Below is a Story from BBC News:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7351564.stm
Published: 2008/04/17 08: 04: 55 GMT (c) BBC MMX
Witness: Spreading Fear in Zimbabwe
Charles, a Zimbabwean human rights expert has told the BBC how he saw for himself the victims of beatings and torture that have been reported since the elections. He said he accompanied a friend to a hospital in Harare where people were being treated and what he saw and heard makes him fear for the future of the Country.
These people had been transported to Harare to get treatment, some of them from communities about 200 kilometers from Harare. They had been beaten up, burned, some had ribs broken. Some of them had big wounds like they had been exposed to heat of some kind.
The author goes on to give details regarding the political situation of the time as well as supplying some vivid pictures going hand in hand with the descriptions. Moreover, as I went through some other independent media and electronic sites, I read stories that were very close to this one. In fact, these are some of the stories that I heard and read about when I was still in Zimbabwe during the recorded period.
Now, if people have experienced some of this trauma or witnessed their beloved ones being tortured, I wonder if they will not live with fear for a significant part of their lives? This could be fear of of the subject of politics, elections and even political leaders in general. And if this kind of fear or phobia becomes part of their lives, I wonder if it will not be passed on from one generation to another making it part of a Zimbabwean culture?
I think that fear will be passed from one generation to the other. As a parent, if I have travelled or have been exposed to hard conditions I would not like my child to travel through the same path. I will actually teach my child what to do and not what to do to avoid danger. From the example you gave, a lot of families had to conform because they were beaten and tortured during this phase. As a result this will continue to happen from one generation to other until things are settled politically.
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