In the chair
oh for a valium. a scotch. a well dog. a not so fucked up country. and a beach.
That’s a text message I just sent a friend after a visit to the dentist when I was feeling bleak.
Walking up the stairs to Dr Paul’s rooms I have say that I got a bit anxious. The sound of generators filled the air. And I began to wonder if they would need to refuel at a crucial moment whilst I was In The Chair.
Usually Dr Paul’s sound system belts out sexy rumba but instead, in an effort to lift the nurses spirits, he’d succumbed to one of those jazzed up Christmas cds. So I found myself tapping my toes to ABBA singing that the New Year is going to be a really good one.
When it comes to drills and masks I’m prone to panic attacks so I took along a copy of The New York Review of Books that I’d just received in the mail. I thought I might calm myself down and cheer myself up by looking through the personal ads. I was momentarily side tracked by an advert that I’d respond to given half a chance:
Beautiful, quick-witted optimist seeks fifty-something left-winger with a strong sense of humor and enough money to buy her a martini from time to time
Being quick-witted and optimistic are pretty much mandatory for surviving Zimbabwe. Maybe we’d be a match made in a failed state.
Wednesday, October 29th 2008 at 2:57 pm
Dear All
I am one of the many white Zimbabweans living in the UK. I got tired of sitting in petrol queues, witnessing the devastation of our beloved country, the impending starvation, people dying from HIV…I was heartbroken…what could I do about it…? The only action I could take was to leave the country and refrain from paying tax to a Government and its civil servants to destroy our home. I also witnessed innocent kids from the Polytechnic getting puliverised by the police for quietly standing in the centre of Harare asking for the return to democracy and for the correct standards to be reintroduced into their school. For that they were shot with tear gas and pulverised with police batons for standing up for what is right!
I was organising the funeral fo my late aunt with the Catholic priest in London and we got onto the subject of Zimbabwe. Do you know Jenni Williams he asked. Well I was gobsmacked. Yes, how could I not know her…she is the bravest person I know. I have never met her personally that I can remember but I have been amazed at the strength of character and bravery she has shown for standing up for democracy in Zimbabwe. If only we had men like her in our country. The combination of her inherited Irish spirit and her strong african genes, have made her a formidable character. She should be Vice President and with her and Tsvengie at the helm, they could accomplish the most successful African country in history and would restore quality of life for all. We have the potential, but the greedy businessmen and politicians have to be taken to task and have to stop robbing us blind. The worst thing of all is that our politicians are systematically starving 6 million of its population under the guise of land reformation and to wrong the former colonial past. All those farmers did was a good job and fed the people and now they are being crucified.
So when the Catholic priest asked me if I knew Jenni Williams as he had been to her church and had met her and her sister; I found my eyes welling with tears, of course I know her – all Zimbabweans of worth admire and honour her efforts. Right conquers might – Jennie is the living proof. May God go with her and her WOZA followers. They are the most courageous people I know of.