When I was young I lived in Zimbabwe (Rhodesia) for just over two years. My dad was a chef and he worked at the top hotel in Harare (Salisbury). Chefs move around a lot and I often wandered why he chose a country that was experiencing sanctions. I wouldn't take my family to a country at war and experiencing sanctions.
Looking back I can recall what an impact it had on every day life. They were fighting a war at the time so it made rationing even worse.The basic things were available but they were on a limited supply.
Fuel was rationed and everyone had ration books. You used to be issued with so many coupons per month and had to only use the car for trips you required. We walked a lot in those days and I had little legs as I was still very young. If we went on a car trip it was normally not to far and was used for shopping.Going on trips weren't advisable as people were being attacked in remote areas.Basically you had a 50Km circle around the capital that was a safe zone.
Cars used to breakdown often and there were few spares available. We had a Fiat with an old fashioned sun visor and was very unreliable. A Fiat was known for standing for Fix It And Troubles.A majority of the cars were Renaults as they had plenty of spares for the Renault 4.These French cars were everywhere.If you had another car with no spares you drove it until it wouldn't go any more. We all got used to pushing cars to get them going.
I can recall playing in the garages behind where we lived ,there were hundreds of American classic cars just lying there gathering dust .I presume now it was down to fuel shortages or people had just abandoned them.I would love to know what happened to those as today they would be worth a fortune. I am sure they are long gone and been sold for scrap metal like evrything else on the contiment.Nothing is sacred and all the history is torn down and sold.
Food was plentyful which is not a surprise as it was known as the bread basket of Africa. Their dairy products were known world wide and won many awards. There were certain things which were in short supply. You didn't have a vast range of different brands and normally it would be a choice of one. Empty shelves in the supermarkets were common and one had to choose your timings with deliveries in order to get what you needed.
We moved after things deteriorated quickly and were limited to what we could take out. I remember whatever furniture and possesions we had we just left. We left with our clothes and passports and travelled by train surrounded by armed guards for protection. It's amazing what you can remember just thinking back.
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