Christmas is mango juice running down forearms
swooping birds snapping flying ants out of the sky
the warm smell of wet earth and the shiver of swiftly growing foliage
fledglings screeching for their parents on dripping branches
and the snap, as you break through brittle leachy skin, and sweet-sticky juice floods your senses

painted-cloud sunsets and thundering rain on tin roofs

praise songs echoing up from the vlei
 
the smell of roadside mealies roasted on open fires
the smell of Tony cooking the ham and Kate cooking Christmas cake
friends on the verandah drinking home-grown coffee  and red wine
dinner on the outside table
as stars glimpse through billowing clouds

our Christmas will be here,
where we have been all along
watching the turning of time
2012 has been filled with wonder and struggle and gratitude and friends and family
with births and deaths and the promise of what is to come
and a deep sense of knowing
that this is where we belong

I was lying face down having a massage this morning (commercial, not private sadly) and I hear a woman bring her daughter in for a manicure and a pedicure. When I was growing up it was just about making sure your finger and toe nails were clean, not styled. And then, horror of horrors, a request was put in for her daughter to have three (3) blackheads removed. In other words squeezed out. Which made me wonder why the mother was outsourcing such a gross job.

Yesterday I was running up Kew Drive, the road where our PM now lives and where you sometimes see MDC youth sitting outside. You need to wear sunglasses if you look in their direction; they are so shiny. Shiny heads, shiny suits and shiny shoes. Sweet. Anyway trudging up the cycle track I saw 5 young boys probably all under 11. They made a point of blocking the cycle track. Aggressive little shits. You’d never see girls acting this way in Zimbabwe.

Gender activist Betty Makoni describes how women face war in their homes and how she feels about leaving Zimbabwe because of persecution from the State:

The last thing any human rights defender wants to do is to leave her home, work and settle in a foreign country. This was my last option during my time of despair and persecution in 2008; only the man I shared my home with knew as I grabbed my handbag and sped out of the door to run for safety.

Continue reading here

Desmond Tutu has written a powerful op-ed in response to Uganda’s homophobia:

To those who claim that homosexuality is not part of our African culture, you are conveniently ignoring the fact that LGBTI Africans have lived peacefully and productively beside us throughout history.

More here

UN WOMEN NATIONAL GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING (GRB) SPECIALIST
Deadline: 26 December 2012

Gender-Responsive Budgeting (GRB) is one of UN Women’s goals constituted within the development results framework. UN Women strategic plan (2011 – 2013) includes development results framework goal 5: To strengthen the responsiveness of plans and budgets to gender equality at all levels. At an outcome level and in line with the principles embodied in the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action anticipated results include more gender responsive national development strategies, strengthened capacity of different branches of government for gender responsive planning and budgeting and increased resources to address the priorities of women and girls at sector level and raise the status for national machineries for women.

UN Women has been supporting GRB initiatives through programming, global advocacy and building strategic partnerships with national governments, civil society, UN agencies and other multi-lateral development organizations. In this process, UN Women Zimbabwe is supporting national partners, the government of Zimbabwe and women’s organizations to contribute towards the economic empowerment of women through capacity building of government to mainstream gender in social and economic sector ministry policy, programmes and budgets in line with National Gender Policy to contribute to poverty reduction. The GRB programme is built on Millennium Development Goals (MDGSs) 1, 3 and 6 on poverty reduction, gender equality and HIV and AIDS which are also the national priority goals.

The expected outcomes of the programme are: (i) improved capacity of government officials and policy makers in mainstreaming gender into legislation, policies, strategies and budgets  (ii) Increased demand for accountability from government by CSO’s on national and international commitments for advancing gender equality (iii) improved access to services and resources for women and girls (iv) increased active participation of women in economic and public finance forums at local and national level.

The GRB Specialist will be based at UN Women Harare reporting to the Country Representative.

For more information and to apply please click here

Zanu-PF declared at its recent annual conference that latest technology gadgets and wireless telephone applications embraced globally are the work of detractors out to get Zanu-PF. In resolutions passed at the close of the 13 Zanu-PF annual people’s conference in Gweru at the weekend the party appears petrified by the spread of social media which has hooked the young generation.
– Daily News, Thursday December 13, Pg 5