With Musical Instrument

There is no religious procession in northern Portugal that is not accompanied by a band or two - drums and brass instruments usually play an important part in the festivities.

In contrast, here are some interesting musical instruments from Zimbabwe.

Whatever the instrument, music is something I cannot imagine life without. This Sunday post was of course inspired by Jake.

D is for Dam

Rainfall in Zimbabwe varies a lot. It is high in the Eastern Highlands and very low in the extreme south. Prolonged droughts are common. So storage dams are essential as reliable sources of water for domestic, industrial, agricultural and mining use.

 

There are many dams in Zimbabwe, Kariba being the largest.

 

Kariba Dam as seen from the South bank of the Zambezi River (photo released into the public domain by its author, Benbbb at the English Wikipedia project)

Kariba Dam is a hydroelectric dam in the Kariba Gorge of the Zambezi river basin between Zambia and Zimbabwe. It is one of the largest dams in the world, standing 128 m (420 ft) tall and 579 m (1,900 ft) long.

It was built between 1955 and 1959 and created the largest man-made lake in the world. The first power station was built underground on the South Bank. Later, a second power station was built on the North Bank. This one was completed in 1976.

From 1960 to 1961, 'Operation Noah' rescued thousands of large animals and numerous small ones from the lake's rising waters and relocated them.

Wonderful

Jake is back (Yay!) and he has suggested the theme wonderful for today's Sunday post.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, wonderful is an adjective that means "inspiring delight, pleasure, or admiration; extremely good; marvellous".

 

Well, when I was a child growing up in a suburb of Harare, my parents would take me to the largest park in the centre of the city. (I can't remember what it was called then; now it is called Harare Gardens). I was small, it was enormous and full of beautiful flowers and trees. It inspired in me delight, pleasure and admiration!

 

We used to visit the Garden before the Monomatapa Hotel was built

 

Unfortunately they never took me to Victoria Falls! Much later, when I visited Zimbabwe in 1985 I was hoping to have the chance of finally going there but my godfather said it wasn't safe, so I didn't go. All the pictures I've seen convince me that those Falls are absolutely wonderful!

 

Don't forget to visit Jake's blog for links to other entries.

Splendid

This is something I consider splendid.

The Victoria Falls

On the UNESCO World Heritage List since 1989, the Victoria Falls, so named by the explorer David Livingstone in honour of Queen Victoria,  is a magnificent waterfall on the Zambezi River, between Zambia and Zimbabwe. The Falls are also known by the indigenous name of Mosi-oa-Tonga, meaning "the Cloud that Thunders".

Wonderful, impressive, magnificent, phenomenal, grand, majestic, unforgettable...

Claimed by some to be the largest, this is certainly one of the most spectacular waterfalls in the world.

  

This post is part of a weekly feature that is hosted by Jake, who provides a word for inspiration and we, the participants, post our interpretation. Splendid is the theme for this Sunday Post.

Happy Birthday!

Zimbabwean flag, photo by Neelix, in Wikipedia

Yesterday I had a post ready to publish today.

But then Sky News reminded me that today Zimbabwe is 32 years old - on 18th April, 1980, Zimbabwe was born.

So I just had to reflect on aspects that I find incomprehensible.

Could someone explain how life for simple Zimbabweans has improved since 1980?

Could someone explain why 90% of the population is unemployed (according to Sky)?

Could someone explain why the farms appropriated from white farmers cannot produce the same quantity of crops they did before?

Could someone explain why Mugabe wants to redistribute farms, companies, etc. which are still in white/foreign hands?

Could someone explain why he doesn't begin by redistributing the wealth he has accumulated over the past 32 years?

Could someone explain why he is now calling a halt to the violence? 

What has he been doing for the last 32 years?

Happy Birthday, Zimbabwe!

May your future be all that your people really deserve!