Transactions

Many Zimbabweans have fled their economically stricken country, but they do send a lot of money home: in 2021 remittances totaled more than a billion dollars. One such migrant is Frank, who has emigrated to Cape Town. His brother Miles and sister Portia live in the UK, one in London, the other in Luton. His other sister still lives in Zimbabwe, but their mother MaMlilo thinks that she should also emigrate.

They discuss financial support via the family group chat and video calls. Between them they also provide for various relatives, which creates a cocktail of guilt, annoyance and despair. Because as much as they want to help, give love and take responsibility, don’t the people left behind realize that life outside Zimbabwe also costs money?

Backed by a superb soundtrack, the individual family members explain what it’s like to be forced to always be a foreigner, while also under pressure from the people back home.