Published by the government of Zimbabwe
3 July 2009
Harare — EVERY year, Zimbabweans complain about winter and seem remarkably unprepared for this season.
This year is a little different, despite the warnings put out by the Department of Meteorological Services before the cold really moved in.
So far this winter has not been as cold as in 2001, at least in Harare, let alone the winter of 1968, the last time extensive "black frosts" were seen, the name coming from the destruction of valley trees and shrubs.
But it has been characterised by persistent cold, with fewer warmer days for relief, as cold fronts sweep into Southern Africa from the west at very short intervals, there usually being two such fronts over the sub-continent at any one time.
Zimbabwean homes are usually poorly designed to cope with cold, although older designs at least are well-suited for the hot season and the rains, making winter a bigger misery than it need be.
Even office blocks are generally badly designed to cope with the climate, with the honourable exception of a set of buildings designed by a group of creative architects in the 1980s and 1990s that have walls shaded in summer, bathed in sunshine in winter and sufficient protection so that windows can be opened when it rains without the interiors being soaked.
So generally Zimbabweans have to suffer with houses that are colder than they need be in winter, hotter than they need be in summer, wetter than they need be in the rains, and usually needing a lot of money to heat or cool.
Few Zimbabweans have that sort of money.
Firewood is very expensive now, especially when burned in open fireplaces rather than in properly designed stoves, and even a simple one-bar electric heater costs more than US7cents an hour to use and does not provide that much heat in a room.
We would hope that as the country heads into its next building boom, and as older buildings are modernised and converted, that architects will be allowed to design buildings suitable for the high-altitude tropics with summer rains and cold winters, instead of being forced to copy some of the worse designs from North America.
In the meantime, Zimbabweans must do their best to cope. This means ensuring that a room is ventilated when using a fire, to prevent fatal carbon monoxide poisoning and protecting vegetable gardens and livestock from bad frost.
We also need to spare a thought for those without homes, and those without warm clothing.
Most churches run schemes to collect warm used clothing and distribute this, and we hope most readers respond.
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