This evening, my friend from work joined me for an interesting documentary screening at the World Affairs Council. The Council's walls are currently featuring artwork from women in Zimbabwe, which was appropriate to the topic at hand and beautifully displayed present day issues and daily life for Zimbabweans. We heard from a South African filmmaker Xoliswa Sithole about her film Zimbabwe's Forgotten Children and the effects of Mugabe's regime on children, including the demise of a once robust education system and the increase in HIV/AIDS-related illness and deaths in the country. Xoliswa was inspiring and candid about the very complex feelings she holds about Zimbabwe's and Africa's biggest problems. It was not the first time I heard that Africans need to help Africans, foreign aid is not helping but, it was the first time I heard it said using the very frank words she used.
After watching the film, to lighten our mood just a bit, my friend and I wandered into a nearby shop that sells imports from Scotland, Ireland and England. My friend being from England she was highly amused and proclaimed that you would never see something like this in Britain. I did not find a sprig of lucky heather as I'd hoped but, we laughed at the novelty of such a place. Of note, apparently this is a chain that can be found in the US, Canada and Scotland
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