Onion economics (oh, and elections)

While Zimbabwe holds its collective breath, hoping that this is indeed the "Final Push" (i.e. that our president is finally going to step down and respect the electoral laws and vote of the people) we continue with our upside-down lives. I say "upside-down" because it is only in Zimbabwe that you could have hundreds of millions of dollars in your bag (if not billions) and yet still not be able to afford a basic meal!

In fact, I've decided to call Zimbabwean economics "Onion Economics." Let me explain: a few nights ago some friends and I were discussing how expensive onions and tomatoes were. Yes, we can almost understand onions being expensive. Why? Because we are importing them. (crazy, yes, but true) But tomatoes grow easily in Zim and are in fact more expensive by weight. Why? And why exactly are these two simple vegetables (some may claim tomato is a fruit, but that's a debate for another day) more expensive than beef?? None of this makes sense!

Last week I bought 3 small onions for $40,000,000. Yes, $40 million! Admittedly that is equal to approx. US$1 on the parrallel market here in Zim, but it is a huge amount of money for 3 small onions. When my friends and I were bemoaning the state of the onion, one also mentioned how he used to use an onion without thinking about the cost of it. And if an onion went bad in his fridge, he simply threw it away. Now, however, is a different story: now we use half an onion, and leave the other half in the fridge. When we find that half, we split it in half again and almost miraculously manage to make a single onion stretch over 3 meals! This is why I call this craziness "Onion Economics." Now we await some concrete election results...