Money in Zimbabwe

Zimbabwe gave up its own currency when it went through a period of hyperinflation in about 2006-2008.  The South African rand and the US dollar are the currencies recognized since that time.  In the past year there’s been talk of substituting the Chinese yuan for the dollar as Zimbabwe pulls closer to China economically, but that would be a major change, requiring more organizational effort than I think the country is prepared to put into something that’s not necessary.

The first thing I noticed when I got here is how grubby the money is!  In our country, most of the bills in use here would’ve been retired long ago.  I’m on a cash economy here, because I was advised that the hassles of banking in Zimbabwe for foreigners are not worth undertaking for a 4 ½ month stay.  When I went to my home bank to get cash (nothing larger than a $20, and mostly $10’s and $5’s), they gave me a bunch of brand new bills.  Boy, do they stick out here—they tag me as a foreigner immediately!  The bills in Zimbabwe are a whole different texture--almost like cloth-- from extreme use.  Here's a photo of a typical bill I got in Zimbabwe above one I brought from home (that wasn't new):

The second thing I found out is that very few places give change.  If my bill comes to $12.74, I’ll be offered a piece or two of candy instead of the change, and at the grocery store if my bill is $12. 12 cents, I can ask for a voucher to be used for the $.88 credit at that store at a later time.  At all other stores, purchases are always in even dollars (easy, because nothing is taxed) to avoid the issue.  Gasoline is pumped by the dollar, not by the volume.   I’ve seen exactly three coins since I came, all South African.  And to think that in the United States, elimination of the penny is an issue!

Food and Cooking 1/30/2012

 A couple of people have asked about what I eat and how I cook, so here’s the story:

The first answer is NOT SADZA!  Sadza is a staple dish here made from maize.  It’s about the consistency of very stiff mashed potatoes, but not as mealy, and it has no particular flavor.  It can be eaten plain or served with veges and/or meat.  Most Zimbabweans eat mounds of the stuff three meals a day.  They eat it with their fingers, rolling it into mouth-sized balls and then using it to scoop up whatever else is on their plate.  I had some at the school cafeteria once, and was relieved to learn the next time I went that they also serve rice, which is much more to my liking.  I carry my own silverware to the cafeteria, because if I ask for a spoon, it often takes five minutes to get one.  

At the office, there is a small microwave, so I often take leftovers from home and reheat them there.  Occasionally the electricity is out and I end up saving the leftovers and getting food at the cafeteria.  Sadza or rice with one side (meat, greens, cabbage, fava beans) is $2 and with two sides is $3.

The photo above is  a handy appliance in my apartment that’s like a small oven/broiler with two burners on top.  I put the mug next to it so you can judge the size.  The oven and grill (broiler) both work sometimes, as does the left burner.  The right burner, thank God, works consistently.  I have the bare bones of utensils: three enamel surfaced pots that look to be of 1950’s vintage.  Two of them have one of their two little side handles remaining, the third has neither.  One of the tops is missing its handle, so I have to insert a knife if a little gap at the side to take it off once I’ve begun to cook in it.  I also have plates, basic silverware, mugs, cups and three very dull, very thin-bladed knives.   The silverware doubles as my only cooking utensils.  The main problem that I have is that things stick very easily to the enamel surfaces, and I’ve been unable to find anything like a tuffy pad or those 3M green pads to help with scrubbing.  Basically, I soak and use my fingernails.  This impacts what I cook a great deal, because I avoid any form of cooking that might cause something to stick.

Food prices in markets are not expensive, in comparison to the US, for the basics.  A bunch of greens, a head of cabbage, 8 very small bananas, two small mangoes or 5-6 medium tomatoes, small onions or small potatoes can be had for $1 each.  Eggs can be bought in a flat (36) for $4, or individually for 15 cents.  Rice and flour are inexpensive.  Almost everything else is very expensive.  A can of tomatoes or corn or baked bean costs $1.50.  Margarine is $4 for a ½ lb., and butter is $6.50 for a half pound.  Cheese is a luxury item—about $16/lb. for basic cheddar.  I got a small box of something that’s between muesli and granola, and that cost $8.50.  Beef and pork run $5-6/kg, and chicken is more like $7/kg.  I can get milk and large cartons of yogurt.  I’ve got bread, PB and jelly.   I also bought a simple can opener, which cost $18.50.  I can also buy fruits and vegetables at one of the local markets.  See picture below.

I’ve been making delightful stews with a little bit of meat, potatoes, carrots, onions and some kind of sauce (not as thick as gravy, because of the pan sticking).  I can vary it by changing seasonings and by omitting potatoes and either mixing it with or serving it over rice.  I’ve had green beans, butternut squash, which my oven has eventually favored me with baking, and a green I really like called tsunga.   I can often make toast in the morning if my oven is working.  I brought some packets of instant oatmeal from home, so I can have those occasionally.  They’re available but very expensive in the store, and I can’t imagine cleaning regular oatmeal off my pots.  I do eggs that are hard or soft-boiled, depending upon the vagaries of my stovetop.  Last Saturday I had more time, so I scrambled an egg with a little ham (a splurge-- $3.50 for three ounces) and some onion.  It tasted wonderful, but I’m not sure it’s an experiment I’ll repeat often, because even using a lot of butter in the pan and watching it carefully so it didn’t stick, the pan was very hard to clean.

Photo of a bay in the women's ward at Bonda Mission Hospital

When I recreated a post I lost about my first day at Africa University, I didn’t include one of the photos from the original blog because I had lost it, I thought permanently.  I’ve found it again and wanted to show it to you.  This is half of one of the bays in the women’s ward of the hospital at Bonda Mission.  

