Dear Family and Friends,

There is a cold wind blowing through Zimbabwe this week; the white poinsettias are in full flower and the birds that people call the Seven Sisters (The White Helmetshrikes) are back in our gardens and open bushland. All are a sure sign that winter is here and these seasonal milestones are now almost the only things that are normal or predictable for Zimbabweans stuck in the eighth year of turmoil.

Dear Family and Friends,

On World Press Freedom Day the Zimbabwe Union of Journalists were denied permission by Police to hold processions in 10 provincial centres around the country. This did not come as a surprise. How could the government possibly sanction processions when in the last month alone there has been a shocking surge of repression and abuse against media workers in Zimbabwe.

Edward Chikomba, a 65 year old freelance cameraman was abducted from his home, beaten to death and dumped on a roadside.

Dear Family and Friends,

Having spent three weeks in a civilized country south of Zimbabwe, I must admit that there were many things that made me not want to come home. Food was one thing - its existence, huge variety and consistent pricing. Money was another thing - coins that are actually worth something, bank notes that don't have expiry dates printed on them and money that keeps its value from one week to the next.Then there was the freedom of the media with abundant newspaper and radio stations with criticism and debate encouraged. There was the joy of petrol stations that always had fuel and of being able to travel freely without incessant road blocks and police checks. Even little things like public toilets that were fit for use by human beings, water that was safe to drink from a tap, street  signs that haven't been stolen and dustbins being emptied - all were cause for stares of amazement.

Dear Family and Friends,

On the same day that President Mugabe clapped his hands, declared that he'd had an "excellent meeting" and stepped into a gleaming limousine, at least a hundred people clamoured outside a bakery in Marondera town. They were desperately waiting for the chance to buy a loaf of bread. There is now no bread at all in the town. Around the corner at the town's biggest wholesaler, at least fifteen men pushed huge flat trolleys loaded high with all the flour that was left in the warehouse.

It was only 9 in the morning and the electricity had already been off for three hours so it took a while for the news to trickle in that SADC leaders meeting in Tanzania had appointed South African president Mbeki to "lead the process of dialogue" between political parties in Zimbabwe. The words are a flat and hollow echo of past meetings of these Big Men who lead the subcontinent. They hold no glimmer of hope, compassion or even empathy for another gathering crowd of sixty, then a hundred people waiting at the gates of the Grain Marketing Board in my home town on the same day. The people are dwarfed by four massive  30 tonne trucks - 22 wheelers -  also waiting to  try and buy maize.

Dear Family and Friends,

An air of quiet anger has settled over Zimbabwe in the past week as people have come to terms with the reality of what happened to opposition and civic society leaders at the hands of police. Those beatings followed by the refusal to allow two victims to leave the country for specialist medical treatment and then the assault with iron bars of an opposition spokesman just increased the anger and disgust. Ordinary people are bitter, they say they shop in the same stores as the police, they live in the same neighbourhoods and streets as the police and find it incomprehensible that the upholders of law and order could have done such things. For the last seven years police have largely turned a bind eye to war veterans and government supporters inflicting bodily harm. They excused their inaction by saying: "it is political." That was one thing but this now is a different matter altogether. There is a distinct feeling of tension in the streets but also an air of expectation. People are waiting for something to happen knowing that things are very close to coming to a head.

Dear Family and Friends,

This week the country came to a virtual standstill when we learned that a large number of the top leaders of civic society and opposition groups had been arrested. Everyone, everywhere was talking about it and the world began watching us again. It was then with shock and outrage that we saw the first grisly pictures of men and women covered in blood, bruises and wounds getting off a huge open Police lorry outside the Harare courts two days later. Now the details have begun to emerge and the statements are being made by the victims of how they were brutally assaulted whilst in Police custody. The quotes from those that were involved tell this story better than any letter or newspaper report.