The following morning we headed off early, and were surprised at how easy and organised the Zimbabwean immigration was. They have a special system where you can both exit Zambia, and enter Zimbabwe in the same room. It makes everything a lot easier, and soon we were heading off to Harare. There was very little between the border and the first major town, approximately 150 miles down the road. We stopped in the second town for lunch, and soon we were closing in on Harare. I had been excited about seeing Zimbabwe, and Harare, as it is of course more renowned for it’s dictatorial leader, Robert Mugabe, than tourism.
Once we arrived in Harare, we gave our contact Patrick, a call, and he drove out to meet us. Patrick and I had been in communication a lot over the entire project, during the preparation and the journey itself, and it was great to see he was as enthusiastic and energetic in real life. After brief introductions, we headed off to his home, and the Goromonzi head office, where we would be staying. Patrick is the Director of the Goromonzi Project, and is currently working on a complete restructure of the organisation.
The house/office was incredible. We couldn’t believe our luck. We had a bedroom each, and the family environment was nice having been on the road for nearly five months. Patrick, and his wife lived there with their two-year-old daughter ‘cheche’, who was troublesome, but adorable. They were all lovely and incredibly welcoming, and we felt instantly at home. The Goromonzi Project was set up by Janet Shaw, who in 2005, whilst visiting her home land of Zimbabwe, had seen the devastating impact of AIDS on orphaned children and their families and communities. While in many cases the need for shelter was being addressed, the local resources were not adequate to respond to shortages in food supplies and basic health care, or lack of money to pay for education. As a result of this experience Janet formed an organization to find support for the basic needs of food, education and healthcare for orphaned and vulnerable children of Zimbabwe. Patrick had recently taken over the reigns completely and was looking at adjusting their approach slightly.
Although during our time there, we couldn’t see an awful lot of actuality, it was an inspiring period nonetheless. We visited Goromonzi, which is a poor area about 40 km from Harare, and a couple of the schools who have benefited hugely from the oranisation. As Patrick said, extremely passionately, on several occasions, pre-primary education is really key to the development of a child’s brain, and this was backed up by interviews we conducted with some of the schoolteachers. It was commented on several occasions that children who have studied in pre-primary can adjust to life, and learn a lot quicker once they enter primary school. It makes the teacher’s jobs a lot easier, and not only are the children use to the process of learning, but also they often have a lot more confidence, and comfort within their environment. The children, unfortunately, were on holiday during the time we were there, and so we couldn’t see them within the classrooms. We did, however, see the rooms, and it was clear to see how they help the early development of a child’s brain.
In addition to seeing Goromonzi, and a couple of the projects the organisation have realised already, we also were given an in depth tour of Harare itself by Patrick. We visited some of the most affluent areas, with high walls and gates protecting their privacy. Some of the houses were ludicrous, with incredible views, huge gardens, and enough rooms to house a small army. In stark contrast to this, we also visited Mbari, which was an inner city slum area, and one which had experienced its fair share of political problems in the past. Here there was a major issue of crime, and poverty, and also a huge amount of political oppression at the hands of the Zanu-PF youths.
To talk about Zimbabwe’s political situation would take a long time, and an awful lot of research on my behalf. In short, Robert Mugabe has ever increasingly lost control over the country. In the early years, back when Zimbabwe first became independent, Mugabe was a huge success, and widely celebrated, even supported by the British who he had recently defeated. He had, however, over the course of the following thirty years increasingly lost his grip on the country, and begun to run an ever more erratic, violent, and oppressive government, killing and beating anyone who opposes him, and fundamentally standing in the way of democracy. He has been responsible for the killings of thousands of people in the Matebeland region of Zimbabwe, and his displaced many more. His increasingly paranoid outlook had also lead him to drive a division between white and black Zimbabweans, as well as between different tribal groups, and alienate the country from most of its neighbours.
The political background of Zimbabwe made it particularly difficult to film. Freedom of press was not high on Mugabe’s agenda, and thus journalists were often given a rough ride in Zimbabwe. Many of the shots we got of both Harare City, and Mbari district had to be done quickly and subtly, and there were several occasions when we had to drive off from being shouted at. It was frustrating, but part and parcel of filming in a ‘paranoid’ environment. Again, Patrick did his best to ensure that we got the footage that we wanted, but having once before been at direct risk himself, from Zanu-PF, was understandably cautious.
The recent developments with Patrick, and the Goromonzi project are structured around a plan to form a coalition of community-based projects around the Harare area. All of these projects have a focus on pre-primary education, and it is great to see someone as switched on and as focussed as Patrick. He has a huge focus on sustainability, and stressed the importance of donor understanding. He suggested that in the past donors had wanted to see specific things done with their money, but it didn’t fit in with a long-term sustainable plan. It was clear that he had great integrity, and truly wanted to put plans in to action to catalyse progression. He had put himself and his family in a more unstable situation as a result of wanting to ensure the true benefit of the organisation, but had the faith that his hard work and vision would pay off in the end.
As mentioned earlier, it wasn’t easy to get the footage we needed, but I was, however, extremely satisfied during our time there. In recent years the level of cynicism towards the charity sector has grown massively, as a result of a number of issues, including corruption, high salaries, administrative costs etc. It is, however, incredibly important to understand that a huge amount of development work does indeed take place in an office, and not at a school, or in a children’s home. It is vital that donor money isn’t wasted, and that the donor to field ratio is high, but it is equally important to ensure that the money is being used responsibly, and with the ownership of a community. It is important to focus on long term and sustainable solutions, and not to please a donors wishes of having nice photos and a building to show for 12 months labour. Again it is about intent. Corporate bodies who decided to support charitable work need to do it with the intent of supporting a just cause, not enhancing their public profile. Too often money is used to achieve short-term visions, without any consideration for long term and sustainable benefits.
Another interesting conversation we had during our time in Harare added further zest to this issue. A guest at our Zimbabwean barbeque, Hugh Brent Solvason, of Stanford University’s Department of Psychiatry, spoke at length with us about the psychiatry of development. This is a prime example of long-term objectives. He had focussed some research on working with sub-Saharan orphans and vulnerable children in Southern Africa, and noted that often when a charitable objective can seem to have been achieved, it is often blind to the long term reality. For example, for children who have grown up in a violent, paranoid, post-conflict (or conflict) state, there are longer-term implications to their experiences than simply missing out on education, or needing food and shelter. There are often permanent implications to the development of the brain, and this needs to be considered. Also, incredibly, he mentioned that research had suggested that exposure to violence, suffering, or oppression can pass through generations genetically. This means that a vast and deep understanding of history, and past experiences is vital for the true understanding of how to progress. Again, some times this as a stem of charitable work, which doesn’t attract a huge amount of donor support, as it offers no short-term tangible results.
In short, there is a very difficult balance to strike, in ensuring that both a high donor to filed ratio is present, and that a long term and sustainable focus is in place. There is an incredible importance for a depth of research to be carried out, and when connected to development, it’s vital that this is donor supported. Again, still for me, the answer lies in a cooperative path to long term objectives, and with a focus on small community based, grass roots NGOs, supported by a whole range of professionals in various fields, from Development to Psychiatry, and Anthropology to History. It seems to me a little like ‘development experts’ have carved there own little niche, and have become rather arrogant in thinking that they know the best path to progression, without considering the views of the above mentioned experts, or indeed the community members themselves.
After, a slight false start, we decided to take the car in for a quick check-up, before we left the city lights of Harare, and headed back out into the wilderness for another few weeks. The end was getting closer, and the picture clearer. One thing, which was for sure, was the cemented view that the ‘Real Way Down’ was very much the first step in a life long journey.
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