U.S. Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Ambassador Charles A. Ray, gave a talk at the embassy’s public affairs section in commemoration of Veteran’s Day, which falls on the 11th of November annually. A US veteran himself, having served in the military from 1962-1982, and as one who has been making the effort to completely transition from military to civilian life for the past 29 years, the Ambassador’s credibility on the issue was unquestionable.

“They say a leopard can’t change its spots. Well, each year thousands of military veterans change their spots, and they make the transition back into being civilian,” the Ambassador said. He addressed the transition under the following 3 topics:

1. US govt contributions – GI Bill of rights
The government has taken a legislative approach to helping soldiers, especially through the 1944, Serviceman’s Readjustment Act, which sought to make reintegration into civilian life easier for returning soldiers through providing:
Education
Job training
Job location
Low interest home loans – contributing to the housing market boom in the 60s.

2. Return of Vietnam veterans and eventual recognition of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
The Ambassador emphasized that the reception a soldier receives on his return home, also has an impact on their readjustment to civilian life. The Vietnam war generated a lot of frustration, protest, anger in American society, which affected the way people treated returning soldiers. This frosty welcome, coupled with PTSD, (mental illness resulting from exposure to combat trauma), meant that these veterans did not do as well at readjusting to civilian society.

Ambassador Charles stated that approximately 20% of the 2,700,000 who served in Vietnam experienced PTSD, which could be very incapacitating flashbacks, extreme anxiety, which affect the soldier’s reintegration. The eventual recognition and establishment of treatment services for PTSD has helped the war vets. Currently, the US Army takes great care to treat and inform soldiers and their families of PTSD in order to combat it.

3.Personal Perspective
“While my story might be easy to read on paper, I can tell you from personal experience, that the transition is something that is accomplished with no small amount of difficulty.” Ambassador Ray said this before explaining some of the things that affected his, not-yet-complete, adjustment to civilian life.

He explained that the military is a highly structured environment where each person has a place with heavy emphasis on discipline, planning, preparation and training. He also explained that there was a sense of camaraderie in the institution, unlike any other in the world and a strong sense of respect for authority and each other. Ambassador Ray expressed his difficulty with the casual way civilians relate to and address each other and even with calling people who are senior to him in the hierarchy by their first name, as this was unheard of in the military.

“In the military, you never have to worry about what to wear”. An everyday task in civilian life, such as, deciding what to wear proved a challenge to the Ambassador for several years. He still maintains a military haircut that he gets cut at a military barber and still wears military shoes.

Many of the skills attained in the military he says have often helped him in his professional career. Though he has come a long way in his transitional journey, the Ambassador admitted that he is still not quite a civilian.

Through his contacts with military and former military people globally, both from regular (military) and irregular forces (rebel forces, child soldiers), the Ambassador says the problem of readjustment are pretty much the same.

It is encouraging that a country as large as Nigeria, which is undoubtedly a big contributor to Africa’s carbon footprint is contributing to environmentally friendly initiative such as this. The seemingly limitless supply plastic bottles, is an encouraging indicator of the longevity of such a project.

In view of Zimbabwe’s hosing shortage, and increasing carbon footprint, due to the growing number of cars on the road, and the use of fossil fuels and firewood, instead of hydro-electrical power, (due to power cuts), and the lack of consistent garbage collection, a scheme like this, even just to provide temporary shelter, could make a huge difference to the housing shortage as well as in cleaning up our increasingly garbage ridden cities. If nothing else, it’s worth a try!

Check out the story ….

What a group of activists did was come up with a plan to build a house using those bottles, providing what they say is an environmentally smart strategy of chipping away at a housing shortage in Africa’s most populous nation.

With the prototype near the northern Nigerian city of Kaduna now well underway, the group wants to extend its efforts and build more, aiming to unleash what they say is some long bottled-up potential.

The project was initiated by the Kaduna-based NGO Development Association for Renewable Energies (DARE), with help from foreign experts from Africa Community Trust, a London-based NGO.

Sitting on 58-square meters (624-square feet), the two-bedroom bungalow looks like an ordinary home, but it differs in many ways. When completed, the house whose construction started in June will be used to train masons in building such structures.

It is made from capped, sand-filled plastic bottles, each weighing three kilograms, or nearly two pounds.

