ZIMBABWE: People are waiting for something to happen, but they don't know what, one resident told Declan Walsh
Jim McComish's first trip to Zimbabwe was a six-month business contract.
Eleven years later he still hasn't gone home, having fallen in love with the country, married a Zimbabwean and become a partner in a Harare architect firm.
But life in the African idyll is souring fast for him and the rest of Zimbabwe's Irish community, estimated to be 3,000-strong.
The crumbling economy and powderkeg politics, culminating in the recent elections, have caused many to think twice about staying on.
"Corruption is destroying the economy, and the country is being run into the ground. People are leaving in significant numbers," said the Belfast man.
For example, nine committee members were elected to the Mashonaland Irish Society last June. Four have since left. But many others, like Mr McComish, say they are determined to stick it out.
They cling doggedly to the hope that better days are in store for southern Africa's most bedevilled country.
"I've devoted so much of my life here, and it's a fantastic country. We're hopeful that change will come sooner rather than later," he said.
To yearn for "change" in Zimbabwe can be a dangerous thing, however, under President Robert Mugabe's authoritarian rule, as two Irish missionaries recently found out.
Last summer a Redemptorist priest, Father Gabriel Maguire, was expelled, while an Anglican priest from Co Meath, the Rev Noel Scott, is currently facing public disorder charges for the apparent crime of organising a prayer rally.
The election results - which have been internationally condemned for state-sponsored violence and irregularities - have seen a black mood descend over many of Zimbabwe's Irish.
"The country is going to go down even further before it comes up again," predicted the Mashonaland Irish Society president, Mr Paul Robinson, an industrial chemist who hails from Roscrea.
Unlike many white residents, Mr Robinson was able to vote at the recent elections: draconian new laws disenfranchised thousands of citizens who had not renounced their foreign citizenship.
However, he only managed to cast his ballot after visiting four polling stations.
"Just seven people were being processed per hour at one station," he said.
Zimbabwe's problem is social, not racial, he said. "The government would like to have racial tensions because they are in a weak position. They are neutrotic about criticism."
These days the biggest challenge for Zimbabwe's Irish, a smattering of engineers, teachers, other professionals and religious workers, is to cope with the severe economic situation.
Mr Gary Killilea, a Limerick native, once employed 80 people at his Harare civil engineering firm.
Now, due to the collapsing business environment, there are barely 20, and he has moved much of his business to contracts in neighbouring Mozambique.
Since the elections there has been an "eerie, downcast" feeling about Harare.
"People are waiting for something to happen but they don't know what," he said. "One wonders if something isn't going on in the background."
Mr Killilea has also been targeted by the government's controversial land policy. He is part-owner of a 6,500-hectare ranch for a large herd of cattle and a lucrative patch of paprika, mainly for export to Spain.
The property has been listed for seizure but not yet invaded by the dreaded war veterans.
"We're just holding our breath and hoping that things will pan out," he said.
But daily life in Zimbabwe is not as dangerous as it may appear in the media, he added. "The violence is very focused, and unless you are part of the group, it's as safe as walking down Main Street in Limerick".
Nevertheless, he and his wife, Diane, have taken extra security measures, such as avoiding driving through the city centre at night.
Despite the fears and dangers, however, many Irish stressed that their difficulties pale in comparison with those faced by ordinary black Zimbabweans.
There are already long queues for the staple food, and the crisis is predicted to escalate into a widespread famine before the end of this year.
"Some days 1,000 people can be queueing to buy mealie meal [ground maize], but only half of them can get it," said one Irish resident.