A friend of mine is experiencing a bout of depression having returned home to live in Zim from Johannesburg. I can fully empathise as it is hard coming back and living at home with one's parents again after leading an independent life abroad. You no longer have your own environment and you have to comply with your Parents' rules for the house which often includes coming home to a curfew and going to bed when they do. It feels like you are a teenager once more and the life you led outside of Zim feels like a life time ago. The problem is rent is very expensive in Harare and so a lot of young people cannot actually afford to live on their own and meet the costs of living here.
Another aspect that is depressing my friend of returning to Zim is that there are not that many young people here and it is hard to make new social contacts and friends. The friends one has are also all often in relationships and partnered up and so to be single is hard and there are not many young eligible young men around. It also makes for the social scene being predictable and at times boring with only so much you can do and only so many people you know and will potentially then meet. Possibly there are more young people around than one things but Hararians at times seem clickey and don't venture out to make new friends readily.
It can feel like what are supposed to be best years of one's life are slipping by fast without too many new and interesting things happening. Also, with many friends settling down and getting married you feel life has passed you by and you are going to remain a spinster forever. Time can go by in Harare with the same old, same old and it is hard to account for what you've done and make a difference with this.
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