Dear Family and Friends, Navigating a field of red mud that covered the potholed road, the scene in front of me was beautiful and desperate side by side, a scene which has become the dramatically contrasting face of Zimbabwe that we see every day, everywhere we go, forty one years after independence. On the left …
The rock paintings and the learners who didn’t learn Read More »
Dear Family and Friends, After weeks of rain we’ve had a few windows of blue sky and sunshine for the past few days giving things a chance to dry out and water to sink in. The amazing beauty and diversity of life in our newly washed and rehydrated Zimbabwe is stunning. Sunrises that are pink …
Dear Family and Friends, After twenty one years of writing this Letter from Zimbabwe, at first every week and then every fortnight, I find the words come harder and harder as the heart grows weak at describing our decades of pain, injustice and suffering and, when writing about it, self censorship is always uppermost. Despite …
Dear Family and Friends, I am writing this letter to you from beneath a dark grey sky in Zimbabwe. A big storm is approaching, high winds are stripping leaves off trees, everything is switched off and unplugged, lightning is crackling and exploding, thunder booming and banging all around. Grey curtains of rain are marching up …
Dear Family and Friends, Excuse this last late Letter from Zimbabwe in 2020. It’s been such a hard, painful, lonely, frightening year for people everywhere with so much of our time stuck inside, that when I saw the beautiful Zimbabwe that we all know and love yesterday, I knew I wanted to share a small …
Dear Family and Friends, It’s green and purple and grey in Zimbabwe because at last the rainy season has set in, just in time for our parched country. Everywhere is soft and soggy underfoot and every day the sky drops lower, filled with grey and deep purple clouds which sometimes give us gentle drizzle and …
COVID didn’t ravage Zimbabwe in 2020 but corruption and greed did Read More »
It’s here! BLACK FRIDAY sale. Publishers LULU are offering 30% OFF my Beautiful Zimbabwe 2021 calendar and all my books until midnight 30 November 2020. Use promo code BFCM30 to claim the discounts and follow any of these links to order www.lulu.com/spotlight/CathyBuckle2018 http://cathybuckle.co.zw/books/ CathyCathy Buckle is well known for her writings of daily life in …
Dear Family and Friends, For the past fortnight we’ve been melting in Zimbabwe as we wait for the rain to move down the continent and bring us some relief. Early in the mornings when the temperature is still around 16 degrees Celsius we look up at the wide blue sky and wonder if we’ll get …
Dear Family and Friends, Watching election USA from the other side of the Atlantic we begin to feel as if it is election Zimbabwe. The same emotions, frustrations and anxieties. This was the last thing we expected from a beacon of democracy and yet we hear phrases from the incumbent such as: ‘stop counting,’ ‘illegal …
Dear Family and Friends, There’s nothing nicer than sitting outside these early mornings when its cool and quiet and the weavers are building, breaking and rebuilding their nests and hanging upside down flapping and quivering, trying to entice females to come and inspect their constructions. In the Mulberry tress the red winged louries are fidgeting …
Empty pockets and empty tummies; Sanctions didn’t do this to us Read More »