The bottles are stacked into layers and bonded together by mud and cement, with an intricate network of strings holding each bottle by its neck, providing extra support to the structure.
Bottle caps of various colors protrude from the cement-plastered walls, giving them a unique look. Those behind the project claim the sand-filled bottles are stronger than ordinary cinder blocks.

“The structure has the added advantage of being fire proof, bullet proof and earthquake resistant, with the interior maintaining a constant temperature of 18 degrees C (64 degrees F) which is good for tropical climate,” Yahaya Ahmad, the project coordinator said.

With the right adjustments to the supporting pillars the building can be as high as three stories, but can go no higher due to the weight of the sand-filled bottles, Ahmad said.

The house is also designed to produce zero carbon emissions as it will be wholly powered by solar panels and methane gas from recycled human and animal waste.

“Nigeria has a serious waste and energy problem, and this project is one small step towards making positive changes,” said Katrin Macmillan, a British environmental activist involved in the project.

Construction is estimated to require 14,000 bottles. Environmental experts say Nigeria, a country of some 160 million, throws out about three million plastic bottles daily.

Plastic houses are cheap to construct as it costs a quarter of the money required to build a conventional house. Nigeria has been grappling with a deficit of 16 million housing units.

TAIWAN NEWS

The ICRC has, since 2009, provided food assistance to prison inmates and supported programmes to improve food security in detention places.

Outgoing head of the ICRC delegation in Zimbabwe, Thomas Merkelbach, said a joint steering committee comprising officials from the ICRC and the Zimbabwe Red Cross Society was closely monitoring the handover process of food assistance to ensure that the welfare of the inmates was not compromised.

“If necessary, the committee can make appropriate adjustments. However, capacity-building activities in the area of food production, and the rehabilitation of critical infrastructure and ICRC support for prison health services will continue in 2012,” said Merkelbach.

According to local prisoner’s rights group, Zimbabwe Association for Crime Prevention and Rehabilitation of the Offender, at least two inmates die every day due to hunger and disease at Chikurubi Prison and Harare Central Prison – the country’s two biggest jails.

From The Zimbabwean

How many of us know anyone who is in prison? Even if you don’t, just a take a few minutes to think about the conditions they live in. Prisoners in Zimbabwe deal with a vast array of life threatening conditions while serving time i.e. malnutrition, epidemics (cholera outbreaks), poor health care and poor food security. The work done by the ICRC in conjunction with the Ministry of Justice and Zimbabwe Prison Services to improve the lives of those who have essentially wronged others, with some humanity, is inspiring.

I was in a combi and overheard a conversation between the driver (a rather burly man) and the hwindi, which I will not easily forget. It went something like this:

Driver: Ko indaba kungopera power soo?
Hwindi: Shamwari, handina chandadya kubvira nezuro masikati.
Driver: Ko nei usina kudya? Handiti ndimi makaroora manje-manje!
Hwindi: Ndakaramwa chikafu.
Driver: Kuramwa chikafu? Asi unopenga? (The heavy-set/ driver looked like he could stand to skip a few meals himself).
Hwindi:  Shamwari, dai waimuziva mukadzi wangu.
Driver: Hazvina basa izvozvo. Sadza isadza!
Hwindi: Zvaanoita soo. Anondinzwisa hasha dzekutoda kumurova chaiko.
Driver: Saka murovezve! Nhai! Zvirinani kurova mukadzi pane kuramwa sadza!
[The combi erupts with laughter]

English translation

Driver: Why do you seem like you have no energy?
Hwindi: Shamwari, I haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon!
Driver: Why not? Aren’t you the one who married recently? [Your wife should be feeding you]
Hwindi: She upset me so, I refused to eat the food she made me..
Driver: Why? Are you mad? (The heavy-set/ driver looked like he could stand to skip a few meals himself).
Hwindi: Shamwari, if only you knew my wife.
Driver: That doesn’t matter. Sadza is sadza!
Hwindi: The things she does sometime! She makes me so mad sometimes, that I just want to hit her!
Driver: So hit her! Really. It’s better to beat your wife than to forego your sadza!
[The combi erupts with laughter]

I, of course was horrified. So many things about this entire situation bothered me, so much so that I began to feel quite confused, which only escalated my anger. How could a man prioritize his food over respect for his wife, however terrible she might be? Why were all these passengers all nodding in agreement? Why was no one in agreement with the hwindi, who was so obviously against hitting his terrible wife that he gave up his evening meal? Why couldn’t they see that there was something wrong with what they were saying? Is this how the majority of people think about the importance of women? What other things are valued more than women are? Where does respecting women rank in the hierarchy of the things valued in Zimbabwean society? (Below your new car or beloved your beer, but just above child abuse?) My head swam with all these questions. Maybe I should have said something, but I was so angry that I could not speak, (and it is a rarity for me to remain silent when I’m angry).

