Ever since the day I watched a documentary called Wasteland on how a photographer changed the lives of rubbish pickers in Brazil by empowering them to make art with the recyclable materials they pick from the dump site my mind now forever boggles on how best people can make of the circumstances and scenarios they are in. The Friendship Bench at Harare Hospital is one of the many ideas across the country of how communities are being empowered.

I recently visited the Friendship Bench at Harare Hospital. An organisation created by Dr Chibanda to assist low-income people suffering from depression and anxiety. Patients come to the wooden bench for counselling from trained health workers. After realising that most of the people receiving counselling at the Friendship Bench had no source of income, the idea of Zee Bags was born. These women crotchet old plastic bags into colourful shopping baskets and fun handbags.

Now the women have been so empowered to make their own living. If you attended HIFA this year, you probably saw their stand, which was big and eye-catching. Being at HIFA and exhibiting was a great achievement for them and now they look forward to doing the same at the Harare Agricultural Show.

Being around this group of women you can see how this community development project has helped them to deal with their challenges with common mental disorders, depression and anxiety. During the interviews I gathered most of the women eluded that before joining this project all they could think of were their worries leading to stress, but now making these bags keeps their minds busy. And it’s also giving them some income to take care of their families.

A report today says Zanu PF “recently acquired 550 vehicles, – an assortment of single and double cab 4X4 vehicles Toyota Hilux, Nissan NP300, Ford Ranger and Mazda BT50s valued at USD14$million.” All this from a party supposedly broke? And was it not only this month that we read that cops had impounded MDC-T bikes on allegations that the motorbikes “were smuggled into the country?” SMH

Zimbabwe’s economy now ranked in the top 10 in Africa but hang on, how come there aren’t any jobs? Kenyan MPs, already among the highest paid in the world, vote to raise their salaries. Death toll of SA soldiers attacked in Central African Republic has risen to 15. Ngugi wa Thiong’o says that after 50 years, unity is still an African dream but a dream is better than nothing. Civil society exclusions dampen mood at AU summit.Russia gives anti-aircraft missiles to Syria; EU suspends arms embargo to rebels. Ashley Cole to captain England against Republic of Ireland tonight. Kolo Touré to become first Liverpool player from Côte d’Ivoire. The BBC’s DJ Edu says Daima by Eric Wainaina is one of the chart-toppers that’s kept Africa hot; what’s your top tune?

I find it disturbingly tasteless that even before we hit the half year mark, there are already complaints about the President’s traveling habits.

To make it clear, what I find tasteless isn’t the news people reporting about the First Citizen’s globetrotting, but the First Citizen’s unbridled penchant for travel despite all the criticism over the years.

And because this is the first half the year, imagine then the other half of it. Imagine the First Citizen’s carbon footprint! Talk about money to burn!

An entourage of more than 50 officials to Japan next month, we were informed today and last time in another such jaunt, we are informed the number was somewhere near 100! And the numbers that joined the First citizen to Ethiopia for the African Union commemorations?

We recall that the same President Joyce Banda who has taken our President as her mentor, has previously vowed to cut back on international travel to cushion Treasury from what she saw at the time of her swearing-in as unmitigated profligacy by her predecessor. Interesting ain’t it?

You have to feel pity for the guy holding the nation’s purse whose favourite epigram has become “we eat what we kill.” Really?

Yesterday, we let our subscribers know about the $36 million loan that China has extended to Zimbabwe for “projects.”

One subscriber was concerned that with the Zimbabwean economy as bad as it is, and unemployment being so high, Zimbabwe shouldn’t be taking loans – that is, how will we pay it back?

Unsurprisingly, however, given Zimbabwe’s joblessness, a number of other subscribers were curious how they might benefit from the loan for their own projects.

Some of the feedback we received includes:

• Do any one enter into the loan?
• How will the applicants be considered for these loans?
• How could i get that loan
• Are these projects open to every one of the public
• Iam interested with the China loan how do I go about it many thanks
• Messge ndaiona saka zvakamira sei  pamaprojects acho (I saw your message – So how do things stand with these projects?)
• How can i get to be consideree
• May you kindly shade more light on the loans.
• Looking for projects to help unemployed youths give advice
• How can i get a loan of $500 to start a pig project?
• Hw do i excess the youth loan

I note the Herald article about the loan says that it is for “various projects.”

Since the Minister of Youth Development, Indigenisation and Empowerment, Saviour Kasukuwere, just said on Wednesday that social media helps him interact with young people ~ those at the core of his ministry, I’m asking him via this blog (which I’ll also draw his attention to via Twitter) if he can shed any light on the China loan scheme and the projects it is intended for.

Minister Kasukuwere, two questions:

1) Are there any plans to extend some of the project support the new loan from China will provide to individuals’ or communities’ income generating projects?

2) How may youths (and other Zimbabweans) looking for support in income generating projects access other government support facilities?

It is always interesting, well, for me at least, that many leaders, African or otherwise, while apparently extolled elsewhere, are often “unwanted” and face harsh criticism in their own countries.

And this has nothing to do with the hiding-being-religion motif of a prophet being unwelcome among his own people. Far from it.

I have been thinking about this in the past few days that when our President was heaping praises on Zambian President Michael Sata for literally feeding Zimbabwe with 150,000 tonnes of maize, university students in Lusaka were protesting, taking to the streets demanding that their “crazy president” resign.

The students were protesting against something that resonates with Zimbabwe’s tertiary education students who however would never dare bum rush the streets in the manner seen in Lusaka.

That was not the end of it.

Jobless youths reportedly joined in the protests demanding jobs, and a comment attributed to one youth summed up the mood: “Let them come and arrest all the young people for speaking out on the wrongs that are beng done by the government. This is a government that has lost popularity so early and we cannot wait to vote them out. They don’t want to listen to people who voted for them and since they have closed their ears, we can take to the streets because that is the language they want to understand.”

One of the accusations leveled against President Sata was that he had become “arrogant and insensitive to the plight of the people.”

And we await here the day when students can get on their soapboxes and speak their minds about their wretched circumstances.

Yet because student activists will tell you there are spooks who sit through lectures pretending to be students, this has crippled any militancy you would expect from an impoverished aspiring academic.

But we read that President Sata’s response was typical of an African leader who is antithetical to the right to protest: LOCK THEM UP, he is alleged to have instructed cops.

That was not the end of the crackdown. Police have in past few days also locked up Zambia’s own protest poets for music critical to Sata.

The offending lyricist when translated went something like: “You were lying ‘Tata’ (old man). You promised cheap fuel; you said you will construct roads but you were lying as people are still sleeping in tunnels.”

We are in good company hey? Thanks for the maize.