Reflecting on Zimbabwe - now a tragedy

It is not often that I reflect back on my years spent growing up and living in what is now Zimbabwe (it was still called Rhodesia for all but the last year of my time there). It is a chapter of my life that came to an end many years ago but it saddens me to see what was a prosperous and vibrant country descend to utter penury, starvation and total mis-governance.

I was searching the web when I came across a staggering article on the Avert site (Averting HIV and AIDS) at http://www.avert.org/aids-zimbabwe.htm#top. Just the opening paragraph is breathtaking in what is left unsaid (let alone the rest of the article) – the devastated lives, the orphaned children, the economic catastrophe that is implicit in the cold statistics: -

“With around one in seven adults living with HIV and an estimated 565 adults and children becoming infected every day (roughly one person every three minutes), Zimbabwe is experiencing one of the harshest AIDS epidemics in the world.

In a country with such a tense political and social climate, it has been difficult to respond to the crisis. President Robert Mugabe and his government have been widely criticised by the international community, and Zimbabwe has become increasingly isolated, both politically and economically. The economy is suffering from a rapidly growing rate of inflation that was around 2,000% in November 2006, making goods twice as expensive as they were in May 2006. In January 2008, inflation was reported to have reached 100,000% [Andrew's comment now -2009 - in the trillion % area]. This economic decline is fuelling food shortages at a time when poverty is already rife, leading to a desperate situation where HIV and AIDS are in danger of being overlooked in the face of more immediate survival concerns.

In many cases, as one Zimbabwean doctor explained to reporters, the reality is that AIDS can now be counted amongst such concerns:

“Put simply, people are dying of AIDS before they can starve to death” -

The situation in Zimbabwe is now so bad that:
• Between 2002 and 2006, the population is estimated to have decreased by four million people.
• Infant mortality has doubled since 1990.
• Average life expectancy for women, who are particularly affected by Zimbabwe's AIDS epidemic, is 34 - the lowest anywhere in the world. Officials from the World Health Organisation have admitted that since this figure is based on data collected two years ago, the real number may be as low as 30.
• Zimbabwe has a higher number of orphans, in proportion to its population, than any other country in the world, according to UNICEF. Most of these cases are a result of parents dying from AIDS.”

We just do not realise how lucky we are to be in Australia, or any developed country for that matter. The problem is not visible to us so we ignore it. It is just the dedicated few who earn my undying praise who keep up the humanitarian work of helping those so desperately in need. This is so easy for me to say – I am here not there! This is why I do not revisit this area of my past. I think I feel guilty that I am not doing anything to help - I am too comfortable.