Zimbabweans can no longer sit still and enjoy life

I was sitting at my balcony this afternoon, feeling the breeze that signals the coming of rain cool me up and seeping my boiled then refrigerated water and suddenly I felt anxious, I was actually doing nothing. I felt uneasy, how could I be doing nothing when maize-meal,rice, flour, sugar, cooking oil, soap and toothpaste was about to get finished in my pantry? If I sit and do nothing where am I going to get the US dollars or Rands or enough Zim dollars to buy all those things? Ok there are billions of dollars in my bank account that I could use to buy all those things but because of the RBZ stipulated very low bank withdrawal limits I can only withdraw $500 000,00 per day which is not enough to buy a loaf of bread. All this went through my head and made me feel uneasy about sitting still and enjoying my weekend. So I quickly stood up and went into town to buy airtime for cellphone users using my visa card. I could then send my maid to stand in the streets and re-sell the airtime at very low prices so as to get enough Zim dollar cash and afford the abnormally expensive prices in the shops. Alternatively I could use the cash I get from the airtime sales to buy foreign currency from those who have diaspora relatives and friends that send them US dollars or Rands and then use the foreign currency to buy the things I need that are priced in US dollars or Rands. Getting customers to buy the airtime is not easy because that is what most people are now doing in order to survive so the competition in selling the airtime is very high. Same applies to buying foreign currency in the streets, a lot of people are now doing that, so the competition is also very high. In other words the chances of having many people buy the airtime and someone selling his/her foreign currency are very slim but I still venture into the business because it makes me feel good that at least I am trying to do something to address my economic plight in this country.
I am not the only Zimbabwean who can no longer sit still and enjoy life, some venture into even more daring money generating projects in trying to make ends meet. The line between legal and illegal and ethical and unethical ways of making money is becoming thinner and thinner as Zimbabweans try to survive in the country's runaway inflation. Most Zimbabwean adults are now always busy doing something to the extend that there is no longer time to relax, no time for leisure, no time to play, no time to meditate.




Let me get back to the scene at my balcony before I started feeling uneasy about doing nothing. Emma, my eight year old daughter was sitting opposite me, studying a little flower and singing quietly to herself as she had been doing for the past hour. The art of having fun doing nothing and playing is one lesson our children can teach us, to set our own pace, to do what we feel like doing, to truly appreciate the "little" (but really important) things in life. Time is their friend and they won't be rushed. On the other hand we adults always have guilt trips about things not being done or not being done perfectly. We can't sit still and just enjoy the moment. We can't slip into our own minds for half an hour and concentrate on something as beautiful as a flower. By no means am I telling adults to do nothing all day long, (for one thing, if I did that we wouldn't survive in this hyper-inflationary environment in Zimbabwe) but I do want adults to feel less guilty about making time for themselves and sometimes even taking a day or a weekend to really do what pleases them. Really getting down and dirty while playing with your kids is a wonderful way to pass the time and do nothing. Most of the time what adults call doing nothing, is anything but doing "nothing" it is recharging your batteries which everyone should do every single day. Not doing so can result in stress, headaches, high blood pressure and heart problems. Adults should remember that yes they have to provide for their children but for them to do that they need to be alive so they should take time away from their busyness to maintain their health.



So my fellow Zimbabweans when was the last time you spent a quiet moment just doing nothing - just sitting and admiring a flower, watching the wind blowing the tree branches, waves rippling on a pond, a flickering candle or children playing in the park.