Savannah stretches as far as the eye can see

Savannah stretches as far as the eye can see. Blue sky, cloudless with a blazing sun .

Women wrap "zambia's", all colours of the rainbow, around waists big and small. Bare feet pick up dust and leave a haze of sand as they walk on dust roads. Tar does not exist here. Cracked heels and black toes, step the hard ground and thorns. But it does not hurt anymore, they have always had heels as hard as rock and as tough as leather. Curled, black kinky hair in cornrows. Others heads shaven clean . Bald or not, everyone balances either a deadly weight of logs or a huge 25-litre bucket of water on their heads.

Young children strapped to mama's back with a towel with so many holes in it. Wooden bangles and necklaces blend perfectly with their chocolate brown skin. African beauty.

Men with shaven heads,sun glinting on every square millimeter.Torn shirts with so many holes you are decieved to think it is a roadmap. Trousers torn at the end so the material trails on the ground like a bride's dress, merely kept from falling by a wire.

Old tyres cut up and nailed here and there serve as sandals. Cheap, fast and long-lasting .Or if not, a pair of tackies, worn out so much that fat toes protrude from the front. Not forgetting to mention the exact origin of the worn out tackies. Found them thrown away at the dumps by a rich soul.

Children run around with bald heads or untidy hair, brown with sand. Girls with "magobi", hair tyed with string and laid out in rows as neatly as possible. Bare chests and stomachs with skin clinging to the rib-cage, practically making it possible for you to count the 24 rib bones.

Shorts and skirts torn and brown you could mistaken them for mopping cloths. But no, this is their daily wear. Only one "best" outfit, kept in an old "Bata" shoe box, stored away in one of the dark corners of the “hozi” or “nhanga”, the sleeping huts for girls and boys. The ‘best’ outfit kept mostly for the Sundays when they go to church or town.

The church is the one under the msasa tree, with the white cloth hanging on a pole, meant to be a flag. The one with a dug pit fenced with grass, as a toilet .

The village bar is in the center, the always fully-accomodated building with music so loud you can hear it five  houses down the road. A no-go area for young girls as it is a place for drunk men with unknown motives. Drunk men spending the last of their billions on "Chibuku , the international beer " making a loud racket.

Mud huts dotted around the village with the chief and "sabhuku's" houses right in the center. Grubby little tuckshops and butcheries fill all corners  of the village.

 Zimbabwe. Savannah stretches as far as the eye can see. Blue sky, cloudless with a blazing sun.