Are you an asylum seeker or irregular immigrant in the UK thinking of returning to Zimbabwe?

From the 1st April 2011, Refugee Action will run the Assisted Voluntary Return programme.

Refugee Action will provide advice and assistance for three groups of people who may be considering voluntary return:

• Asylum seekers and refused asylum seekers (VARRP programme)
• Families and children (AVRFC programme)
• Irregular migrants (AVRIM programme)

You can read more about the assisted voluntary return options at the UK Border agency website here and here

A recent photo essay by Gertrude Pswarayi for Global Press Institute shows how a lack of food, clothes and supplies plagues residents.

In Zimbabwe, mental illness is considered a curse. Those suffering from mental illnesses are shunned, abandoned and forgotten by family. In one “insane asylum,” mental health patients rely on each other and the medical staff for emotional suport. Still, the hospital struggles to provide residents with adequate food, toiletries and clothing. Despite all these challenges, patients here say their faith in God gives them hope.

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An excerpt from a publication by the Katswe Sistahood:

Sanitary What? Sanitary Where?

Must I roll up my used sanitary pad in a piece of tissue and carry it in my bag all day so I can dispose of it when I get home? Alternatively, I could just leave the pad on the floor in the campus toilet because there are no bins for sanitary wear in the toilets across campus, save for those in the hostels. As a day scholar at the institution I am not allowed entry into these hostels.

So, this is how the story goes, the entire institution is run by a male principal and his male cabinet who haven’t got the slightest idea what the needs of young women on campus are. Quite frankly I’m disgusted by this. The question is, am I the only one who is troubled by this horrible situation? Health and hygiene should be of paramount importance in our educational institutions and work places. We need to make sure those responsible are taken to task to deliver on these basic services. Just between you and me, I was tempted one day to leave a soiled sanitary pad outside the principal’s office. It’s too drastic I know, but what must we do to get the necessary response to such an important issue. We need sanitary wear bins in all female toilets on campus in Zimbabwe. And functional incinerators.

- Disgruntled student!

Zimbabwean roads are hellish dangerous, for many different reasons. Pot holes, lack of street lighting, motorcades, official and unofficial police roadblocks, non-working traffic lights and Drunken Driving. It doesn’t help the situation when Club Amnesia of Strathaven Shopping Centre advertises its club night with the slogan . . . Don’t think, drink.

Like a dog in the day
Like a dog in the night.
The main goal here is to score.
1, 2, 3 and maybe 4 more.

The art of mingling
Requires a little poison
Some liquid, some hash,
Some powder, some ash,
We really don’t care.
As long as it burns.

To lose sight of reality
We are drawn to noise.
Our senses crave release
The longing for touch increases
As our connection to love decreases.

Wasted energy
Wasted hope
Wasted dreams of the future
Wasted youth,
Better check yourself
Before you wreck yourself.

By Sanele Mpofu

Last week my neighbourhood experienced a massive electrical fault.  It was caused by a young man who was attempting to steal oil from a ZESA sub-station.  He got electrocuted in the process, was badly burnt and triggered an explosion that disrupted power supply to many homes.

I’m told that this chap was not more than 25 years in age and bizarrely, he only had one arm.  What could possibly lead a crippled person to do something that precarious, risking his remaining limbs and his whole life?  I know that there are millions in dire poverty in this country but it is only a few that would do something that dangerous.  I could only put it down to desperate times driven by the type of thoughtlessness that typifies youthfulness.

Apart from their rashness, youth are also known to be naively idealistic, wanting and claiming honesty, prone to personal selfishness and constantly questioning the status quo.  Used constructively, some of these attributes have seen youths all over the world revolutionise people’s thoughts, societal norms and entire systems of government.

And what of Zimbabwe’s young people?

History places them at the forefront of the fight against real and imagined colonial oppression. Modern policy states that our youth are the beneficiaries of the country’s wealth. Reality shows that this demographic has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS, unemployment and substance abuse.

So what is my point?  Zimbabwe’s youth are characteristically not much different from their peers around the world; so foolish acts (executed clumsily with one arm) can be expected.  However, whilst our youth brim with energy and potential, they lack outlets to constructively direct these.  And this is by no means a result of their doing.

The responsibility lies with their elders who have spread intergenerational infections, held onto power and position, unfairly distributed land and other resources.  The youth have been denied their chance to grow, to lead and to shine.  So yes, without opportunities, youth is wasted, and it is wasted by those who should have guarded the future.  And under these circumstances the young do what they do to earn a living and to keep themselves occupied.