Zimbabwe Trip 4 - Part G

Monday - May 22, 2006

What I felt last night *was* an earthquake. In fact, it was two earthquakes back to back, epicentered about 115 km from Harare. They measured 3.9 and 4.0 on the Richter Scale. There was a huge earthquake of 7.5 magnitude in February in Mozambique, so people are thinking it's a sign of something. Some think that it could mean Mugabe is about to die. Others are saying that it's a sign of trouble to come for those who ignore God's commandments. I'd scoff, but you would hear the same crap in the USA about God's commandments and warnings of heavenly vengeance. I'm just glad I wasn't dreaming it or imaging the shaking.

It was another somewhat wasted day in the office. I found out that my application for MY OWN JOB was denied. Apparently, the fact I've been doing this job for 3 years obviously shows HR that I cannot do it properly. Stupid bitches! I'm in a series right now that is considered administrative. We want to move me to a job series that is programmatic. This will protect me from job cuts as well as being sucked up into a "Strategic Business Unit" by the reogranization of CDC. I fail to see how my resume is lacking unless they're angry that I don't have full essays explaining my jobs...something NO OTHER employer would expect. It royally pisses me off. I don't know anyone in HR, so I don't see how I could be on someone's shit list where they would try to screw me. Maybe it's series-discrimination, where they don't want to let me qualify for a programmatic series when I'm currently in an administrative one. Who knows? I'm sure Lyn and Leo can figure it out. It just annoys me to no end.

Today, what I had been dreading started....diarrhea. I think I have gone to the bathroom 6 times today alone. It's awful! And it doesn't smell too nice either, but it's strange. It's more like sour milk than anything. I know, TMI. But this happens nearly every time I come to Africa! Some damn parasite enters my gut and I have diarrhea for days or weeks. THe bad thing is that I think I'm out of Immodium. Usually, I'd take Immodium tablets, but I think I'm out, which is not good. The only plus side is that I might lose some weight if I have the runs for the next 10 days until I can get home and take some Immodium.

On the way home today, the WHO bus was involved in a minor accident. One of the Omnibuses that roams around Harare tried to drive in a lane that didn't exist, and then tried to force its ways past our bus, causing the two to collide and scrape against each other. These Omnibuses are dangerous. They are vans that are very old, and stuffed with as many people as possible. They are involved in wrecks all the time, and last week alone, 43 people died in accidents in Harare. So the result of this little accident was that the Omnibus lost its passenger side mirror, and then a shouting match ensued. I have no idea what was said because it was in Shona, but there's nothing more discomfiting than witnessing a shouting match in a language you don't understand. I prayed that no one would have a gun, and they didn't. That's one nice thing about Zimbabwe...only the government has guns. The population isn't prone to carrying weapons of any kind. Things got scary as the driver took down the license plate info of the Omnibus and said he was calling the police to file a report. That's when the people from the bus (there were 3 that somehow were linked with the driver) tried to force their way onto the bus. Well, at that point, I figured I was a block from the entrance to the Meikles, so I could walk. I gathered my things and got the hell out and walked back to the hotel.

I wasn't feeling well, which may be related to my diarrhea. I ended up having some dinner and falling asleep until my mom called around 10pm. Then I stayed up to watch the next episode of Great British Menu, and now it's time to call it a night.