticisms and/or accusations against him at all!

The southern African subcontinent appears to be going to hell in a handcart. More than once, ex-patriots have been heard to express the view that, had Zimbabwe had even a drop of oil, the US would have invaded them long since in order to depose the dictator and restore democracy.

Well, South Africa has several drops of oil - much of it produced from coal, not to mention gold, diamonds, steel, uranium, platinum and a plethora of endangered fauna and flora. So you never know!