The compulsory shifts at the base are from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Andrew said he felt a silent desperation to flee. Yet if he did, he said, his family would be beaten or killed.
Besides, the national network of militia bases is too extensive to escape. He would be captured and beaten by militia youths from a base no matter where he ran.
"We've got nowhere to go," he said.
He stared wistfully into the distance, speaking softly. "I wish I could find somewhere to stay, somewhere to go, because I feel like I could go mad somehow. I wish someone would come and help us."
Since Mugabe finished second and ZANU-PF lost its parliamentary majority in the March 29 national elections, top military and security chiefs have taken over the party's presidential runoff campaign, running it as if it were a war.
Ruling party officials allege that Britain is poised to recolonize Zimbabwe and that the Americans are ready to invade. Opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who pulled out of the runoff this week because of the political violence, is described as a Western puppet.
Andrew and others in the reeducation bases target those previously seen wearing MDC T-shirts and those who celebrated in bars when the MDC outperformed ZANU-PF in the March vote. According to Andrew, several dozen females ages 15 to 25 have been kidnapped to serve as sex slaves for the ZANU-PF youth militias, war veterans and soldiers at the base.
"They are being raped," he said.
Another forced volunteer, Tendai, also in his 20s, said, "If a girl doesn't go to the base, her parents will be victimized."
For Tobaiwa, 33, another man forced to stay at a base near Harare, it has been weeks since he has taken a bath or relaxed.
His sole aim in life is to avoid being beaten or killed. His sweater is dusty. He looks and sounds exhausted.
For the last two weeks, he has spent every night at the base, going to work during the day.
"I sleep at the base, except there's no sleep," he said. "If you are found sleeping, they pour water on you and then they beat you up. . . .
"We will be singing, dancing, going around the neighborhood. If you meet someone you don't know, you take that person to the base."
The youth militias at the base would demand that the captive recite ZANU-PF slogans. If he makes a mistake, he is beaten, said Tobaiwa, who denied taking part in the beatings.
