"The thing is, it's not that easy to start again," my Pakistani friend says. In theory, she could go back to Pakistan with her husband and her two boys. Her father's a chief in the police force: there'd be some help.
In practice, leaving Zimbabwe would be a huge wrench.
They own a shoe shop here. Under Gideon Gono's new regulations announced in his latest Monetary Policy Statement, they'll have to licence the shop (20,000 US), open an FCA, surrender 5 percent of their earnings (on top of tax), pay their staff in foreign currency, pay 'phone, electricity and rates bills (for non-existent rubbish collection, non-functioning street lights, potholed roads that look like they've been shelled and infrequent water supplies) in forex.
And no-one's buying shoes at the moment.
"Each time we're hoping and hoping and it never gets better," she says.
*sto esperando (still hoping): song by Dino Mudondo, won Outstanding Rendition Category in local arts competition, state radio reports today
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