Untukmu Para Pengunjung

Ever since I had an incredible teacher in high school (Mr. Pierre-Jerome) I've been interested in international politics (and particularly African politics). But I must admit that it feels bizarre sometimes to be living what I used to read. The other day I was in a combi and someone started passing around some political cartoons. Of course, in Canada these are published in the newspaper as normal practice. Here, publishing them could have serious consequences. So, people were crouched over looking at them, and others were acting as look-outs to make sure no one was peering in through the windows or over shoulders. Some people giggled nervously at the satire. I recognized the person with the cartoons from our neighbourhood and know the family to be involved in the CIO (Central Intelligence Organization - government spies). So I thought it was odd that she be passing around cartoons, but then realized it was a trap - trying to source the infidels. Creepy! The whole looking over your shoulder/whispering/being wary of typing these words thing is eerie! I also made a slip-up in devotions yesterday morning. I said a phrase like "in this room we are all leaders" and immediately many heads turned towards our TC. In this country's context there can only be one supreme leader (or a small group). I learn every day...

If you pray, please pray for our friend Ruth. She is not well. We visited her in the hospital yesterday and she is looking very thin and weak. They have not given her any treatment (besides food and water) since she was admitted - I guess because there is no treatment available. It's heart-breaking. I was crying at the hospital - realizing that I used to view hospitals as places of healing. Now it feels like hospitals are places I visit friends before they die. Reality is harsh.... but God is faithful.

Tomorrow I'm heading to Botswana with the ZSYL for their week-long cross-cultural experience. Of course there have been huge challenges with logistics, because it's next-to-impossible to get travel documents (with many excuses ranging from no paper to no ink to...) but half the team managed to get something. We had considered changing the location to Zim, but of course it would be impossible to find food for 20 people for a week. So, perhaps my over-worked husband will write some posts on OUR blog (a rumour is circulating that it's only MY blog!) but if not... you'll hear from me later.

So I have an issue with Skype, I have problems with it crashing all the time and it hardly ever works skype to skype but hey that is free, my complaint is Skype out, that is a paid service.

I sent an email to Skype as below:-

"Every time in the past two weeks that I have used skype in my skype-out paid for service, I have had to hang-up and re-dial as the recipients never every hear me for more than 10 seconds then it cuts out or freezes. I have 8mb line and frankly expect better. I now have red warning saying skype balance low, not surprising as the damn things eats money and provides no service, I spent $.80 trying to get a call connected, cheaper to use the land-line. I expect to see some kind of credit as this is simply not on, $10 spent, probably 2 minutes of talking in total. Disgusting. I have 5500 bloggers on my site and was going to recommend skype as a platform for our chat service, not now."

I then got a standard response, check the firewall etc..

"Thank you for contacting Skype Support.
We are very sorry to hear of your troubles with Skype.
Here are some ways to help you experience enhanced call quality:

1. Check that you are using the most recent version of Skype. You can download it for free:
http://skype.com/download/

2. Follow the simple suggestions here that resolve many call quality issues:
http://www.skype.com/help/guides/callquality/

3. Follow our visual sound setup guide to make sure your audio settings are correct:
http://www.skype.com/help/guides/soundsetup.html

4. Follow our visual firewall user guide to ensure that your firewall or router is not blocking Skype:
http://www.skype.com/help/guides/firewall.html

5. Make sure that all the drivers for your PC are up-to-date (sound, video, motherboard controllers etc). The manufacturer of your hardware will supply you with these.

If you are still not happy with the quality of your calls, then let us know, so that we can help you further."

Hmm..unhappy, make that pissed off, a standard response so I replied, a bit stroppy I admit:-

"Thanks for the standard response.

I am no fool and have used skype for a few years. It is only recently
that the service is shoddy, you guys simply eat up the users money with
no service, everything works on my PC just not every time. It is simply
not consistent. In fact I would say I have to restart 70% of my calls,
that is 70% losses of calls and costs that are obviously incurred.

Of course all sounds are correct, version is up-to-date, firewall
obviously is fine as skype does work for a bit (mind you as this is a
standard reply I am guessing nobody read my mail).

Once again, you fail to provide a service and I am thinking of reporting
the service as it is simply ripping off users."

