If you were having coffee with me it’s not coffee we would be drinking but an interesting cuppa of Zumbani tea, me thinks someone is beginning to like it…..
I recently got a fresh batch and am waiting for it to dry up then I shall grind it and presto we have herbal goodness. It tastes like the love child of mint, lemon, thyme and possibly ginger, dont even try to visualise how that happened….
My niece even made an awesome label for it.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you how I got invited to a Food For Thought discussion about The Role Of Artists in Fighting Corruption hosted at the Public Affairs Section of the US Embassy. The panelists were Dumisani Mthombeni an anti-corruption advocate, Peter Churu chairman of Arterial Network Zimbabwe and Chirikure Chirikure, a renowned poet.
My first thought was that I am not an artist, artists are the sculptors, painters, musicians, actors of the world….. The more I thought about I realised I am an artist too, I sculpt, paint, and create but with words; A wordsmith. As Mr Chirikure put it Art is a calling.
The world is full of artists; art imitating life, life imitating art. Art is the mirror through which the society views itself, Art is not only the voice of the society but its conscience and custodian of morals.
Corruption has reached unprecedented levels and it’s a beast; eating away at our moral fiber; a beast that devours the future for the comforts of the present. Corruption is fueled by the levels of desperation in the society. How can people not get desperate when the government is having trouble paying civil servants and instead would offer a $100 advance; yet you find individuals being awarded government tenders making hyper-inflated profits and government officials driving the latest luxury vehicles.
Zimbabwe rates at number 155 out of 189 on the Ease of Doing Business ranks, taking about 90 days of procedures to get a legitimately operated business licensed and running. People end up either “palm greasing” or buying literally a briefcase company. We have an unemployment level speculated to be 90% and almost everyone is a dealer, a hustler, an entrepreneur (read as tenderpreneur) dabbling in a side enterprise to just to get our daily bread. There is generation of graduates who have never worked and it’s normal to hear someone making a comment that being A Zimbabwean should be written on your CV as work experience.
Corruption has become the norm and the thing about corruption is it feeds on silence.
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
One of the panelist made the following quote “I fear more a corrupt society more than AIDS or Cancer because a corrupt society does not allow anyone to legally rise.”
How diplomatic can you be when the house is on fire?
If you were having coffee with me I would ask you if you have any ideas about how to fight corruption, do share.
If you were having coffee with me I would tell you that the protest play I reviewed here Missing Diamonds: I want my share was recently showing in Norway at the Bergen Afro Arts Festival, a one man play about someone asking what happened to the 15 billion dollars our government says it “lost.” and the actor Silvanos Mudzvova is rehearsing for a new play coming out soon.
If you were having coffee with me I would say “It’s the eve of the 4th of July…… Happy fourth of July and have an awesome week ahead thanks for dropping by ^_^”
~B
Becoming The Muse 
Writers are artists. #truestory
I don’t know about the corruption. Our government is crooked in its own way and there doesn’t seem to be much we can do about that either. Vote some out and those that take their place soon become the same as those that were kicked out. Money, power corrupts. How long until we get that society they showed on Star Trek where none of that mattered?
Happy weekend and week!
Tara
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A star trek type society… yeah we still
a bit far….
Happy weekend Tara ♥
~B
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I was in tears yesterday thinking of all the hate in this beautiful world we have…How can we stop all this hate and illnesses name calling the corrupt shitt going on in office and well everywhere then I thought well hell if we can’t even get along with our own family how can we make our world a better place??? I was very emotional yesterday like I said and how can we fix everything that needs fixing? I know baby steps but every where you turn like our own government is so corrupt and has been for ever we the people need to stand up and demand our rights but we all say that but due nothing………..sure we bitch about it but still nothing to try to fix the problems…..I am happy I lived in the 70’s and 80’s and where I was once proud to be an American buildings were being built cars were being made and most it was about playing outside having fun and family…..Anyways sorry to carry on my dear friend…
Would love to try the different teas they have out there.. you are lucky man ; )
great pictures as well and stand proud to be there as well…..
Huggggs
Suzette
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Hi Suzette
Thanks for dropping by… This beautiful world we call home…. how do we get it to be The Paradise it was meant to be and we have a next generation who have learnt all the faults of their fathers and added some more of their own….
The tea really is lovely… hmmm maybe I should package it and sell it ha! lol
~B
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Mint, lemon, thyme and possibly ginger, ALL in bed together, sounds frisky. Lol
Your niece has a pretty handwriting.
Ah, corruption is the big “C” that’s somewhat passively indulged, people acknowledge it and because it’s become a regular occurrence, people now assume that it’s normal behaviour. Palm greasing, Back rubbing, Pocket lining… Fancy names for bad behaviour.
It is disappointing especially considering how it causes the foundation of society to decay and finally crumble.
I think fixing it starts with repairing the mindset of society.
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hahahaha but strange bed fellows indeed….
I will pass on compliment to the niece, I think it runs in the genes hahahaha ^_^
yes, corruption…. it begins with changing mindsets, otherwise we will end up with a next generation of people who have no scruples whatsoever and everyone is surprised like how did we end up here….
~B
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You are definitely right, we need to change the mindset of the society for change to occur. When a person looks at a single act of corruption they think they what they are doing wont affect another person but when we combine all the acts together we get an a country, economy and life changing event. We all need to Act Against Corruption.
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Lets ACT
~B
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Well now, the artist has spoken. Kudos to you on another fine piece of art. Salute.
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Silent No longer… with words I shall fashion out a voice^_^
*tips hat*
Thank you
~B
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Interesting variety of issues we have discussed over your coffee today.
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Thanks for the visit… Yeah a mixed bag of stuff..
much appreciate
~B
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more I read your coffee talks, innate resemblance I find in-between us; the green tea we have here similar to your herbal tea , people with the palm greasing attitude , ” tenderpreneur” (haha…that’s a creative word from a wordsmitht) and ofcourse the same rampant corruption in the whole country..
#Bless up
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Gotta love green herbal tea…
We cant let people be corrupt with impunity…..
Thanks for the visit
~B
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“How diplomatic can you be when a house is on fire”….on point
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^_^
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Just like here in Ghana too, corruption is becoming so much of a street word nobody seems to pay attention to it. I dare say, most citizens will not think twice in dipping their hands deep into state money when they get into power. It’s like a cancer, slowly eating away. It’s sad to think of it. You have to pay your way through a lot of documentation, from birth certification to passports to death certification. The solution, besides the law ceasing to just be a dead system should start living and being enforced (ask me by who, the suspected corrupt leaders?), the solution is the citizen being aware of the true cost for the future and deciding to say no, however hard. Great piece. I enjoyed the herbal tea
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You know its like you say “hey vote me into the government I’ll sort out this mess”, and soon as I am in, I am even worse than those before…..
and the law, dont get me started on that you find the courts full of the most random cases and as I heard someone put it if you want to go to jail steal $15 dollars, but if you dont want to go to jail, steal $15 Billion Dollars…
Yes what we need is a change is a complete change of mindset and think more about what happens tomorrow than simply looking at the here and now….
No easy thing ever lasts
Thanks for dropping by and you are welcome
~B
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In my. Country here there is enough tenderpreneur here to make other countries jealousy. I mean the level of corruption is so high competing to hearthrug height of mount Everest.
Its a sad reality..
Methinks the way to curb corruption is to first of all makes the public office at level less lucrative.
And yes your cousin has a nice handwriting
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