Dear Family and Friends,

As Zimbabwe commemorates Heroes Day, the official remembrance is
again dominated by Zanu PF individuals. Every day we are bombarded
with Zanu PF propaganda on the country's only television channel: big
breasted, big bottomed women wriggling their bodies, waving their
fists and singing endless refrains in praise of Zanu PF. We hear
nothing of heroes from other political parties; nothing of the
thousands who have died in the last decade in the struggle for good
governance, democracy and new leadership in our country. We hear
nothing of the ordinary Zimbabweans who who are the real heroes in
2010. This letter is for them, heroes of the last decade.

The heroes are mothers and grandmothers who managed to keep homes
together and families alive when shops were empty and there was no
food to buy. Women who went to bed hungry, made meals from nothing
and kept hope alive.

The heroes are our children who lost their childhood in the mayhem of
ten years of political violence. Children who watched their families
being torn apart as parents, siblings, aunts and uncles fled to the
Diaspora to escape and to survive. Children who sat helpless,
hopeless outside closed schools. Children who lost ten years of
education and as a result are without qualifications and jobs.

The heroes are people in rural villages who have borne the brunt of
political intimidation,

harassment and violence. Knowing their every move is watched and
recorded. Knowing that if their name is not on the "good" list of the
village leaders they will not get food, seed, fertilizer. People who
continue to endure the most primitive of conditions in homes which
are still without piped water, plumbing or electricity 30 years after
Independence.

The heroes are the professionals: doctors, nurses, teachers, and so
many more who have held their heads high, worked in the most
appalling circumstances for miniscule wages, determined to keep
giving of their skills which have held Zimbabwe together.

The heroes are the ordinary workers who have toiled for the smallest
of wages, wearing threadbare clothes, walking miles to work,
struggling through endless power cuts, going for days, weeks and
months without water and coping with years of not having garbage
collected.

The heroes are the activists who have lost everything, and given
everything, to bring

freedom for us all. Activists who are not in this massive government
we are groaning under; activists who are not driving government cars
and earning government

allowances but ordinary men and women who are brave, determined,
driven.

The heroes are the countless men and women who have worked tirelessly
from outside our borders. People who have given 10 years of their
lives to exposing events in Zimbabwe, speaking out, lobbying
governments, raising money for people in trouble, giving support,
encouragement and hope.

Happy Heroes Day to all of us, whatever our race, colour, creed or
political persuasion. Until next time, thanks for reading, love
cathy.