6 th January 2007

The Zimbabwean singer Viomak was a welcome presence at the Vigil – in fact almost indispensable. What with one thing and another only a few people managed to get to the Embassy in time for the star t. The one thing being the persistent rain and the other being the delays on road and rail for our supporters. But Viomak, all the way from Leeds , managed to join us as we struggled to erect our tarpaulin. Her new CD is due to come out next month – “ Happy 83rd Birthday President R.G Mugabe (Zimbabwe Classics 2) Bones of a 30 Year Old.” We played it most of the afternoon. Viomak was glad to be at the Vigil with other activists and promised to come back. As she says on her website “A s long as we neglect the welfare of the Zimbabweans who are suffering under Mugabe's evil regime we remain as immoral as the perpetrators of our suffering” – ( http://www.viomakcharitymusic.com ).

We were pleased to welcome a group from Wolverhampton , who on this climatically- challenged day took over 4 hours to reach us. We applaud their dedication. We also had a group from Crawley and people from Leicester and Derby who had similar nightmare journeys. Watching the water cascading from the bulging tarpaulin, one of our supporters said “Zimbabwe's true wonder is back” referring to the rather strange new poster with that slogan advertising the Victoria Falls in the Embassy window (where did it go – Zambia, South Africa?). Despite the bad weather, it was encouraging that so many people stopped at the Vigil table to express their support. By the end we could hardly fit under our tattered tarpaulin but the drumming and dancing alleviated the gloom.

PS: one of supporters won £20, which she donated to the Vigil, by betting on a winning horse called Zimbabwe ( 1.50 pm , Exeter , New Year's Day). Is this a good omen for 2007?

PPS: we have done some research on Vigil attendance since we star ted keeping records in February 2004. Total number of supporters attending per annum has gone up from around 400 in 2004 to nearly 900 in 2006. Average attendance has increased from 31 people per Vigil in 2004 to 61 people per Vigil in 2006. The Vigil prize of sadza on toast goes to any mathematician who can calculate when Vigil attendance will go up to more Zimbabweans at the Vigil than in Zimbabwe .

FOR THE RECORD: 42 signed the register.