Sooo..good old Skype came back with another standard mail:-

"So here are some more suggestions to help resolve the issue:

1. In Skype, Go to Tools > Options > Connection. Select the option to use ports 80 and 443. In the "Incoming Connections" box you can chose any port between 1024 and 65535.
2. Reconfirm that your firewall is correctly configured. Follow the simple visual guide here:
http://www.skype.com/help/guides/firewalls/
3. Quit any file sharing applications or high-bandwidth usage applications.
4. For more detailed security setup on a network: http://www.skype.com/security/guide-for-network-admins.pdf
5. If these suggestions do not resolve improve cal quality, follow these steps:
* Quit Skype
* Locate the shared.xml file found in
C:\Documents and settings\Your Windows Username\Application data\Skype\shared.xml
* Delete the file called shared.xml
* Restart Skype ( shared.xml will be recreated )
Note: Showing hidden folders and files has to be turned on: please navigate to My Computer > Tools > Folder Options > View. Once there, please make sure that the option "Show Hidden Files and Folders" is enabled.

5. Disable Quality of Service packet scheduling. Go to Start -> Control Panel -> Network Connections. Right click on the connection you are using. Select Properties. Untick the "QoS Packet Scheduler" option.

If you are still not happy with the quality of your calls, then let us know, so that we can help you further."

Hmm..more standard crap..doesn't once solve the fact it works for the first 10 seconds does it, proving everything is actually set up ok, so, I sent another mail (PS. I did all of the above about a year ago, no customer records obviously so how would they know?):-

"Hmm same response twice, third time and you get me blogging it word for
word. "

Then Skype customer services, Marko L to be precise, replies:-

"Hello Kevin,

Thank you for contacting Skype Support.

Our apologies for pointing this out, but they're not the same.

Actually if you look closely you will note the difference in the steps. But judging by your reply you have not even read them, let alone followed them through on Skype. Unfortunately if you don't do that we can not narrow down the problem. These guides are carefully designed and not just some random suggestions thrown together, even though they may not look much.

Please "reset" the exception for Skype in your Firewall software. The old exception can become useless and this can affect Skype connection quality.


If you are using windows built-in firewall,
Go to Start menu --> Settings --> Control Panel --> Windows firewall
If 'Don't allow exceptions' is ticked, please untick it.
Go to the 'Exceptions' tab
If there is Skype listed below, delete it.
Start Skype, you will be prompted to allow Skype to connect to internet, accept it.

If you are using some other firewall,
Go to Start menu --> Programs and select your firewall
Make sure that exceptions are allowed.
Go to 'Exceptions' tab
If there is Skype listed below, delete it
Start Skype, you will be prompted to allow Skype to connect to the internet, select 'Yes'.

Best regards,

Marko L.
Skype Support"

So. tell me Skype, why do you keep charging me for a service that doesn't work? All of the above is bullshit standard response email that I have had many times, if you had records, you'd be able to see that. I did the above standard email responses last year, your service is simply not up to the same standard as last year, it has deteriorated.

I have now blogged it as I promised. I still am unable to get a telephone conversation without it freezing or crashing yet you keep charging me. I may only have a small blogging community, there may only be 6000 bloggers signed up but I reply personally to every mail, I take every complaint personally, maybe the Skype team ought to too..?

Thanks.

I mentioned earlier that a Salvation Army officer couple recently lost their baby. I found out yesterday that they also lost their first child in the same way - a few days after birth. How sad! They have one child who has survived, but the other two have died when they were only a few days old. I was actually nervous when I heard this because I knew that there would be accusations of witch-craft. And there are. No one ever dies naturally or because of a medical or scientific reason... there is always someone to blame for the curse. The two families are at war, trying to figure out which side of the family is cursing the babies and causing them to die. Usually in cases like this, the couple gets divorced immediately, but there's some hope that since they are Christians, they will stay together. I must admit that this angers me. Think about this mother - how traumatic to have lost her child, to have lost 2 children! and then to have to deal with all of the family fighting and accusations and blame. We all die - we will all face death, and yet we all still fight it, and are shocked to some degree when it comes. And we all want someone to blame - God, ourselves, in-laws... it's so traumatic.

