- Dear Family and Friends,
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- The first real rain of the new season fell this week
and it came with a bang. In the distance the rolling rumble of thunder
got louder as the storm drew closer. The sky grew darker, the clouds dropped
lower and then the birds went quiet - a sure sign that it was about to
start. The noise soon built to tremendous levels and the flashes of lightning
were instantly followed by cracks of explosive, roaring thunder - the storm
was directly overhead. A strange orange, yellow cloud formed in the sky
- a warning of ice for sure.
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- Two shirtless men who had been toiling for most
of the day down in the riverbed ran up to the road and raced for cover,
using their buckets as umbrellas. The pair have become a feature of the
neighbourhood this summer. They collect water from a pool they have dug
in the almost dry riverbed that runs through a nearby vlei. The water is
murky and the buckets are edged with mud but there is a continuous demand
from urban neighbourhoods where water is usually only available for a couple
of hours a day, and somedays not at all. The men fill buckets, decant them
into twenty litre containers, load them onto a hand cart and then sell
them in the neighbourhoods to those most desperate.
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- Moments after the water gatherers had taken cover the
rain began, coming in thin slanting sheets at first but then overtaken
by a rush of hail stones. The pea sized white balls skipped off the roof
and lay on the ground giving a temporary white landscape which soon melted.
When the hail slowed the torrents of rain moved in - big drops pelting
down, bringing relief to the land and giving hope that always comes with
a new season. Two inches (50ml) of rain fell in the first hour, accompanied
by brilliant streaks of white fork lightning coursing through the sky,
so close as to make your hair stand on end.
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- When it was over, seemingly from nowhere, came the summer
regulars: Sausage flies, Dragon flies, Chongololos, Flying ants and the
big black biting ants that give off a foul smell which we called Matabele
Ants when we were kids. From unknown places a myriad crickets, cicadas
and frogs have emerged to sing and screech and fill the air with the sound
of Africa. The hard, baked ground has come back to life instantly and there
is a new, soft spring underfoot. Almost overnight a flush of green has
risen in the bush, on the roadsides and across our gardens.
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- The barren, burnt landscape, ravaged by a devastating
season of bush fires, can breathe again - you can almost feel the relief.
The wild flowers that stood so starkly in the sand and ash have also taken
on a new fullness and more mellow colour and are a picture: dwarf red Combretums,
Yellow Heads, blue Thunbergia, exquisite orange Pimpernels and the Protea
bushes are covered in creamy white flowers.
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- Zimbabwe came back to life again this week, you can
see it and feel it and smell it. And now in our newly washed land we look
to our leaders and politicians to finally put an end to this time of pain
and suffering and turmoil. We are not a greedy, selfish and demanding nation,
we want only food in the fields, products in the shops and space to walk,
talk and act with dignity and freedom. We want our families that are living
such hard and lonely lives in the diaspora to come home; we want to start
rebuilding our communities and neighbourhoods and to have joy in our lives
again. It is not too much to ask. Perhaps this new season can be the start,
the change we all so desperately want.
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- Until next week, thanks for reading,
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- love cathy.
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- Copyright cathy buckle 28 October 2007. www.cathybuckle.com
My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are available
in South Africa from: <mailto:books@clarkesbooks.co.za>books@clarkesbooks.co.za
; and in the UK from: <mailto:orders@africabookcentre.com>orders@africabookcentre.com
To subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter, please write to: <mailto:cbuckle@mango.zw>cbuckle@mango.zw
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