Election Days in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe
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Photo 1 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaA group of boys play after school with a car they have crafted out of scrap wire. Despite the extreme lack of necessities and the violence this political and economic crisis has brought, residents of Bulawayo have found ways around the roadblocks both actual police roadblocks and obstacles in their daily lives. -
Photo 2 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaCampaign posters for the opposition Movement for a Democratic Change (MDC) hang between posters bearing Robert Mugabe's face and his slogan "The Fist of Empowerment." -
Photo 3 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaA bus is re-loaded after a customs check just across the border from Botswana into Zimbabwe. Cross-border buses often carry more passengers than there are seats available as well as groceries, furniture and the occasional bicycle as Zimbabweans bring home goods for their families or to sell. -
Photo 4 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaBaby Thandiwe lies with her crib-mate Prince at a transitional adoption home for abandoned infants in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Thandiwe died just before the June 27 "run-off" elections in a hospital with bare supply shelves and few doctors due to the economic collapse and the mass exodus of trained medical staff to countries where they will earn a livable wage. -
Photo 5 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaPartially torn-off campaign posters for Robert Mugabe line a wall downtown. -
Photo 6 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaResidents of Bulawayo wait in the shade at an abandoned gas station to hitch rides across the border to purchase groceries and other necessities in Francistown, Botswana. Hitchhiking is the only option for many travelers with the shortage of petrol. -
Photo 7 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaThe often chaotic Ramokgwebana border named for a river between Botswana and Zimbabwe. A simple wire fence separates the two countries and many Zimbabweans who do not have the proper travel documents cross at holes in the fence. -
Photo 8 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaElections 2008: Vote Comrade Robert Gabriel Mugabe -
Photo 9 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaSeveral of Bulawayos women transporting goods to sell on their heads and their infants on their backs. -
Photo 10 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaSince gas can only be purchased on the black market, gas stations such as this one are only useful for posting campaign notices. -
Photo 11 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaSeveral billion dollars worth of combi (minibus public transportation) fare. With inflation rates soaring well past 400,000%, Zimbabweans often carry bricks of cash like this to purchase what few groceries may still be found on store shelves. -
Photo 12 of 12Credit: Kate Lucy/AllAfricaA Zimbabwean flag flies above those who are traveling by foot or black market petrol and in front of a bank where clients wait in long queues for small amounts of money due to the cash shortage.
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