#1: Inflation. A man was selling tomatoes outside of our office building, and they were cheap - only $400,000/bag - so everyone was buying some. Our friend who was driving our combi home bought two bags. Then on the way home, we drove past a lady selling tomatoes outside of her house. He offered her one of his bags for $800,000 - double the price. That's inflation! Everyone is always thinking of business opportunities here.
#2: Stealing and consequences. Sunday at church the youth choir got up to sing their song, and while they were doing so, one of the youth had her cell phone stolen from her purse. This is quite common. You often hear of people going to pray at the mercy seat up front and finding their purse/cellphone/money/child in one case(!) missing when they come back. This particular girl had had things stolen on several occasions, and had a suspect. The officer (pastor) talked to the suspect, and the girl kept denying everything. So the police were called. When the police arrived, they asked the pastor to leave. The police recovered the cell phone within 10 minutes. The girl had been beaten and thrown in prison, and she doesn't have any family, so no one is bringing her any food in the cell.
#3: Accidents. 4 officers were driving to South Africa this week to try to find some food for officers' councils. A cow ran into the road, so they swerved to miss it. They ended up in a ditch, and before they could get back onto the road, they went onto a bridge, and then off of it at a 90 degree angle. It's a miracle that they're alive. Road accidents are unfortunately very, very common here.
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Its just amazes me the way prices can change so quickly in Zimbabwe. I was home for Christmas last year and it was hard for me to keep up with the way things were going and trying to figure out the money. There were times when I felt like a foreigner whenever I was trying to get my head around things. I go back every couple of years for a visit and it is always an eye opener.
The stealing bit, I was talking to friends the other day and one of them asked how people survive with the way things are. Another answered that Zimbabweans are very resilient and everyone is stealing from each other.
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