NEWSLETTER 2016

They say good jokes usually contain an element of truth that we can identify with. This one is no exception, at least in Zimbabwe anyway : 

However I find hope in the words of the late Tiny Rowland. He said opportunity comes hand in hand with adversity. If that is anything to go by then we must have serious opportunities in Zimbabwe! Just got to discover them:) 

FISCAL ILL DISCIPLINE 

At the root of the current difficulties in Zimbabwe is a perennial government budget deficit. It's a self-compounding problem because its ramifications have the effect of further shrinking what remains of the tax base. There are no reserves or creditworthiness to fund the deficit. So the only way to fund it is to steal from somebody. The pension funds were pillaged long ago. The only meaningful body of liquid funds left was depositors savings in the commercial banks. Those savings were raided this year. The predator is none other than the central bank itself(aka The Reserve Bank). Ironically they are the ones who have been regaling us with a lot of hot air about deposit protection!

Also two years ago the Reserve Bank proposed to set up a national credit bureau to deal with nonperforming loans and other bad apples in the banking sector.

THEFT

Now the Reserve Bank itself has become the smelliest bad apple of all!

They siphoned depositors' funds from the commercial banks in exchange for IOUs called treasury bills. Treasury bills are legitimate instruments in other countries but not in Zimbabwean because here they are not necessarily honoured on maturity. So effectively the commercial banks parted with  depositors' real money and were left clutching worthless IOUs. Then when the depositors came to withdraw their savings this is what happened:(

FRAUDULENT COVER-UP

To fill the gap, the Reserve Bank is now printing a new nebulous currency called bond notes. So some of the depositors in that queue will only be able to withdraw that dodgy currency even though they deposited real money in the first place. 

Not surprisingly, there have been lots of street protests this year.

In spite of a lot of rhetoric about the ease of doing business, the business environment is not great. But thankfully Gwatamatics are still produced. 

There are parasites all over, many of them institutionalized. Notwithstanding the stresses, I'm still glad I went into business. 

When I started my business it was a big gamble. I traded in a formal job with guaranteed income for possible higher returns from an unproven technology: http://youtu.be/QvYpZ6nWjZs

 In hindsight I am glad I made that move. Not least because the security previously associated with formal jobs is no more. Job security is all but a myth now in Zimbabwe. Even those who still have formal jobs are no longer guaranteed payment on time, if at all! Even when they do get paid, it is an uphill struggle to access the money from the bank.

EXPEDITION TO THE ZAMBEZI VALLEY

In June I joined a mission expedition to Siabuwa in the Zambezi valley. The expedition was a joint effort between Highlands Presbyterian Church of Harare and New Hope Baptist Church of Atlanta, USA.

I had been to Siabuwa before but only as a fleeting visitor. This time we were there for almost a full week. One challenge we faced was heating enough water for 20 campers to shower. For that I built a Dandamatic (solid fuel stove) with a difference.

All Dandamatics built before then had been primarily meant for general catering. This one was designed to heat water. It worked well except for one problem. 

 The water vessel was made of mild steel, so it rusted. Users with fair hair ended up getting unwanted redhead tints! I particularly felt sorry for Katie 

  So I'm now making a stainless steel version for future trips. 

 (the slender one).

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE DANDAMATIC
The first Dandamatic was built seven years ago as a catering solution for the Women's Association of Chakadini Methodist Church in Marondera West. In designing it I obeyed the laws of physics but defied tradition. The key objectives were to produce a heavy duty stove that could take whole logs without any need to split them. To ignite whole logs the ventilation has to be particularly good. So to augment ventilation the fire is suspended on that grating at the bottom.

 Furthermore the cylindrical walls promote a flue effect. To maximize the flue effect one would ideally want hyperbolic sides. But that would be daunting to fabricate, so I had to make do with just plain cylindrical outside walls. The internal concentric rings are there to grasp saucepans of various diameters. Even traditional ceramic calabashes will settle well on the rings. 

These are the cooking facilities the ladies of Chakadini Methodist had to contend with before

and this is what they now have with a Dandamatic thrown in.

ICELAND TOUR

In August I had the privilege of joining a holiday expedition to Iceland.

It was easily one of the best holidays I've ever had. For more details please see previous post in this blog. 

En route to Iceland I was changing flights in London. So I took the opportunity to do a bit of travel in England. 

During the Zimbabwean famine of the year 2008, whenever I was hungry my fantasies would revolve around Olde English fish and chips with thick-cut soggy chips. That was my idea of heaven! This year I went to heaven. I went on a gastronomic tour of the east coast of England from The Wash to Whitby, sampling fish and chips everyday and sometimes twice a day.

It is little wonder then that by the end of the holiday I had put on four kilograms! It took me a good three months to shed three of the four kgs. 

MEMORY LANE

The rest of the UK tour was predominantly a trip down memory lane. 
1. Had a reunion lunch with my classmates from the University of Surrey.

Sitting next to me is Susan who was like my surrogate sister when I was thousands of miles away from home. 

 2. Revisited Frimley Park Hospital, the cradle of the Gwatamatic. 

 In case you're wondering how the two are connected please visit: http://www.wipo.int/ipadvantage/en/details.jsp?id=2536

The hospital referred to in there is Frimley Park. 

3. Made a pilgrimage to St. Paul's Church in Camberley.

 That is the church where I was born again. 

4. Walked down Camberley High Street.

5. Walked down Guildford High Street again, this time with tour guide extraordinaire Dr Barry Gould, my lecturer from the University of Surrey days.

PHOTO GALLERY

1. My nephew Tinashe wed.

2. My niece Chido wed.

3. My mother turned 92.

4. It was good to see my prayer warrior Jane Pringle a few months ago when she was back visiting in Zimbabwe.

5. It was good to welcome Rev "JOB" aka Jerome O'Brien and his family on a visit back to Zim.

6. How many ZESA technicians does it take to change a lightbulb? 8.

During the year I had a power supply fault due to sagging powerlines. Eight technicians descended on my house to fix the fault. As far as I could see only one of them climbed up the pole to tighten the cables. This is how the rest of them spent the afternoon!

I wish you all a similarly relaxed Christmas.