Salon - - The news from Zimbabwe - Page 27

BigAl · #**391** 07-18-2003, 03:40 AM

Yes, it's called "mad bob"

CJ Swartz · #**392** 10-13-2003, 01:08 AM

I PM'd Sam to check on her status - she and family are okay. Their farm is under "new management", and still off-limits to her family.

Just to pique your interest, I'm waiting for permission to share some good news that they're expecting... (hint, hint)

chris h · #**393** 10-13-2003, 08:10 AM

Could have solved a lot of problems by dropping Bob on Iraq!

CJ Swartz · #**394** 10-13-2003, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Could have solved a lot of problems by dropping Bob on Iraq! -- Chris H

Even I would approve of that!

OKAY -- Sam said since I'd spilled so many beans already that I could spill the rest --

Sam and her husband are expecting another child in January!!

Ed_L · #**395** 10-13-2003, 05:28 PM

Congrats to Sam and her husband. I'm glad to hear that they're still doing OK. Thanks for updating us CJ.

Ed

Jeff L · #**396** 10-13-2003, 08:43 PM

I lurk around this site quite a bit and have learned so much in the few months that I have been around here but this thread is so interesting that I completely forgot that I was on a photography site while reading it!

A fantastic read and I hope that this story has a happy ending.

All my best wishes to you and your family Sam!

jeaniesa · #**397** 10-13-2003, 11:01 PM

Congrats Sam!

Thanks for the update CJ!

Jeanie

Sam · #**398** 10-14-2003, 12:04 AM

Hi all! Thanks for all the good wishes! Yes, we're still in the land of the living and some serious persuasion even got us a telephone installed, so back in web-land as well, although the connection usually lasts about 53 seconds before I get cut off ... we seem to have one of those phone systems from the middle ages here.

The Story of an African Farm - yes, well, it's more like a soap opera with a seriously bad script - the latest is that the Chinamasa's have moved out (because they've got no water left) and given the place to someone else! Meanwhile, they've done to someone else what they did to us - given them 5 days to vacate their farm, so that's five or six farms they've taken now.

But we're in a relatively peaceful area now, although there is a bunch of warvets on the neighbouring property, who since moving on there have done absolutely no farming, but have cut down every tree on the place, to sell the timber as firewood. A quick buck is all most of these guys are after. Then when all the resources have dried up, they move on ...

Sam

d_kendal · #**399** 10-14-2003, 12:11 AM

Hey Sam,

really good to hear from you, and hear that you're still doing fine,
and a BIG congrats to you and your family!!

- David

chris h · #**400** 10-16-2003, 05:26 PM

Sam,

It's nice to see that even under Mugabe not all sporting occasions have been curtailed!!!

Sam · #**401** 10-24-2003, 12:36 PM

Yes, well, when the electricity's off, the phone doesn't work ( like ours hasn't for the last week) and there's no fuel around, you have to be creative!!!

PS - Chris - did you see the piece in the Daily Telegraph on Monday? I gather we made it into the editorial columns ...

chris h · #**402** 10-25-2003, 09:15 AM

International fame at last Sam ! How do you deal with these lunatics even compromise doesnt seem to have any long term effect . Even when they take the farms over they havent the faintest idea how to run them and like kids with broken toys thay want a replacement.
Reminds me of a friend of mine who was sent to a Nigerian engineering project in the 1960's. He had to initiate a training program to show the labourers how to use a wheelbarrow, on his arrival they had been balancing them on their heads!

Telegraph Leader

winwintoo · #**403** 10-25-2003, 09:27 AM

A friend of mine went on a trip to some remote areas of Peru. The farmers still threshed grain by laying it on the ground and driving horses over it in a circle. With the help of some foreign aid, they were able to buy a tractor, which, you guessed it, they drove around in circles over the grain!

Is it possible that our technological "improvements" are not as intuitive as we think they are.

By the way, congrats to you and your husband, Sam. I'm sure your new addition will be a wonderful (and welcome) diversion from your other troubles.

Take care, Margaret

Sam · #**404** 10-25-2003, 10:10 AM

Thanks Margaret! Thank goodness my daughters are old enough now to help with the nappy changing! Not my favourite job.

When we were still on the farm, I was amused to see that the Chinamasas had employed a woman to carry huge buckets of water on her head all the way from the dam to the seedbeds - about 300 yards - to irrigate the seedlings, despite the fact that they had already appropriated all our irrigation pipes and pumps. Old habits obviously die hard.

Sam

chris h · #**405** 10-26-2003, 03:16 AM

Just out of interest Sam does Harare have a water system provided by underground wells? I suppose reservioirs arent practical in a hot climate. I suppose a lot of the infrastructure of the country dates from pre independance.