Cardboard signs with books, bandits and traffic lights

When I arrived home, a young man ran up to the gate and I wondered what had happened. Perhaps a ball was thrown into the yard, a broken window, or a missing dog.

“Hello, are you okay?” I asked. Polite and courteous, the young man greeted me, asked how I was, shuffled around a bit, and then plucked up the courage to ask if he could give me a book.

read:

He had just entered high school and was looking for a copy of my book, a set of prescribed English problems for upperclassmen in public schools.

I said I was sorry that I couldn't help because I didn't have any books with me, but I wished him luck with his studies.

He walked slowly down the hill, kicking stones. It's a way for young people to let it be known that they're in a bad mood and depressed.

The book he wanted costs $8.50 before retail increases, a steep price in a country where teachers' salaries are lower than they were in 2018, before the reintroduction of the Zimbabwean dollar.

The president of the teachers' union said this week that the recent decision to tax the dollar portion of teachers' salaries was not the result of collective bargaining. He described the latest government tax as a “one-armed bandit”.

This includes a 100% increase in road toll fees, a 15% tax on eyeglass lenses and frames, and a 15% tax on Braille books, Braille typewriters, Braille watches, and non-Braille watches. It's the latest in robbery tactics. Also electric wheelchairs and crutches. It's all become so mean and so punitive.

Year after year, decades through Zimbabwe's decline, I seem to write more or less the same column. Although nothing has changed, the thirst for knowledge is very strong in our country.

to school…

Early in the morning, as we drive along major highways, through suburban areas, and down country roads, our kids are headed to school before most of us are even out of bed.

The little poppets walk many miles to school every day.

Rain or shine, they walk to school wearing bright purple, navy blue, or bottle green uniforms and carrying school bags on their backs. Along the road, we move single file along invisible paths through the towering green grass or dodge red muddy puddles as we head toward school. Country road.

Many of them walk barefoot and tie their shoelaces around their necks to keep them clean before going to school. Around a small mud puddle near the school, they can be seen laughing and joking as they take turns cleaning mud off their feet and putting their shoes back on.

On the highway, if you wave as you pass, you'll hear their excited voices on the wind, laughing and saying hello, and raising their little hands here and there to wave back.

It's a very romantic and emotional picture, as much as my words can paint it for you, nothing is ever what it seems.

harsh reality

The reality is that teachers are paid so much that they can't even go to work, let alone pay rent, buy food and medicine, and buy their children $8.50 English literature kits. This means that the market continues to slump because of this lack of demand.

When the 2023 Zimbabwe School Examinations Council O-level exam results were released last week, only 29.4% of candidates nationally were able to pass the five subjects, highlighting just how much learning was being done in these schools. We have no choice but to draw our own conclusions as to whether this is the case. .

As I was waiting at a traffic light near a very trendy brand new shopping mall on the outskirts of Harare, a young man caught my attention. The supposedly 19-year-old was standing at a traffic light holding a cardboard sign with the two words “PLIZ HELP” written in charcoal.

Not that long ago, he was one of those little poppets walking to school through the tall green grass, shoes around his neck and waving excitedly.

The sarcasm hit me right in the face, and I was embarrassed by it.

There was a long line of big luxury cars in front of me waiting for the light to change, but no one helped him.

As I approached, I rolled down the window and offered the young man a few dollars. He took the money, patting his chest in gratitude, and in an instant, our lives took a different turn.

I know what that young man saw in his eyes that moment while he was waiting at the traffic light. It's a look many of us here have had at some point over the past 24 years as we navigate Zimbabwe's endless cycle of disputed elections, political turmoil and economic crisis. I wish our leaders could walk in our shoes for just one day. Just one day. If so.

Copyright © Kathy Buckle