Songs to feed, love, nurture and grow a stranded baby Little Swift to:

1)    Here Comes the Sun – The Beatles
2)    People Help the People – Birdy
3)    Fire and Rain – Birdy
4)    You Belong With Me – Taylor Swift
5)    Taylor  – Jack Johnson
6)    Roxie – Chicago
7)    Mame – Robert Preston
8)    Use Somebody – Kings of Leon
9)    Weather With You – Crowded House
10)  Anything could happen

A press release just received; get their music Now!

Mann Friday have been holed up most of this year recording their fifth studio album in the UK – Trainrides and Radio Play – and as it launches this weekend on iTunes and other download portals, the Zim-linked rockers have thought of a Christmas treat for their fans back home. Up until Christmas Day, the entire album will be downloadable, for free, from http://mannfriday.com/zimbo – a distinct address that will only let you access the album if you are browsing from a Zimbabwean IP Address.

Catching up with frontman Rob Burrell on the giveaway – “We’ve been working pretty hard on this record and are so excited for people to hear it. As we gear up for releases online and in retail stores in Europe and South Africa in 2013 we felt it would be really great to let Zimbabweans have easy access to these new tracks. Zim has poured a huge amount of inspiration into all our songs, and we’d love to give something back this Christmas.”

Download the full album now: http://www.mannfriday.com/zimbo

The Tree of Life had its last partners meeting of 2012
Representatives came from each of our 15 different community partners
from neighboring Chisawasha and Chitungweza, and as far as Buhera, Murehwa and Motoko
over 60 old friends meeting from across the country after a years of dedicated work
gay colours and gay voices echo through the trees

Over this last year, three of these rural communities are now established as locally approved and licensed organizations
five more are in the process of setting theirs up
the others are still doing facilitator training and getting organized for next year

the roots are in the ground

rural workshops have taken place in communities in widening circles
run on a minimal budget (transport and food and cell phone air time)
and are being welcomed by the local authorities across political divide.
they have included teachers and headmen and war veterans and rape victims
and perpetrators and pastors and counselors  and grandmothers and children
we have trained 50 new facilitators
there have been football matches between communities
and monthly circles
and facilitators sharing responsibility for running healing circles between communities

The work of connecting to all the structures, to individuals in different communities and maintaining the circles has been unending

This year the Tree of Life facilitators – the core team and a number of our community facilitators
conducted a research study lead by CVT (the Centre for Victims of Torture)
with 144 participants in rural communities  (some a 14 km walk from the bus stop)
we compared our workshop with an alternative (Psychology Education) intervention and a group with no intervention
double blind/pre and post interviews/ 2months and 5 months follow ups etc.etc.
The results are amazing

They show beyond any doubt
that Zimbabweans (even as the conflict continues) have the ability to heal themselves
that survivor-to-victim facilitation in community circles carries incredible power
that communities have the ability to transform
that connections can be made across the country and the political divide

The power of this realization is immense . . .

from those early seeds sewn in those first circles over 8 years ago
we find ourselves standing in a growing forest

Over these years – as we have struggled with funding
small groups of people across the planet have sent us life-saving pocket money
we call it ‘Love Money’ and keep it in the Circle Fund
it has been these acts of trust and generosity from these small groups that has kept these rural people going

It is now Christmas

We received a donation from our friends at WHEAT in Canada which arrived just before our closing circle
and with it we were able to answer a call we have had from a number of our rural partners
– a bike to reach one another in the communities!
So we handed out ‘the-price-of-a-bike’ Christmas tokens (about $70) to each of our Tree of Life partners
for them to choose how it can best be spent in their area
and acknowledged them all for the contribution they have given to the healing and holding of their communities

It has been a good, hard, real year
thank you all

From the diary of Chris Magadza:

Chris Magadza, Zimbabwean poet and academic, shares his experiences during a research road trip with a group of students.

Saturday
Leaving for Hwange with my Master’s class of four; an eight-hundred-kilometre drive. As the vehicle is not an off-road 4×4, I have to take the Bulawayo route, otherwise we could cut the trip by going via Binga, reducing the journey by some 300 km. Arrived 4:30 p.m., averaging 110 km per hour, including fuelling and toilet stops. Caught doing 135 km per hour!  Traffic officer demurred to my age and advised safe driving. Sometimes it pays not to shave.

Sunday
Went on the Dopi Loop in the morning recording animals, temperature, humidity and coordinates; Nyamandhlovu viewing platform in the afternoon. First time students had seen any wild animals. A noticeable number of newly born and yearlings, elephant babies among the herds. Many pictures with my new GE camera; can take good pictures at more than 200m.

Monday
Student Z had generously urinated all over the toilet seat and on the floor. When I shouted at him, he just smiled. Went the Central road transect towards Robin Camp for 48km counting animals; more elephants seen than any other mammalian species; evidence of elephant damage on vegetation quite visible? One horned kudu at Guvalala Pumped Waterhole and magnificent sable bull. Visited Painted Dog Project Centre. Greg almost as short as me now after his air-crash operation! Had to wait an hour before evening shower since Student Z had emptied all the hot water to have a full bath.

Tuesday
The three male students slept until 11 a.m., in spite of an assignment given the evening before. So much for supposedly post-graduate ecology students; definitely the worst class I’ve had in my teaching career. No wonder everyone refers to University of Zimbabwe students now as ‘vana vechikoro’ . . .  schoolchildren.

Wednesday
Male students kicked out of bed by cleaning lady at 10:30 a.m. Left for Harare at 11:30 a.m. Home 8:30 p.m. Young police officer asks for my driving license at the Gwayi roadblock. ‘Do you think at my age (almost 73) I would be driving a university vehicle without a driver’s licence?’ He then demanded to see it. He walked round the vehicle and then ordered me to park off road and walked off with my licence. After a minute, I went to ask why he was detaining us. He signalled me to a young lady officer who was already writing something down.
“What are you writing?” I asked.
“A ticket” she said menacingly.
“What for?” I asked.
“Your left-side rear-view mirror is missing.”
“What does the law say about rear-view mirrors?”
“But you have a missing mirror.”
“How many mirrors must I have?”
“That is the law”
“The law says I must have a rear-view mirror. If you would like to check, there is a rear-view mirror mounted in the car.”
“But you must have all the mirrors the car was made with.”
“I drive a car Reg. AAM 9735 that was made with no left-hand side rear-view mirror. Is that an offence?”
“Just go, but someone will arrest you.”

Driving against opposing night traffic when most drivers don’t dim their headlights is quite nerve-wracking. It’s fine not being able to dim your headlights, or having no signals, or lights for that matter!

Thursday
Dorothy rang: Borrowdale vleis fight; the greed and corruption of Zimbabwean politicians makes one feel you are perpetually swimming in urine; all for double storey, multi-multi-bedroomed mansions, as well as the biggest Mercedes in the world – possessions that in no way contribute to the economy of the land. Have to give talk at Harare Rotary but can’t remember venue.

Friday
Eventful start; nearly run over by own car, knocked down by door trying to stop it rolling back; stopped by smashing Irene’s potted plant, fortunately large enough to stop the car. Have to write to Vice Chancellor explaining why the Red Bishop and Masked Weaver need reeds to breed; he has been ordering the them cut down as well as a host of trees, some planted more than 50 years ago by founding professor of Botany Arthur Boughey, according the Bentham-Hooker systematics scheme. Also, must prepare annual report for WEZ for Saturday AGM.

Source: Poetry International