October the 15th is Blog Action Day 2008. Blog Action Day is a nonprofit, grassroots movement of thousands of individual bloggers coming together for one cause.

This year's theme for Blog Action Day is Poverty.

We have registered the Sokwanele blog - This is Zimbabwe - to participate in the action, and we are inviting YOU to send us items written by you that we will publish throughout the day on our blog.

Here are some questions that we think you might have for us. We've answered them for you. If there is anything else you want to know, please email us.

Why should I participate?

Zimbabweans are uniquely qualified to talk about the issue of poverty, and Blog Action Day 2008 is a chance for Zimbabweans to step out from behind all the newspaper articles and tell the story in their own words.

Let's speak for ourselves and tell the world what words like 'poverty' and 'hyperinflation' and a 'failing economy' really mean for ordinary people in Zimbabwe - ordinary people like YOU.

What do you want me to do?

Write and tell us how poverty and the failing economy has affected your life or your family's life or the lives of people you know around you.

This sounds like a good idea, but I'm so busy surviving (and queuing so I can survive) that I'll probably forget to get around to doing my bit.

Send us an email right now saying you want to be involved, and we'll email you a day or two before the 15th October to remind you about the action

But I am not a good writer. I want to tell my story, but I don't think I can do this.

Your stories and experiences are too important to be silenced by something like worries about writing skills. The world cannot possibly understand how poverty affects lives by reading newspaper articles that quote statistics or talk about an economy collapsing.

What does this mean in real life? Only you can tell them. So please speak out. Send us your experiences and stories as you would in an email to a friend. We'll worry about the trivial things like punctuation and paragraphs.

I don't want my name on the Internet where other people can see that I have written about my life in Zimbabwe.

We understand people are fearful. We won't publish names, and we won't publish locations, or email addresses, or anything at all that can lead back to a person.

"Poverty" is a big theme, what do you want me to write about exactly?

That's up to you. The list below is not a request for articles along these lines unless you want to write about them, but it might help you to focus your thoughts and think about what you want to write.

* Your daily life is something you could write about: how hard it is to find fuel, how long you queued at a bank, how difficult it is to find and pay for food, the troubles you have trying to find forex because you need it to survive etc
* If you are a school teacher you might want to write about how difficult it is to survive as a teacher, how you feel about the children who are affected by poverty in your classroom, or how the school you work for is struggling to manage without resources.
* If you run a business and employ people, you might want to tell us about the struggles you go through everyday, and how this impacts on you, your business and your employees.
* If you work in the nursing profession, or you know someone who is sick, you might want to talk about the shortages of drugs or the prices of treatment.
* If you are a parent, you might want to talk about how poverty and how the failing economy is affecting your children.
* Maybe you want to write about how the country's infrastructure is failing: roads, telephones, electricity, water supply etc. How does this affect Zimbabwean lives?
* Do you work in an NGO? Do you want to tell the world about the work you're doing (anonymously) and what it is like to be in the frontline fight against poverty.
* Everyone privileged enough to be receiving and reading this email also has a good chance to tell the stories of those who do not have access to email or computers. How are your families and friends affected in the rural areas? Tell the world how bad it is for them. Or the people you know who do not have jobs and are struggling every day?

We hope this list helps to focus your mind. You can write about what you like within the theme of poverty, and we ask that you help us to talk about poverty in Zimbabwe by writing about your experiences and thoughts in relation to Zimbabwe.

I only have access to email so I can't see the Sokwanele blog on the Internet. How will I know what other people have written?

On the 15th October we will compile a mailing out of the entries and send it to our mailing list. Please note that our list includes journalists and government officials in other parts of the world - the sort of people who would like to know the grassroot's truth about what it is like to be living with Poverty in Zimbabwe. We will try to include as many of the entries as we can in our mailing so you can read them too.

I don't want to write about poverty; I want to write about politics because I am angry and want to shout about Zanu PF / MDC-MT / MDC-AM.

The worldwide theme for Blog Action Day is 'Poverty', so we ask that you focus on that.

You are entitled to express your political views but we ask that you write them thoughtfully and with respect for different opinions and that you stick to publically known facts. We also ask that you write your views in the context of poverty.

Sokwanele will not publish anything that contains political rumours or information that cannot be verified. Our country needs to be strong and united and rumours and fighting between the parties and ourselves does not help us to stand together and confront the challenges facing Zimbabwe - the biggest challenge being poverty.

I am a Zimbabwean, but I am in the diaspora. I want to be involved too!

You can be. If poverty made you leave the country then write and describe why and how that happened. Maybe you are seeking asylum in another country and cannot work and finding it hard to survive... tell the world what its really like to be a stranger in another land, forced to leave for economic reasons.

Do you know any refugees who do not have access to email? Or do you work with Zimbabwean refugees in another country. You might want to tell their stories too.

OK, how long does it have to be, and when do you need it by?

When: We will publish on the 15th October so we need it by the end of the 13th October, preferably, or on the 14th October at the latest. But you can start sending them now if you want, and we will get things ready to go in advance.

How long: As long or as short as it takes you to tell your story.

Please write in English so the majority of the world can hear our stories.

Can I send photos as well as, or instead of, writing something?

If they are photographs you have taken and you are happy for us to publish them then, yes, please do. Email them to us. Please include a caption with them so people know what the photograph is about. (Any faces appearing in the pictures will be blurred out by us before publishing).

Can I write more than one entry on different topics about poverty in Zimbabwe because there is so much to say about what's happening!?

Yes, you can. Go for it!

I am not a Zimbabwean, but I would like to help as well.

If you can speak about poverty in Zimbabwe from your own perspective then please send us an entry. Maybe you are actively involved in trying to address poverty in Zimbabwe with a group or organisation overseas? Tell us about it.

If you are someone who wants to support and stand by Zimbabweans, then please come by our blog on the 15th October and spend time leaving comments and feedback for those who have sent in entries. When Zimbabweans speak out, its always good to know that we have been heard! So please support us by listening and reflecting back.

I am a Very Important Person and I would like write something in my own name so I can communicate with Zimbabweans about poverty and tell them I am standing with them.

Thank you very much. Send it to us and tell us you do not want to be anonymous. Send us a link to your own website too and we'll publish that alongside it.

Ok, I'm in! Is there anything else I need to know...?

Yes. If you don't have time to write your entry today, I'm reminding you now to send us that email saying you want to be involved, so we can remind you later that the 15th October is fast approaching.

Let's get the conversation about Poverty in Zimbabwe started!