What would you do with 100 billion dollars?

Zimbabwe issues $100 billion notes

Posted: 07:08 AM ET

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) — Zimbabwe’s troubled central bank introduced new $100 billion banknotes Saturday in a desperate bid to ease the recurrent cash shortages plaguing the inflation-ravaged economy.

The new bills, officially come into circulation Monday but they on already on the foreign currency dealers market Saturday.

As high as they are, though, the new bills still aren’t enough to buy a loaf of bread. They can only buy four oranges.

Once-prosperous Zimbabwe has seen an unprecedented economic meltdown since its independence from Great Britain in 1980, with the official inflation rate now at 2.2 million percent.

Zimbabwe

My parents and I 'snuck' across the border to Zimbabwe today, along with dozens of people crossing to try to get food. (and by snuck, I mean we walked across a bridge)..

My heart is still aching from what we saw - dozens of trucks of food backed up on the Zambia side trying to get into Zim... People packing food in suitcases in Zambia to take back to their families in Zimbabwe... dozens and dozens of people camped out at the border post with all of their luggage, trying to get across. We talked to a few people about how they were feeling about what is going on, they just said that it was bad.

I was so glad that my parents were up for the 'adventure' of seeing what it was like on the other side. I think all of us were profoundly effected by it. There was such a strikingly different feel from the Zambia to the Zimbabwe side - such a strikingly different feel to the people. People on the Zim side had a look of desperation to them that squeezed my heart.

The run-off elections were supposed to take place this Friday, but Mugabe announced that he would wage war if the opposition won, so the opposition leader pulled out of the race saying that he could not ask people to go out and vote knowing that they would face extreme violence. That means - --- I don't know what that means. It means that the elections won't happen as planned. It is not good.. at all.

This crisis has been on my heart heavily anyway the last months, but after seeing a glimpse of the situation first hand, it is all consuming to me. Please pray for the situation, if you are a pray-er.

Love to you.

news update, maybe..

The news last night said that the South African army has the violence situation in South Africa under control.

It was also announced yesterday that SADC would be sending in a large number of representatives to monitor the June Zimbabwean elections more closely.

Both of these are incredibly good news if they pan out.

meanwhile, in zimbabwe..

As attacks on Zimbabweans in South Africa have escalated in the past weeks, news about what has been going on within Zimbabwe's borders has been mixed.

I should start out by saying that I am certainly no authority on this, so I am just going to share what I have heard people say.

First of all, Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader running against Mugabe, has been in South Africa for the last six weeks. During this time, there have been several reported death threats and against him, as well as threats that he will be charged with treason upon his return to Zimbabwe, which supposedly prolonged his stay in the South Africa . While he was here we saw him on the news often, especially when the attacks started happening against Zimbabweans around Johannesburg. On the news, I saw him give a speech to Zimbabwean immigrantss who had fled their homes because of the violence, and his message was to go home to Zimbabwe - that together, they would build the nation again.

However, he returned to Zim this weekend. Here is an article about the current events going on there: http://www.mg.co.za/articlePage.aspx?articleid=340082&area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__africa/.

After a LOOONG delay in the releasing of any results about the Zim election that happened at the begnning of this year, it was finally announced that neither Mugabe or Twvangirai had won a clear majority of votes (though most people here doubt the truth of that and think Twvangirai actually did receive a majority), so there will have to be a run-off election. Supposedly this will take place in July. Most people I have talked to about this think that Mugabe will 'win' this run-off election. There have been wide reports of voter intimidation/violence which is suspected to influence the results of the election, as well as suspected corruption with the counting of the ballots. For the record, African Union election observers deemed the initial election as fair.

Meanwhile, South Africa's response has been very mixed. President Mbeki, who is now more or less a 'lame duck' because Jacob Zuma has been elected the president of the ruling party (the ANC), has been widely criticized within South Africa for his lack of a response to the Zimbabwean situation, and for his denial that there is a crisis going on there. (Zimbabwe has something like a 600 thousand percent inflation rate. To put that in perspective, Iraq, which has the next highest inflation rate in the world, is at 60 percent.)

Meanwhile, Jacob Zuma, who (unless if something drastic happens) will be the next president of South Africa, has been speaking out about the Zimbabwean situation internationally. Some of my South African friends think he is doing this as a strategic political move. He is currently under investigation for corruption charges, and if he is convicted, could lose his place as president of the ANC. Some of my friends think that he is trying to appeal to the international community over the Zimbabwean situation so that he can garner international support for his ascent to the presidency. I don't know how accurate those perceptions are.

Needless to say, most people's perceptions here about what is going on in Zimbabwe are very grim and cynical.

HOWEVER, I, who inherited my mother's eternally optimistic genes, still have hope for Zimbabwe. My hope is that the voters will speak out, despite intimidation and whatnot. My hope is that more intense election monitoring will be allowed in for this next go-around of voting. Several of my Zimbabwean friends who are studying here have shared these hopes with me. It is amazing in the first place that such an opposition was allowed to form against Mugabe in the first place, and perhaps that signals that changes are in store. Mugabe is, after all, 84 years old.

'Anti-foreigner' violence kills 22 in South Africa

That's the headline CNN used to describe what is going on in South Africa, and when I saw it, I knew immediately that I need to state that:
A) I'm fine.
B) There are much bigger fish to fry than whether or not I am fine.

Actually, right now I am very livid and emotional. I just went to a lecture on what I thought was going to be on the social determinents of AIDS... but when the speaker got up, she told us that she could not just talk about AIDS without talking about the context about what is going on in South Africa right now, and went on to explain exactly what has been happening over the last week around Johannesburg. Essentially, gangs of men have been forming mobs which have been attacking immigrant camps around Johannesburg, setting fire to shacks, gang raping women, killing men - up to 50 people have been killed so far, thousands and thousands have fled their homes looking for safety. The justification for the attacks: the immigrants (most of whom are Zimbabwean refugees escaping the violence in Zimbabwe) are the leading cause of crime in our communities, their children are slowing down our schools, etc. Concerns that are scarily similar to concerns about immigrants all over the world. Read more about it here.

And all of this in post-apartheid South Africa, a land purportedly committed to the equal rights of ALL people within its land. All of this in a place that could not have overcome apartheid if its refugees had not been taken in by neighboring countries and allowed to organize a struggle that eventually covercame an oppressive regime.

Even some of my dear roommates have told me that the attacks are in a way justified because of what the Zimbabweans have done to their country.

This logic is frightening, and perhaps hits close to home.

I am mourning today for those who are living in fear tonight - fear that their children may not be safe, fear that they may not have a place to live tomorrow - in Myanmar, in China, and in Johannesburg.