For 2 years in Canada I worked at the Salvation Army's immigrant & refugee services centre and loved it. It was my first "real" job, and it was an excellent one. I was blessed to meet people from all around the world, and many, many friends. One lady I met was Beauty - who came from Zimbabwe. Beauty ended up becoming a soldier of The Salvation Army and now attends the Harbourlight corps in Toronto. Beauty's mother passed away last week, and so she came back to Harare for the burial, and yesterday I visited her. It was a small world - from being together in Toronto to then being together in her mother's small home in Mbare. I also visited with some other friends last night - just to chat about troubles and joys. It was wonderful. It's easy to feel alone and it's easy to develop an "each person for himself" attitude in a drastic environment like this, but having friends just to share life with is a treasure I will never take for granted.

I am unsure if this is real or not but I found it funny!

There is a lot of bad news here. I always find Monday mornings sobering because everyone discusses all of the people who died on the weekend. I was particularly saddened to learn about an officer couple who lost their new baby on Saturday. And then there was the accident of a Salvation Army vehicle where people were rushed to the hospital only to find out that there was no medication (even pain reliever). Also, a new law also just came out saying any employer found to be increasing wages for their workers will be imprisoned immediately. So, I think we might be at $1/month for a while!!!

So, there's a lot of bad news, but because I'm a follower of Jesus, I think I can always see grace amidst the sorrow. I had a beautiful moment yesterday. Our friend Mac turned 70, so we threw a mini birthday party for him. We asked a friend of a friend to bake a cake, and miraculously she found eggs to do so. We brought it over with a card and a candle (another precious commodity) and some singing. He said he'd been waiting all day, because he knew we wouldn't forget. He was so happy. We all had a piece of cake, and then I kept seeing him sneak more bits (especially the icing). Mac is from Scotland, and so we screened the movie Braveheart on my laptop, and he loved it (it IS a great movie - and interesting to watch in this context - thinking of independence and freedom!) Mac has had a tough life, and his only family left is his (wonderful) wife and us - his kids. It was wonderful to see him smile - seeing scenes from his homeland and sneaking bits of cake on his 70th birthday! It requires a brave heart to live in Zimbabwe these days, and I am continually humbled and blessed by the hearts of people here. Please just pray that people won't give up hope.

It was a busy weekend. Friday I spent the day in Karoi - handing over the ARVs to the hospital. It was unfortunate that no one from the community could be there. I asked why they hadn't come, and they said it's because they couldn't afford the transport money. This made me a little nervous seeing as they need to come in to the hospital to actually take their meds, but Zimbabweans always find a way...

Friday night we launched into Commissioning weekend (when 40 cadets were commissioned and ordained as Salvation Army officers/ministers). Friday night was the Silver Star - where all the parents were awarded with Silver Stars. I was touched to see mothers, fathers, aunts, sisters, brothers, etc. going up to receive these Silver Stars. I was imagining that the parents were thinking about when those children were born, and all the hopes and dreams they had for them - and then to see them becoming officers (which accords a huge amount of respect in Zim). I was touched. And, of course, everyone was curious about my own Silver Star, and how I could have a grown up child somewhere when I only look 16! Sunday was the actual ordination and then appointments. The tent was absolutely packed, and it reminded me of my childhood when I used to love watching the cadets march in, and then watching their faces as they found out where they were going to go for their first appointment. Yesterday, most of the cadets were sent to deep, rural areas. Personally I don't feel called to be an officer, but I felt really proud of all of these cadets - and the lifelong commitment and covenant they are making to God and The Salvation Army.

Saturday was awards and prize-giving, and the top students were very proud of their new bicycles. I was actually remarking to John that the top students were all Ndebele (the minority tribe). In Zim, the Salvation Army is VERY Shona (the majority tribe here). For example, the whole commissioning weekend was conducted in Shona, and all of the Ndebele new Captains were sent to Shona corps. We've actually discovered that we know many women who are Ndebele, but we never guessed because they never speak the language, they married Shonas, and they hide their past - like they're ashamed of who they really are. I guess it's the tricky thing in post-colonial Africa. Of course, no one wants to use the colonial language (English) and yet what seems to happen is that everyone ends up just merging into the majority language - and that has psychological and social effects on people who speak minority languages. The General's message was read in both languages, and everyone from Matabeleland was very happy to hear the message in their own language. Life is complicated.