Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Well, our marathon mourning weekend is over. There were all-night vigils Thursday and Friday night at the Pamacheches' house, and then Saturday was the official funeral and burial. We feel physically and emotionally exhausted, and we didn't even stay for the all-nights - I can't imagine for the family. But they're looking ok. John skipped work this morning to take the kids on a horseback tour of Mukuvisi woodlands to see giraffes, etc. I feel much more at peace now. I'm still sad, but it's not so painful. Maybe I'm learning something about the Zimbabwean way of mourning...

Someone was just telling me that there are a lot of rumours going around the territory about the THQ (territorial headquarters - the place where we work) Murder Mystery. Lt. Col. Mhasvi died less than a year ago, and he died of liver cancer too. So that makes 2 people in the same workplace of the same disease. So, people are speculating that we are trying to poison each other here. There is such a strong belief in malevolent forces! Most people believe that no one, and I mean NO ONE dies of natural or scientific causes - it's always because of SOMEONE who put a curse on the deceased or who poisoned them or something. It wasn't me - I swear.

The shops are still empty, but we found a "connection" who can often find bread in the morning. Yum - have I mentioned that we love bread? There are still lots of police officers everywhere, making sure that people charge the government-directed prices - t.v.s were going for really cheap last week, but we were too late - stores were sold out within hours. We paid a friend $2million to contribute to the purchase of a beast (if they can get it into the city from the rural areas - there are a lot of police road blocks). I hope we don't get the head...