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Date: August 08, 2004
I vamoosed Zimbabwe along with about ten percent
of its population. The border crossing took hours. I asked some
fellows to watch my bike while I was inside. When I came back they
started asking me the usual questions and I said, "I gotta
go. It's getting hot and the border crossing is going to be even
worse in Botswana." They asked why and I said, "Because
there is no money left in Zim. All the people, especially the thieves
-- there is nothing left to steal either -- are going to Botswana."
"Why doesn't America help us?"
They want money. "I'll give you some cookies
for watching my bike. America does help you. We give you millions.
Anyway, what makes you think America has a responsibility to help
Zimbabwe? It's Zimbabwe's problem." I was about to suggest
they throw Mugabe out of office when one of the fellows walks towards
me and shows me his identification. They are undercover police.
This costs me another 30 minutes of questioning and a pile of cookies.
For years my father has been telling me I have to learn to keep
my mouth shut!
I was relieved to cross into Botswana even if it was
hot, dry and all the Mopane and Acacia trees are brown and shriveled.
Hundreds of beer cans littered the roads: the richer the country
the more the garbage on the side of the roads. In India women even
gather dung in their baskets to burn. The traffic increased until
I reached Francistown, a small city that could be any Midwest city.
All the water, food and shopping malls in an environment more inhospitable
than usual was shocking. Botwsana has a lot of money from the diamond
industry; some say, like America, Botswana has enough money to placate
the corrupt officials and feed the people.
The people here are plumper, prettier and friendlier,
more so than Zimbabwe even though they take great pride in their
peacefulness and friendliness. It would be a terrible place otherwise,
then again, maybe a little civil unrest would solve their problems.
Everyone is praying Mugabe will die, and on three seperate occasions
people told me that they hoped Zimbabwe would discover oil so Bush
would invade and solve their problems.
This is a reoccuring theme of my trip: people need
to learn to take responsibility for themselves!
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