Zim' and 'mites

So I met this guy from Zim at an ex-pat bar and he told a couple of us a fascinating story about the state of stuff there. I'm probably missing or reinventing some of the details, but I think I can get the main point across.

First of all, Zim wins for heighest inflation rate in the world. Their currency costs more to produce than it is worth. A night out at a bar requires more money than can fit in one's wallet.

There once was a (self-proclaimed) privileged white boy from Zim. For argument's sake, let's say he's about my age and blonde. Most of his childhood was spent in the kind of boarding school where priviliged kids beat up younger privileged kids and the administration looks the other way as long as enthusiasm about school prevails. And they probably all spoke English with cool accents.

His family owned a lucrative farm. They hired many black Zim employees and were very nice to them. Things were good.

Then things in Zim became not so good.

One day a few years ago, a bunch of governmentmilitaryish people came to the farm and announced that the farm would be taken. The family had two weeks to pack up and leave.

Within two weeks, the family managed to pack, give away, or destroy everything they owned. They got in a car and left. They had to leave all of their farm employees, because they could get into serious trouble for helping black people financially.

The end.

That's not actually the end. The boy then went on to do some schooling in Durban, SA. About a month ago, he moved to Maun to work/study in tourism and sports tourism. He's sort of grateful that he was so successfully able to learn the lessons to be learned from having an easy, privileged life and then losing everything. He's also very enthusiastic about buying drinks for the most Americans he's ever seen (us).

My gosh, that SUCKS.

As much as I try to bury my head in the sand, it keeps getting more and more difficult to do so. Which is ironic, considering the abundance of sand here. The world and its people are frustrating. History repeats. People never learn. Yaarrrrrrrrgh.

If it weren't for diamonds, Bots could be just like Zim now. Except the Bots government cares for its people. The Bots government encourages education instead of suppressing it. Unfortunately, caring doesn't cure AIDS. I wish I could fix things.

If I could have one wish, it would be...um...nah, wishing never seems to be a good idea. If there's one lesson I've learned from Stephen Sondheim, it's that. Wishing for world peace is useless, because an end to fighting does not mean an end to oppression and racism, etc. Wishing for everyone to be happy is also a bad idea, because if everything was happy and lovely and wonderful all the time, there would be no happy. Only neutral. That's a lesson learned from so many wonderful failed-utopia science fiction stories. (The Giver, The Worthing Saga, Genesis)

Okay, so people should be happy, but only often enough that they can appreciate it. Why can't I make that happen? What can I do to make that happen?

If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to know.

Until then, I'm just gonna have to be happy on my own. And appreciative. And thankful.

Thanks.

Oh, and on a bit of a lighter note, the other night Wes and Pun and Ashley caught some termites to fry them for dinner with some butter and garlic. This was in response to the giant termite migration mating thingy.

According to Wikipedia, the source of so much knowledge that doesn't charge $40,000 a year, "In areas with a distinct dry season, the alates [mating termites] leave the nest in large swarms after the first good soaking rain of the rainy season. They are relatively poor flyers and are blown downwind, shedding their wings as soon as they land, where they mate and attempt to form a nest in the damp earth."

It's a creepy, crawly, beautiful sight. The swimming pool was covered in termite wings.

Fried termites are crunchy and really unpleasant. Yuck. I would've used more salt.

Talking about salt, I've discovered that if you mix soy milk powder, water, garlic flakes, salt, pepper, salt, corn starch, flour, and salt with macaroni and close your eyes, it is almost sort of like macaroni and cheese. Not too bad.