“It’s your heart,” says the gastroenterologist after performing an endoscopy on me.
I am surprised: “Not my stomach?”

Open Heart (Knopf, December 2012) is Elie Wiesel’s reflection on eighty-two years of writing, teaching, marriage, family, despair, and hope.

On the 6th of November a baby Little Swift came into our lives. He had fallen out of a high nest in a garage at work. There was no question we would do our best to look after him until he was ready to fly.

So after,

1960 grasshoppers and assorted insects (hand hunted and donated)
1328 forced beak openings
364 poos (one quarter caught, the rest landed on clothes, carpets and beds)
40 car trips back and forth to the office (day care)
37 hot water bottles
34 bug containers
7 trips to the hardware store, pet shop and fishing store
5 cricket matches, 4 food shows and 2 disaster films
Too many to count Internet searches about anything related to “helping baby swifts”
One book (Wild by Cheryl Strayed)
And 8423 kisses (this is an approximate figure, could well be more)

Taylor Birdy was ready to be released.

And that’s what we did on the morning of 4th December at about 630am at Country Club where we were sort of guaranteed a soft landing if things didn’t go well.

We took Taylor Birdy along in a box. We had a small stepladder and Bren was on filming duty.

He sat on my hand for what seemed like a long time surveying the big wide world. He bounced his bum up and down, looked around, fluffed his feathers, did a poo, and finally he took off. He put on a display for us, practising his flying, and then he disappeared.

He flew magnificently.

After a month of intense caring and learning and commitment we were pretty much on our knees from fatigue, but entirely awestruck by the experience.

During our time with Taylor Birdy we put together a play list of his favourite songs. In particular he seemed easier to feed while Here Comes The Sun was playing, or maybe the song calmed the carer, who knows! You can check out the Taylor Birdy play list here.

We also promised ourselves that we’d put together a Taylor Birdy Manifesto of lessons we learned during our time with him, as well as stuff we already knew, but needed reminding … we all get lazy. Read the Taylor Birdy Manifesto here.

Bren started practising the Manifesto pretty swiftly (I didn’t mean to do that) and penned a poem for us.

An excerpt:

Nervous, shaking fingers
Try feeding me
A foreign diet of clumsy
Inexperience

The rest is here.

And finally, we put together a visual record of him from a few early snaps, the day before his release, as well as the launch …Bye Bye Birdy. You can watch a 5-minute film here.

There are many people to thank, both near, and far.

In Harare, several people gave us advice, with one of the most compelling pieces going something like this:

Please only release to the heavens once both of these factors are aligned:
1) Wings to fly
2) Rains have come with attendant bugs. Do not let HIM fly off into a clear, blue desert

But most importantly we made contact with some amazing and very patient Swift Carers in the UK who answered our many questions with patience and kindness, which strengthened our confidence and commitment.

In many ways, and how could it be any different, we broke a lot of rules and Taylor Birdy spent a very unconventional month with us. However we did stop short at dipping his hoppers in Margaritas!

The title of Bren’s poem comes from one of Amanda’s dedicated, twice daily insect gathering sorties, where she would pounce on anything that moved. She went out with a small net, a container for what we called “specialies” (flies/moths) and another one for bulk (grasshoppers). Early one morning a curious security guard asked her what she was doing. After she explained, he looked at her and told her: “You have long hearts. God bless you.”

Work in and for Zimbabwe. Help grow our nation. Check out the vacancies below. If you’d like to receive this sort of information, as well as civic and human rights updates, by email each week drop us a note saying “subscribe” to info [at] kubatana [dot] net

Please note that the job vacancies we carry are related to the NGO and civil society sectors only.

Programme Officer Transformative Justice Department: Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association
Deadline: 10th December 2012

Zimbabwe Women Lawyers Association (ZWLA) is seeking to recruit a Programme Officer for the Transformative Justice Department.

Organisation
ZWLA is a membership organization of women lawyers. It was founded in 1992 to enable women lawyers to contribute towards women’s rights in general whilst addressing the professional interests of women lawyers.
ZWLA has grown over the years to a full-fledged woman’s organisation implementing programmes with the aim of facilitating women’s access to justice. ZWLA’s vision is justice and equality for all in society where women are empowered and assert their rights within a justice delivery system that treats women and men equally.

Job summary
Reporting to the National Director, The Programme Officer is responsible for overall implementation and management of the Transformative Justice Department programmes. She/he leads the day to day operations of ZWLA’s advocacy,legal education, policy and law reform programmes. Ensures the implementation of ZWLA’S advocacy strategy, coordinates and manages ZWLA’s communication strategy. Drafts legal documents and gives legal advice to government departments and other agencies and CSOs on the interpretation of  regional and International Human Rights Instruments related to women and children. Facilitates transformation of laws, policies, practices, institutions and attitudes. Oversees the department’s annual budgeting, programmatic planning, maintenance and development of key partners and relationships to ensure the effectiveness and impact of the organisation.

