People get used to their conditions and make do with whatever they can. However, this simple fact about the resilience of people and human nature is often misunderstood, misused and abused to mean miserable conditions may not be that bad. But how can one argue that for James Ndani (pictured right, not his real name) and his mother whose drinking water comes from a mine shaft (in the back) with a sign that reads: Danger - Cyanide Mining!

With the fastest shrinking economy of the world, a 5,000% inflation rate, and the public health ravaged by an AIDS epidemic that has decreased the life expectancy down to a mere 35 years, Zimbabwe is the textbook example of a nation devoured by the monumental tyranny of a mad 83-year-old thug who just decided (and was approved by his party) to keep going at what he knows best: beating his critics.