'The rural people will never surrender'.

Some people keep on struggling and you are one of them, Baffour. And you do it in a serious way which I recognise very much myself. I still remember when we met in London several years ago and your speech on Zimbabwe was so committed and honest unlike most of the others.

An excellent expression of that is the May issue of New African. I don't know how to express my own strong feelings about what a great job you are doing. No-one could have done it better. Thanks!

You already know we are many who feel the same--one of them, my best and close friend, Tabeth, a rural citizen of Zimbabwe. I also live in a rural area on an island 60km north of Gothenbourg in Sweden. We first met and worked together in Zimbabwe 20 years ago. She was here in Sweden visiting me in May.

For me, it is a great privilege--she is like my close relative. She is 20 years younger than me and as you can understand, our lives are so different in many ways. But in other ways, so similar. And she has really made me understand and appreciate Africa in general and Zimbabwe in particular through the years.

Anyway, while she was here, the Zimbabwe report in the New African May issue came through our postbox. We couldn't have been luckier! Tabeth was so happy and enthusiastic! She read and read, and we talked and talked. And she kept saying: "Ah this Baffour, he really understands us! Especially us rural people." So she sat down and wrote a short letter to you, which I have included below:

  "Dear Baffour, I am writing from rural Zimbabwe, fascinated about
your magazine New African, which is not only positive but also true
information about our beloved country. We have been getting copies
since 2005 but the 2007 May issue was the most interesting, especially
the interviews.
  "Can you keep that good work up my brother. We are many out here who
are enjoying your talent, including the youth, they are demanding a lot
more stuff from you. Hope to receive even more. Thank you in advance."
--Tabeth Sara Mkondo, Mahusekwa Growth Point, Marondera.

She said over and over again: "This is exactly how we see it from a rural perspective. Those in town are cheated. But we, in the rural areas, will never surrender. At the same time we need to be empowered and to really understand through such knowledge. The opposition, with the West behind it, wants to take our land back, but we will never ever let that happen!

"We are now so happy for what our president did to us through giving us land. It means food and a feeling of being proud Zimbabweans. If they try to reverse what he has done, it will be war again. We will fight, we have done it before and we won."

I only wish each and every young person out in rural areas as well as in town got this opportunity of getting knowledge. I wish the New African May issue could be spread all over rural Zimbabwe as part of the very important struggle against imperialism. The May issue was journalism just as it should be (but almost never is). Each and everyone was given the space to say what they wanted. It was interesting because that was exactly what Tabeth noted--when reading all the different views--she could easily draw her own conclusions. So, Baffour keep it up!

Kerstin Bjornheden

Gothenbourg, Sweden