在BBC网站上看到的，很有感触。

 

SOURCE: BBC News. "From Harare: A tale of survival." <http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7252557.stm> February 20, 2008 (26 Feb. 2008)

 

Esther (not her real name), 28, a professional living and working in Zimbabwe's capital, Harare, is writing a regular diary on the challenges of leading a normal life.

Zimbabwe is suffering from an acute economic crisis. The country has the world's highest rate of annual inflation - and just one in five has an official job.

Queuing has become a fact of life in Harare

My sister, who is working abroad, called me after she read my second diary. She sounded like she wanted me to take the next flight out.

But life goes on here - it's just a question of adapting.

If you can't afford a bus ride to work, at least you can cycle. If you don't own a bicycle, then you have to walk.

I've heard of factory workers here who are doing just that, walking for three hours to get to work, and then walking the same distance back in the evening.

If you cannot fill up your car with petrol, there are numerous fuel traders who sell the commodity in five litre containers.

That keeps your car on the road, one day at a time.

And if you have power failures, you can stock up on firewood and candles. After all even South Africa has electricity blackouts.

People learn to improvise. That's the beauty of the human spirit - it hardly ever breaks in hard times.

Changing money can be confusing with the new $750,000 note

And anyway, there's always fun to be had laughing at the bus conductors as they try to work out how much their 750,000 Zimbabwe dollar notes add up to, and how much change they owe the passengers.

The Z$750,000 note was introduced in December and it is an arithmetic nightmare.

Amazingly there are still lavish weddings held here, that can match any wedding reception anywhere in the world.

Those with a bit of foreign currency to sell on the parallel market need to raise billions to fund these occasions.

The fact that salaries do not meet your monthly expenses, let alone set aside any savings for a rainy day, can really get those creative juices flowing.

Whatever you cannot find on the official market, you will find in abundance on the parallel market.

People sell everything here - vegetables, cooking oil packed in 50ml (yes 50ml) plastic tubes, sugar by the tablespoon - anything really.

And that is the small stuff. Young people are getting into business in a big way - mostly in commodity broking.

So we are alive and well in Zimbabwe, getting ready for the change that HAS to come, for the sake of those who don't have foreign currency stowed away for a rainy day.