Kenya
An image I will never forget is of Ben Freeth’s three little children on the front lawn of their farmhouse west of Harare with Comrade ‘Landmine’ and his gun-toting, drunken gang zooming up the driveway. The ZANU-PF attackers threatened to burn down the house that day if the white farmers did not leave. I was very nervous being there. But when I looked at Ben’s kids, they hardly flinched. They had taut, blank faces. Later, after I was safely overseas, the thugs returned to the Freeths with burning tyres after dark. They howled like hyenas, broke into the bedrooms and threatened to eat the children.
This month Landmine’s gang did burn the house down. It was a lovely thatched place full of family photos, nice books and a beautiful garden. They burned the dog inside.
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