December 15, 2002

Hello to all of you.

I arrived safely after a long flight of 22 hours in the air and 35 hours in total. Got bumped to First Class on the Air Canada flight from Vancouver to London so that certainly helped.

Charles Chiponda met me at the Airport and we were immediately off to our lodge at Umguza for an arrival party. Lots of Rotarians and friends there to greet me and we had a great party but by 8:30pm I was crashing so went home to bed.

I have done two makeups since arrival so Comox Rotary club members please

note and issue my credits.

I have been the guest speaker at the national annual general meeting of the Council for the Blind here on Saturday (yesterday). They will be recipients of one of the grants when the money gets here. We are going to purchase a lens shaping machine, bulk lenses and fund a mobile eye care van for a rural area north of Bulawayo.

As it is the Christmas season here there are lots of social events going on. Friday night was a great party at the home of the club president of the Bulawayo Club. International night with flags from many nations and food from around the world. Wonderful food and great fellowship.

I have been doing some shopping to get set up in my house here. I am taking over Charles Chiponda's home in one of the suburbs called Morningside and he is moving across the street to another house he has purchased off a fellow Rotarian. So I have a 3 bedroom house in a safe neighbourhood - Ya'all come down now, ya hear!!

Prices have gone absolutely crazy here. The dollar varies from between 700zim dollars to one US dollar and up as high as 1500-1. I have been able to get 1200 to one on most transactions. My biggest purchase has been a vehicle which I take possession of tomorrow. It is a caravan not unlike the Dodge Caravan, but is a Toyota. Very common here and is a diesel. It can seat up to 10 with all the seats in so is ideal for lmy work here. Or I can take the last two seats out and use it for cargo, especially when

transporting crates of beer and pop out to the lodge. The only problem in that regard is getting fuel. There are que lineups daily here. People park overnight in a que hoping that a particular gas station will get a petrol delivery the next day. Downtown streets are clogged with huge lineups that go for blocks with hundred of cars waiting

for fuel. I have run on fumes with the small truck I am using right now and finally got fuel yesterday when I put one of our workers in a que for hours to get gas.

Prices are nuts here. They have more than doubled since I was here in August. The most extreme example is a bottle of Amarula liqueur. It was $1850 Zim dollars in August and is now $8800; and that is if you can find it. Beer was $175 when I left and just yesterday went up another 45% to $400 per bottle. Lots of stores have half empty shelves as food and other goods are becoming scarce.

The lodge at Umguza is doing well, but not as good as it should because with the fuel shortage people do not have the gas to travel out there so our weekend crowds when we make our money are down.

Just as I am writing this the skies have opened up with much need rain here as they are predicting serious droughts for most of Southern Africa again this year. You should hear the thunder. Beyond anything I have ever hear elsewhere in the world. Even I am jumping with each clash. And the rain is fierce, you can hardly see across a street for the intensity. This is Africa - wild.

I must go now so love to all of you. I am fine, safe and happy.

Doug