Zimbabwean women, I salute you.

Today I thought about all the Zimbabwean women around me and
joined a very long bank queue and started some
conversations with some of them as we shared the problems
we are going through. So this article is a true reflection
of what is going on, on the ground, in Zimbabwe.
The Zimbabwean woman waiting patiently in the bank queue for
her turn to get her daily bank allocation of $50 000 which
is not enough to buy a loaf of bread. Bread now costs
$90 000. How pathetic!!!
The truly magnificent chaos deflector who is my maid and looks
after my kids and my house with a smile no matter what, whether
we are in plenty or in need. Thank you God for my loyal maid.
I know of maids who have left not so well-to-do employers like
me and went in search of rich employers in this hyper-inflationary
environment.
The Zimbabwean lady I meet on the street looking hungry and
walking with a baby on her back and a loaf of bread under her
arm, which is going to be the baby's only meal for the next two
days but still affords to smile as we pass each other and
exchange pleasantries. I wish I had some food to give her.
The pregnant Zimbabwean woman who has some food cravings that
she can't entertain because of the economic situation in
the country and the food shortages and can but only stroke
her belly while going from shop to shop looking for the food
she is craving for. I feel pity not only for her but also for
the little baby in her uterus who is looking forward to coming
out into the world in a few days time and has no idea that he/she
is better off enclosed in the womb than coming out into Zimbabwe
as it is now.
The single mother who is an underpaid professional and has resorted
to Marange illegal diamond dealing during the weekends so that she
can be able to provide for her children's needs as well as her own.
Damn, the risks women take for the sake of their children.
The cross-border Zimbabwean woman whose trips to and from foreign
lands is full of episodes of utter humiliation from customs and
immigration officials. For Christ's sake those women are only
trying to feed their families or make an honest living, they
should be treated with respect.
The black market forex trader woman on the Zimbabwean streets
telling everyone that passes by that she has competitive foreign
currency exchange rates. Can you imagine spending day after day
standing or sitting in the streets and calling it your office?
The single Zimbabwean woman who would have wanted to impress the
man she loves who had visited her from a foreign land not only
with excellent hospitality but with an immaculately groomed
appearance but failed to do so because of financial constraints
caused by the economic situation in the country. How depressing?
The married Zimbabwean woman whose conjugal rights are not being
met by her husband because the hyper-inflationary environment
in the country has made him impotent. It( the husband's male organ)
refuses to function when he is worrying about where he is going to
get enough money to sustain the family and provide them with the good
life-style that he wants them to lead and which they had become
accustomed to before inflation had become so high. The hyper-inflation
has even got into the Zimbabwean bedrooms and jumped into their beds.
Oh, my God, Oh, my God!!!!
The Zimbabwean woman married to a well-to-do man who has no time
to spent with his family because he will be too busy networking
and looking for money in the Zimbabwe hyper-inflationary
environment. The happy normal family life has been destroyed
by this hyper-inflationary environment.
The Zimbabwean woman whose pantry has run short of mealie-meal
which was the only food item in there and has no idea where she
is going to get US$10 or its Zim dollar equivalence to buy her
next bag of mealie-meal. Can you imagine the stress of looking at
your hungry children and not having food to give them and surviving
that without a heart attack.
And so I can go on and on ...........and make you aware of all
the virtuous sacrifices that the Zimbabwean woman is having to make
for her family to survive the hyper-inflationary environment.

Every single one of these women is remarkable in his own way and
I salute them for that. We the women, don't always see ourselves
that way. We always doubt ourselves: "Am I a good mother, am I
a good partner, am I a good worker, am I a good Christian, am I
a good leader or manager, am I good entreprenuer, am I a good
business person or am I too fat? Rather when we look in the
mirror, we should see the crow's feet under our eyes, the lines
on our faces and the stretch marks on our bellies as something
we have given to the people around us, gregarious laughs and
life, the most awesome privilege the universe has bestowed
upon us.

I truly believe that if all the world's nations were run by women
and mums in particular, the world would be a better place. Not
that I don't like men, (I think some of them are great and I truly
would love one of them to become a very important part of my world)
but I believe that once you are a mum, you have all the qualities
to run a nation and the world. For one, there would be peace - we
learn patience and empathy. We can put ourselves in helpless little
people's shoes and understand what their frustrations can be. We
learn to accommodate other people,(especially ones who scream about
a toy in a shop)so just think how we would handle someone who screams
about a piece of land! We see a storm brewing long before it even
happens and defuse it. And we can multi-task and just keep going
in the face of adversity. We see to it that everyone has something
to eat and keep them all safe (if you can keep a toddler from putting
his finger into an electrical socket, you can keep people from pulling
guns.)

To get to the point: I personally think the world would be chaotic
without women in it. I salute you women. Honour yourselves and
see yourselves not only as beautiful but also as brilliant, unique
and special. Be everything you possibly can. Use your talents, whatever
they are, your mind, your heart and your soul to change the world
for the better. For your own information, we women really do rule
the world indirectly, it's just that men just haven't figured that
out yet. When they do, and they will one day, I want to be there
to witness the removal of that smug on the faces of male chauvinistic
pigs who happen to suffer from a superiority complex and looks down
on women.

So my fellow women may the world be yours to enjoy as you continue
being president of your own world indirectly if not directly by
dishing out loads of love, peace and happiness as well as by making
right all that you see wrong and in so doing introducing order
into your world. Don't waste time talking about gender inequalities
and forming women's equal rights movements because they are not
worth it since you are great and already in control of the world,
and doing so will further distract men's minds from realising your
worth as women and how you actually rule the world.

To all the women of the world I say, "Je'taime" and to the Zimbabwean
woman in particular I say, my profound respects.