The Programme Officer, Transformative Justice is accountable to the Director for the performance of the organisation. She/he must build upon ZWLA’s accomplishments to date and further strengthen the relevance and profile of the organisation.

Candidate Profile
The ideal candidate will have demonstrated competencies and passion for women and children’s rights. Fund raising experience and exposure to the work of non-governmental organisations is a plus.

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

1. Leadership
-Excellent communication skills including public speaking and media capabilities
-Excellent leadership and interpersonal skills; ability to work effectively with and lead executives and professionals at all levels of the organisation.

2. Strategy and Vision
-Experience formulating innovative strategies from concept through funding and execution.
-Strong facilitator and negotiator.
-Excellent networking in the field of women and children’s rights.

3. External relationships
-Experience forging relationships with funding partners, civil society organisations, private sector entities and government officials.
-Experience managing stakeholder relationships.

4. Understanding of Finance
-Experience and strong understanding of financial management
-Experience in managing budget, financial planning and project control,

5. Results-Oriented Change Leadership
-Demonstrated effective management skills with a track record of successfully tackling challenging projects.

6. Influencing and Interpersonal Skills
-Strong communication capabilities and a broad team orientation. She/he must have the ability to influence and work effectively with professionals and other levels of society.
-A self-motivated, enthusiastic individual who demonstrates a high degree of personal integrity, honesty, and respect for others as shown through strong personal values as well as consistency between words and actions.

Education and Experience
Ideal candidate should be a lawyer with at least 5 years of relevant experience. A relevant Master’s degree will be an added advantage.

Application procedure
Applications should be submitted to the Director of ZWLA on the following addresses: emilia [at] zwla [dot] co [dot] zw and copied to the HR Committee Chairperson on szhou [at] citybyo [dot] co [dot] zw and clearly titled “Programme Officer Transformative Justice ZWLA”

Finance Officer: Local NGO
Deadline: 15 December 2012

Only Women will be considered.
Bulawayo residents an advantage!

Basic Requirements
-At least five years working experience in a similar field; computer literate; English-speaking; education qualifications commensurate with the position being applied for.
-Have the ability to balance conflicting priorities and work calmly and effectively under pressure.
-Must be able to work without supervision.
-The applicant should be able to adapt easily to a dynamic working environment.
-Experience with budget preparation.
-Outstanding oral and written English communication skills and second language proficiency.
-Familiarity with MS Word, Excel, and Power Point, and Adobe Acrobat.
-Excellent organizational skills with a willingness to assume responsibilities and take initiative.
-Ability to be a team player.
-Strong time management skills, especially when facing tight deadlines.
-Applicants must possess the ability to think outside the box/creatively and possess demonstrable networking and communication skills at various levels.

Duties and Responsibilities
-The post holder will establish financial systems for the organisation and maintain and monitor these. As well as keeping all accounting records necessary as the organisation prepares financial procedures for audit.
-Set up and manage financial systems, procedures and controls.
-Maintenance of accounting records on a daily and monthly basis.
-Preparation of accounts for audit.
-Managing petty cash

Application Process
Please read this section carefully and follow the instructions closely. This is a short-term opening, as the position must be filled by first week of January 2013 so the deadline is 15 December 2012.

Please send a cover letter and resume to sisterhoodzimbabwe [at] yahoo [dot] com with the subject line as follows: your name and application for FINANCE position.

1.  An application letter, detailing how the applicant meets the above minimum qualifications and salary range expected.
2.  Please also respond to the following requirements.
3.  A current resume relevant to the position (no more than 2 pages of plain text please)
4.  A web link or a short example of the applicant’s written work.
5.  Relevant documentation supporting the minimum requirements listed above should be available during the interview process, please do not attach them.
6.  The selection process will be on 16 December and only short listed candidates will be invited for an interview.  During the interview an oral, and/or written exercises may be conducted so as to test practical knowledge and skills.
7.  We will not be in a position to notify all applicants of the result.

A press release just received; get their music Now!

Mann Friday have been holed up most of this year recording their fifth studio album in the UK – Trainrides and Radio Play – and as it launches this weekend on iTunes and other download portals, the Zim-linked rockers have thought of a Christmas treat for their fans back home. Up until Christmas Day, the entire album will be downloadable, for free, from http://mannfriday.com/zimbo – a distinct address that will only let you access the album if you are browsing from a Zimbabwean IP Address.

Catching up with frontman Rob Burrell on the giveaway – “We’ve been working pretty hard on this record and are so excited for people to hear it. As we gear up for releases online and in retail stores in Europe and South Africa in 2013 we felt it would be really great to let Zimbabweans have easy access to these new tracks. Zim has poured a huge amount of inspiration into all our songs, and we’d love to give something back this Christmas.”

Download the full album now: http://www.mannfriday.com/zimbo