As a country that is going through a turbulent time with equally turbulent elections going on, there are none watching this progress more than the Zimbabweans at home and abroad. Mark & Alison MacColl left Zimbabwe in 2001 and have now lived in Jeddah for the past six years. They left Harare with just a few suitcases and some US dollars, having lost everything in the short period following the Referendum elections to change the Constitution in 2000. They have both been watching this election with a yo-yo of emotions: one moment they were hopeful when it seemed the MDC party and Morgan Tsvangirai had won, and then a sense of rising despair took over as Mugabe refused to announce the election results and declared a re-run for the office of President. I met up with them to find out more about the personal experiences of a family who have been affected by the destruction of a country that was once known as the “bread basket” of Southern Africa. Mark was born in Rhodesia in the Capital City that was then called Salisbury, now Harare. “My mother was born in Rhodesia too, in Bulawayo. I lived there for the majority of my life, 36 years; I went to school there and then University in South Africa for a few years. All my family have since moved to South Africa.” Alison, too, has the dust of Africa well established on her feet. “I was born in Zambia, and then the family moved to Zimbabwe when I was two. I was at school and College there, and later worked in Harare.” The couple lived what sounds like an idyllic & romantic Africa lifestyle: Alison had her own safari business called African Adventures. Mark was a professional Safari Guide. With such compatible safari experience, the two were head-hunted to run the up-market Chikwenya Safari Camp. Mark explained: “It was about eight hours from Harare, in a very remote area, really out in the sticks. The nearest village was a place called Makuti, but there were no shops there. The next small town was Kariba. We had a very simple mud and thatch house, with no windows. The camp itself was a beautiful luxury tented camp, also under thatch, right on the Zambezi River, with Zambia on the other side. It was the sort of camp which hosted celebrities, such as Paul Newman and Sharon Stone.” Mark had also worked as the Manager at the Sable Valley Lodge, another up-market lodge in the Hwange National Park. “We hosted Clint Eastwood, Ian Botham & David Essex there. Even Robert Mugabe came for a visit and we both met him.” I asked them what he was like and they responded in unison: “Ice cold.” They have many memories of the pre-Mugabe years, but each very different to the other. With a father who was in the mining industry, Alison's family lived well away from Harare and saw the tough side of life in a changing African country. “For me, the pre-Mugabe years were very scary. I was between the ages of 6-13. The country was under Ian Smith from 1965 to 1979 after he declared Independence in 1965, but there was a war going on to establish African independence. The country had sanctions against it. I remember being ambushed by terrorists; I was with my brother, a sister, and another sister and her husband. We were traveling from our school to where my parents were living about an hour's drive north of Harare. We were on a dirt road going through farmlands and we went through a barrage of gunfire. Luckily, no one was hurt and the car wasn't stopped.” Mark remembers what it was like if they wanted to go anywhere out of town: “With the war going on, we used to go on holiday in convoys, say from Harare to Kariba, with army trucks at the front and back of the convoy. This was Ian Smith's Rhodesian Army which was 20% white, but 80% black because the pay was good.” While Mark's upbringing in the City was relatively safe, Alison's remembers a different life: “At night time, the shutters came down and we always had grenade screens on all the windows of the houses, and all the guns would be moved into the middle of the living room floor. We had to do “situation reports” every night and alerts to the Army.” She paused for a moment. “It is quite hard going through all this again. It was a very tough upbringing in that we had a wonderful time in a great community, but there was a lot of stress in the knowledge that something could very easily happen to you and your family. There was a chance you could be attacked or mortared, and your house comes under fire.” Conversely, as a young man going on fishing trips with his family and friends, carrying a semi-automatic gun in his back-pack, Mark admitted to finding it all quite exciting. Nonetheless, civilian and military friends were killed in ambushes, rocket attacks and by landmines. Zimbabwe Independence was eventually gained by the black majority in 1980 and in 1982, the Capital's name changed to Harare. Both Alison and Mark have good memories of the first 20 years of Independence. “After an initial scary period when the whites weren't sure if there would be some kind of retribution, it all settled down nicely and life under Mugabe was absolutely fantastic. He had said the whites were welcome to stay as long as they didn't involve themselves in politics,” Mark remembers. “But in the background, he had organized the killing of 20,000 Matabele tribes people in Western Zimbabwe because, under Joshua Nkomo, they were his opposition. So while we were all living happy lives as whites in the new Zimbabwe, there was other stuff going on. Even then, Mugabe wasn't a nice guy, but we didn't see this.” Alison recalls other aspects that were good for everyone: “The standard of education was extremely good for everybody, for blacks and whites. Zimbabwe exported food to South Africa. In terms of agriculture and mining and tourism, everything was booming. Victoria Falls as a tourist destination was going through the roof. We made a great living there.” The bubble burst in 2000. Mark described what happened: “There was a Referendum vote regarding the Constitution and this went directly against Mugabe. At the same time, an opposition party was being formed called the MDC under Tsvangirai.” Within a very short time, the situation in Zimbabwe had deteriorated so badly that tourism had come to a halt; Alison had to close down her business and there was no longer any work for professional safari guides. Mark & a pregnant Alison packed four suitcases and headed for Ireland where her parents were then living. There was no room for precious items such as photographs, which they planned to collect from storage later. Mark re-trained as a Foreign Language teacher and IELTS examiner and found a job with the British Council in Jeddah. He looked at me with a wry smile: “It is a far cry from walking with elephants!” Alison is also working again, caring for an autistic Saudi boy. What have the last few years been like for their black Zimbabwean friends? “Exactly the same as it has been for us. There are so many black Zimbabweans all over the world – three million have left Zimbabwe. Lots have gone to South Africa, others to the UK and Ireland, all making money and sending it home. They have all had to start new careers and do jobs that they have never done before. Everyone had a really tough time, and we still hear such awful stories of people struggling to make ends meet in Zimbabwe.” Mark pulled a Z$500,000 note from his wallet. “In 1979, this was worth US$250,000. The official exchange rate is now Z$30,000 to US$1 but the unofficial rate is more like Z$1 million to US$1.” (On the internet, I learned that new bank notes have been issued this year to the values of Z$1 million, Z$5 million, and Z$10 million – a note now worth less than US$3.90 on the black market. Very recently, a Z$50 million note has also been issued.) If the MDC party won and Tsvangirai became the President, would they be tempted to go back? Both their eyes lit up at the thought of going home. In spite of the scary years, Alison had positive views: “We have always said that we wouldn't go back, but we were a little bit excited when we thought Tsvangirai might have won it.” Mark was cautious in his desire to return. “I love the place. If I had the choice of anywhere in the world, that is where I would like to live. But it would be a matter of the heart leading the head. Africa is always such a gamble. To go back now when our kids are 6 and 4, all this could happen again in 10 years time when the kids are 16 and 14. You have to keep moving forward.” Meanwhile, friends in Zimbabwe keep them posted on the situation there and, along with everyone else, the MacColls wait to hear the results of the Zimbabwe elections. __
