When outsiders hear news of Zimbabwe, it’s usually tragic: hyperinflation driving the economy into ruin, white farmers beaten and chased off their land, dubious election results keeping Robert Mugabe in power. So when locals say they’re hopeful about the future, you’d be forgiven for being surprised.

Charles Chiunda* shuttles tourists to and from the Victoria Falls airport, on the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia. He calls his business “Charlie’s Angels.” I ask how it’s going. “It’s been slow,” he admitted, but he hopes things will pick up. South Africa is hosting the soccer World Cup this summer and he’s expecting more customers. “I’m looking forward to it. We’ll get some overflow from the games,” he said cheerfully. A decade ago, Zimbabwe received almost 1.5 million tourists a year, but there are fewer than a quarter as many visitors now. “These last years have not been good,” he said. Yet, again, he’s upbeat: “With this British education, we have a really good thing.” Most Zimbabweans speak perfect English and Zimbabwe has the highest literacy rate in Africa at more than 90%.

But disastrous economic policies and corrupt politicians have driven the country into the ground.

“A few years ago it was very bad,” Charlie said. “People had money but they could buy nothing with it. No food, not even little things like toiletteries.” On the streets, hungry people sell 100 trillion Zimbabwean dollar notes — that’s 1,000,000,000,000,000 — for one U.S. dollar. The bills bright blue and written in a sci-fi script that looks like something out of “Tron.”

There is no official currency any more, so people barter goods or get cash from foreigners (the few tourists who do visit Zimbabwe love to become “trillionaires”). Investors stay away, said Charlie. “They [are] afraid if they invest, the government might take everything and close it down, just like it did with the land.” The few white farmers who stayed are still getting their land seized in violent struggles with officials.

Charlie said Victoria Falls is safe, since it’s where the tourists go. “There will always be peace here, no matter what you see and hear on TV.” Though there are rumors of shady dealings here, too. “There is a politician here now,” Charlie said. “He is buying up all the land. He drives around in a car and goes to people with land, has them sign some papers and they get his money.” Charlie said it all happens illegally. “He has a suitcase with him and it doesn’t go through anybody — no banks, just cash.”

“Who is this money from?” he wondered. It’s stolen or laundered, he’s sure.

As we drove down an empty highway to a small tourist town by the waterfall, kids hitchhiked along the road and led donkeys to watering holes. Everything was lush and green and the weather was Mediterranean. Charlie grew up nearby, but in worse conditions, on a coal mine. “It was not a great place – too much pollution,” he said. “Nobody wanted to work in the mines.” He told me he’s got the chance to get even further from his beginnings: “The Disney people have offered me a job.” Apparently, the company recruits people from across southern Africa to work in theme parks. “I went to a big presentation and they gave us interviews” he explained. “They gave me an offer to go to Florida. They pay for the ticket and the visa.” Charlie isn’t sure he wants to leave Zimbabwe: “I can’t decide. I would leave in the summer, and that’s when the games are” he said, smiling at the prospect of more tourists to drive.

Charlie is lucky. He’s got two tempting job prospects and stays away from politics. It’s not so easy for others. John Mathe works at a colonial-era hotel and he’s seen things go drastically downhill. Dressed in a British waiter’s uniform he switched topics easily from the breakfast menu to Zimbabwe’s elections. “I’m in the opposition, of course,” he revealed with a sly smile. He thinks Mugabe will lose next year and leave office after more than two decades in power.

“The government is promising to change. This is the time when it will work,” John said. “As soon as the government changes, everything will change.” Above all, he believes the economy will finally get back on track. “The government will give the land back to the white people,” he said. “The farmers are automatically in the opposition party.” John, who’s a black Zimbabwean, thought Mugabe was clearly wrong to re-distribute the land of white owners. “How many people were working for those farms? They’re now stranded” he said. “The people who took the land from the white people, they don’t know what they are doing. They say, ‘That will be my farm,’ but they stay in town and don’t farm at all.”

As he sat by the pool discussing his country, John lost his waiter’s stiffness. He was optimistic, but not unrealistic — he doesn’t expect things to improve immediately. “It will take at least five years to give people a chance,” he said. “We have been patient for quite a long time.” To John, Zimbabwe is not like other African countries, where people turn to violence when their governments are rotten. “In Zimbabwe, it’s not like in the Western countries,” he said, meaning countries like Congo or the Ivory Coast. “There you have every young man take up a gun to fight for something he doesn’t know or understand.” “But here, people know theirrights, but they don’t fight.” Zimbabwe has all the makings of a war zone, but people don’t take up arms and the crime rate is relatively low. “Each individual sees it’s better to use a ballot box, not a gun. That’s bad for the country,” he said. He was interrupted by an elderly British woman, waddling in from the pool. “Could you get me a drink?” she asked, apologizing, “I’d like some lemonade.” John got back to work.

Driving back to the airport, I asked Charlie what he thought of Mugabe’s future in govern. Unlike John, he was not particularly hopeful. “Mugabe has done a lot of bad things. He has a young wife, kids,” he said of the aging leader. “He’s afraid if he goes, they will get him. He has a lot to lose.” There’s been talk that Mugabe could face the International Criminal Court at the Hague because of human rights abuses.

“Only death will move him,” Charlie said. “That’s just how African presidents are.” Zimbabweans may have to be patient a little while longer.

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