Zim I Am and Zim Fest

Before departing for Botswana I did some extensive research about Botswana and the surrounding region of Southern Africa. In that research I learned of the generally good fortunes of Botswana, and in contrast, I learned of the bad fortunes of the people of Zimbabwe. Botswana has, since independence in 1966, enjoyed impressive economic growth and social development. Zimbabwe also enjoyed substantial growth after independence, that is, until recent, catastrophic, and universally disruptive social upheaval in that country. Without boring any one with extensive details that I could not hope to fully or fairly relate, Zimbabwe’s economy, over the last half a dozen years, has completely collapsed. During this period, Zimbabwe has experienced explosive inflation, at times as high as twenty million percent a year. Recently on the coattails of this economic ruin, the political structure in Zimbabwe failed on a massive scale. The results, needless to say, were horrific. Fortunately, to date violence has been limited, unlike other countries in the region such as the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, the suffering, especially by those on the fringes of society, and thus least at fault for the crisis, has been wide spread. The crisis has led to a melt down in civil services and in every facet of the economy, including food production. As a result, all goods must be imported and the black market has boomed, leading to massive wealth for criminals and incredible, unimaginable suffering for the poor.
Recently I visited Zimbabwe out of curiosity, not only of their current state of affairs, but also of their monumental past. In my visit I was fortunate to meet Zimbabweans who were more than frank in their assessment of their situation. In my discussions with them they explained that their only way to get by was to sell goods in a gas station parking lot, barely affording necessities of life. They also told me that those who lacked the means to do the same suffered more than them. I was impressed though, with their refusal to throw hope away, or allow themselves to be thought of as helpless victims.
Some of my fellow international students from all over the world had similar experiences in Zimbabwe, and as a result we decided that it was our place and our time to do something. Admittedly, it is with the blissful hopefulness of youth that we made our plan, but we are dedicated and passionate and we hope to really help, at least those that we can. We formed the ‘Zim I Am’ campaign and set a goal of raising 50,000 Pulas (Just over $6,500).
In order to reach this goal our group looked introspectively and found that all of us love music and some of our group have many good connections with local musicians. As a result a music festival to raise money seemed a great idea, the result was Zim Fest!

In planning we found that we were ill equipped in many instances to fully work with the bureaucracy of University of Botswana but our grit and determination saw us through. For example in meeting with the Student Representative Council we found many difficulties with not being understood, after more than a half dozen meetings finally all parties understood and a solution was reached. Thank goodness I wasn't a main organizer. We ended up with many acts and lots of donated alcohol and soft drinks to be sold for additional revenue.

(One of the groups performing, the drummer in the red hat was also one of the main organizers)

Almost all of the international students were asked to volunteer, I volunteered for a the 3-6 shift at ticket sales and the 8-12 shift for bar tending. Bar tending was exciting but also, at times, stressful. The hardest part of the job was the free drinks, each musician was to have some free drinks and each volunteer was to have a free drink too, unfortunately it wasn't simple.

(Me bar tending)

Overall, the event was successful, turn out was low, but not as low as I expected and Beer, as expected sold tremendously well and I expect that we made a lot of money. All of the musicians were excellent and I believe fun was had by all!

(Some of the attendees)

Love to all,
Tommy

More pictures of the event can be found at:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30742450&l=bcfda&id=40901950