i only have a few seconds.....so much to write.....so little time!

I have attended two really interesting conferences so far. The second, “Women Can Do It” was amazing – so much passion and fire in the room. I felt like I was with 300 maverick feminists. The goal of this conference was to draft a communiqué to be presented to government demanding proportional representation in politics and the electoral process. The actual document writing was really interesting and I’m glad I got to witness it. The best part of the conference, in my opinion, occurred during the afternoon discussion on the second day. A man got up and posed the question that while at the conference women’s responsibility to engage and to lead was being promoted, women shouldn't forget that they had a responsibility in the home too! He was quickly silenced. A woman immediately stood up and questioned his logic – surly women’s perceived responsibility was nothing more than gendered stereotypes; “I don’t wash the dishes with my breasts. I use my hands.” Classic.

inflation is so crazy here. airtime was $400 per minute, over night it went up to $5000 per minute! fuel is a real problem too. it was $30,000 just to sit in the cab and now it's over $300,000! we are still having problems finding water and bread. i don't know how people manage. if we are worrying about money, i don't know how 'average' folks here are dealing.

harare is nothing like i imagined africa to be - it's very modern and i never see women wearing those bright dresses that i often equate with africa. however i love seeing the woman in the power suit balancing her brief case on her head. i saw a woman with a massive 10kg bag of maize on her head. how her neck didn't snap.......