Now if virtually everything is more important, than respecting women (as it would seem, from this overheard discussion), Zimbabwe (and not just its women) has a HUGE problem on its hands. Gender-based violence is an issue that continues to tear the very fabric of our society. It affects us economically, socially and politically. That a man can raise a hand, fist, belt, and as more recently reported, a machete to a woman, in order to solve problems or have his way shows a fundamental breakdown of our humanity as a nation. And for one human being to abuse another, sexually, physically, emotionally and psychologically, something that makes him fundamentally human has been lost. It is essentially, all about respect, even just for the fact that this woman is also a human being. Where are we as Zimbabwe, if we don’t have respect?

The rain is back again and with is comes the nightmare of increased traffic congestion in the CBD.  Whether traveling by public transport or by car, I am usually home by 5:30pm at the very latest, but last night I got home just before 7:30pm. I left work yesterday at 4:30pm as usual and rushed to catch a combi, so I could at least get home before the looming dark gray clouds that threatened heavy rains, burst.

Getting into town took longer than usual, and by the time I got to the rank to get my bus home, there was a huge crowd causing presha, and no combis in sight, as they were all stuck in the mammoth city-wide traffic jam. After getting thoroughly soaked and trampled by numerous stampedes of desperate commuters, and wading through the dirty water flowing through the streets, I gave up and called for back-up.

My uncle, who himself was driving through town, arrived nearly an hour after I had placed the call. By then I had given up on even shielding myself from the pelting rain and was walking calmly through the traffic, to where he too was stuck in traffic. I was so relieved to finally be in a car and on my way out of town, until we reached the intersection of Samora Machel and Leopold Takawira, and witnessed the hugest display of selfishness, chaos and mayhem I’ve seen in a while.

The picture above, which I took with my phone, depicts only a fraction of the sheer madness that prevailed for the hour or so we were stuck, motionless at this intersection, my wet clothes slowly drying on my body.

Despite the fully functional traffic lights motorists drove according their own selfish rules, proceeding bumper-to-bumper through red traffic lights in the scramble to get home, all the while, causing more congestion, until the traffic, that had once been moving at a snail pace ground to complete halt, and we were all well and truly stuck.

While in the gridlock, we discussed the poor planning of road networks and lack of adequate upgrades of existing infrastructure, and the need for an upgrade of the public transport system and how it seemed that these days, “everyone, and their mama” has a car, and yet the roads are not much different from what they were 10 years ago. Despite the good conversation, I was growing restless, and outside several people had gotten out of their cars and were shouting at just about anyone, in their impatience.

Out from the chaos stepped an ordinary seeming man, with an extraordinary plan to set us all free. After having assessed the varying situations, this natural leader began to hand out instructions to surprisingly compliant motorists and things began to move. More of these self-appointed traffic coordinators began working their magic through the web of confusion until, eventually, our car left the intersection.

I looked back at the madness we had just left, all the time wondering where the police were in all this?

To mark their 50th Anniversary of USAID on 3rd November, USAID-Zimbabwe’s  Economic Growth Office Director, Dr Tina Dooley-Jones gave a presentation entitled USAID & Zimbabwe: Past, present and future at the U.S. Embassy’s Public Affairs Section, which covered the history of USAID, expanded upon the major policy and planning changes that have occurred in the organisation in the past 2 years,  outlined their 7 Global Development Priorities and explained how the organisation is currently engaged in Zimbabwe.

The organisation has been working in Zimbabwe since independence and has developed a number of different programmes and partnerships to move forward in the areas of: health, private sector development, low income housing, governance. The activities implemented in these areas have had a positive impact on the lives of many Zimbabweans. Currently USAID works in 4 areas in Zimbabwe in which the organisation has a comparative advantage in delivering development assistance and has found exceptional local partners to work locally.

Dooley  said that “Zimbabwe is and will remain important to USAID – because of developmental challenges and opportunities that exist here. With its highly educated workforce, systems, institutions and structures there is so much potential for development, the organization looks forward to deepening its engagement here and being a part of moving Zimbabwe forward.”