Norma Jeanes, Zimbabwe

After a leisurely start this morning we went to the Great Zimbabwe archaeological site. We decided to have a guide and are very pleased that we did. Our guide was a nice young woman called Pamela, who spoke excellent English. We learnt that she is 23 and doing an internship at Great Zimbabwe while she is at College in Harare working for a qualification in Tourism. We were able to discuss lots of things, but it wasn't until after we had left that I remembered I had meant to ask her if higher education here was free or subsidised. There was one another private car parked in the car park when we arrived and when we checked in we were told that the previous visitor was also English, but we didn't actually see anyone. The only other visitors we saw during the trip were schoolchildren on educational trips. Pamela told us that children come from schools as far as 500 km away to visit the site and learn about their history. The children were so friendly, and as I am trying to learn a few greetings in Shona and tried it out on them, they became even friendlier. One particular school group, from a school about 100 kms away came to the refreshment hut while we were taking a pause to drink a soda. They all wanted their photographs taken with us, and we posed with groups while they snapped. We noticed quite a few smartphones being passed around and lots of camera phones. As John observed most of them were better and newer than his. Talking about it afterwards we wondered whether it was a private school. Questions we hope we will get a chance to ask, are there private schools in Zimbabwe, what is the education system, We find it hard to believe that some of the children we see around here, walking to and from their schools, often barefoot, would be taken such a distance on a school trip.
Great Zimbabwe is an amazing site, we had seen footage of it on the 'Lost Kingdoms of Africa' TV series, but it did nothing to convey the size and complexity. We made a tremendous climb up an ancient path to the King's residence. In places we had to squeeze through narrow gaps between boulders on loose stones (H & S eat your heart out!). At the top we had a commanding view over the surrounding countryside, as would have had the king. Further down were the enclosures of his Queen, his first wife, and the other 199. It is rumoured that he had 400 children. We were shown a sacred tree whose bark, when made into a tea, he drunk as an aphrodisiac to enable him to accomplish this. His first wife, the Queen held a high status. She could consult and advise with the King. She was also responsible for the sex education of the young people when they reached puberty. We saw artifacts of small penises, vulvas and vaginas which she used as visual aids in her lessons, and the remains of a special sex education hut. We also saw the 12 metre high conical tower where later archaeologists and researchers suspected that she stored a fortune in gold, but none has ever been found.
All this took place between 13C and 18C, it was remarkable to learn about such a sophisticated society living and trading as far away as Asia and China. In many places the building is original, in others it has been very sensitively restored. A further point I found of particular interest was that the magnificent walls, and enclosures, as well as all the structures inside were made by 'free' labour, unlike many other monuments, such as the Egyptian pyramids and Greek and Roman buildings relied upon slave labour. The philosophy seems to be that Ancestors took the form of Divinity, the King was not divine but omnipotent as he was able to communicate with the Ancestors. The community, it's structure , success and survival was the most important thing, and everyone worked willingly to maintain and promote this. True Marxism? I am impressed with a society which had no deity and believed that people had the power of wisdom and knowledge. I have a lot of research to do over the long winter months on our return to England.