Visits to Zimbabwean Schools 1/27/2012

Today I visited three schools around Mutare, accompanying a colleague who was there to check on progress and pay tuition for several students supported by her friends in Germany.  The first school was Mt. Cheremba, a rural high school.  The head master told us enrollment is well over 200.  The first year has more than 80 students in a single classroom, and by the fourth year the 40 some students fit into a double car garage with the big door removed to let the light in.  The student we were there to visit came from another less demanding school and is struggling here.  She is described as “below average” and “passive.”  Her parents have both died.  She lives with a “grandmother” who is not her biological relative and is assisted to some degree by another grandmother who is hers biologically.  This is a very poor school with few materials.  It is in ZANU-PF dominated land, not very friendly to white folks.  My colleague suggested I not try to take photos.  The teachers at this and all other public schools are officially on strike for better pay.  All but one of the teachers signed in on this morning, however, and I only saw one leave after that.  The teachers said they are paid about $250/month.  Teachers in the cities can earn more like $350/month because families are charged extra fees on top of tuition, but the rural people struggle with basic tuition costs ($30/semester plus a uniform at this school), so there is no supplemental income for the teachers.

Then we went to St. James, and Anglican school nearby.  Here the class sizes are consistently in the 40’s through grade school and high school.  The student we were visiting has a family living 55 km. away.  She could not get into the school closest to her, Hartzell High School at the Old Mutare Mission, because her test scores were not quite high enough for that very competitive school.  Her current arrangement is that she buses to St. James at the beginning of the week.  Her family pays a woman who lives nearby $4 a month for a bed for her.  She lives in a hut with another girl and three boys who all go to school at St. James.  They bring their own food and have a place to cook.  She collaborates with the other girl for cooking.  At the end of the school week she buses home to have the weekend with her family and replenish her food supply for the next week.  This girl, 14, wants to become a lawyer.  Her test scores are very high, as are her current marks.

Finally we went to Hartzell School at the Old Mutare Mission, within sight of the campus of Africa University.  Here there were five sponsored students, four in elementary school and one in Early Childhood Development (ECD).  I learned that that is like our kindergarten, and was made compulsory as a starting point for school two years ago.  As a result, there are many 6-year-olds and some 7-year-olds in this class because it is their first year in school.  I took photos.  These are for the Early Childhood Mental Health people following my blog.  Think about these the next time you complain about not having supplies!

Classrooms at Hartzell School

ECD classroom

Some of the ECD children

The gross motor skills center

The music and movement center

the building center

On Saturday, a colleague took me along with her to St. Augustine’s orphanage, another run by Anglican nuns.  It currently houses 17 boys ranging in age from 4 to 17.  The purpose of our trip was to take Christmas presents from children in Belgium, which had been sent in November, but held up in customs until now.  I was told that it took three trips to customs by various people to get the gifts released.

The boys were very excited about the presents.  Most of them contained some sort of colored pencils or a small set of water colors, a small notepad, a couple of matchbox trucks or cars, a small hand puppet or stuffed animal, and maybe a few pieces of candy.   Most of the boys seemed very pleased. 

I was given a tour of the orphanage.  Bedrooms are along two long, dark corridors, and are kept locked during the day.  The boys have very few personal possessions.  They have a play room with an overstuffed couch and chair, but nothing to play with.  They have a TV that isn’t working.  Their meals are cooked over a wood-burning oven in large cast iron pots, and served in a dining room large enough to seat all of them.  I was shown their chicken project.  They have a rooster and a dozen hens, but only one hen is laying, so they get about 6 eggs a week from this.  They also have a pig project.  They have two adult pigs and six piglets that probably weigh 30 lb. apiece.  They hope to raise those piglets to maturity, when their sale would net $200 or so per head for the orphanage.  However, they have already sold four for prices more like $40 per head due to the orphanage needing the money immediately. 

 

On Sunday I went to a beautiful area called Bvumba, which is a few miles outside of Mutare.  It is near the border with Mozambique, and the views were spectacular, but the kind of wide vistas that never look good in photographs.  I saw a zebra feeding by the roadside on the way!  We stopped at a resort near the end of the road called Leopard Rock.  It’s supposed to have the highest golf course in Africa, and one of the best.  We walked around there and saw quite a few samango monkeys, a species found only in a small area near Mutare.  Then we had tea at the resort and drove home.  All you golfers, don't you wish you were here?

I’ve now had one class meeting with each of my public health classes.  There are lots of challenges: finding a room with an LCD setup, given that the expection is that I will have Powerpoint presentations for each class period, providing students with materials (text books are not used) when the internet isn‘t working more often than it is, finding out about faculty meetings and other activities I’m expected for at the very last minute.  On Friday I made contact with the faculty member for the Child and Family Psychology program I’d communicated with before I came, and he’s invited me to co-teach the course in Trauma.  Unlike the students in the MPH program, who are full-time students, the students for this masters’ program all have full-time jobs.  Many of them live in Harare and commute here (about 3 hours) for their classes, which are held on Saturdays and an occasional Friday.  We’ll begin that class 1/28. 

I don’t know when I’ll get this posted.  I just heard the generators come on, which means the electricity is off again.  It’s funny, I don’t bother to turn on the lights during the day, and my notepad continues to run on batteries when the electricity goes off, so unless I’m teaching, I don’t really notice anymore when the electricity goes off.  It happens much more at the university than at my apartment.