DISCLAIMER
This story is pure fiction about my Grandpa Hamudiamwe and no one else. Any resemblance it might have to your own Zimbabwean or African grandpa or any person you know is pure coincidence. Therefore all forms of intelligence should take it as such, a fiction story about Grandpa Hamudiamwe and no one else.
Dear Grandpa Hamudiamwe (Chief of our village)
In view of the worsening economic and health situation in the village which threatens the whole village with a serious crisis and a death toll of a grave magnitude I wish to draw your attention to the following matters.
Grandpa your refusal to allow equitable power sharing with other aspiring leaders in this village has left the village hanging in limbo and resulted in our continued suffering in this village. You now want to continue ruling the village with your helpers who together with you suffer from an extreme group think that is bordering on bunker mentality. What I mean in simple terms is that you and your helpers are so divorced from reality that you developed your own view of the world, which is the basis for all your activities, operations, and decision-making processes, regardless of the true nature of the wider environment in the village and the world. Bunker mentality is a phrase derived from the bunker used by Hitler and other leaders of the Nazis in the last days of World War II. Rather than come to terms with the reality of their impending defeat, they created their own version of the world within their operations room or bunker. Rather than come to terms with the fact that sanctions or no sanctions you have failed the people of the village, you choose to blame it all on the West whom you claim are waging a cold economic war on you. Did you ever stop and analysed yourself and your helpers and the many blunders you made ever since you started ruling this village. Grandpa if you were to open your eyes wide enough to read the writing on the wall you would notice that the reason why other villages are not willing to help you rebuild the village is because they want you completely out of the picture of the village chieftainship because you have become very notorious because of your dictatorship tendencies and your violation of basic human rights in this village as you try to maintain a one party state. So dear grandpa as long as you continue to cling on to power the suffering in the village will continue. Are you sure that is what you want?
Let me also bring to your attention the main reason why you and your helpers have lost respect in this village. Grandpa some of your helpers whom you trust and had given authority to see to the proper functioning of various institutions in the village contributed to the fall of the village to this pathetic situation we are in right now. Most of your helpers became grossly corrupt and law unto themselves. They diverted foreign aid into their own pockets, acquired more than one farm whose land they didn't fully utilise, acquired personal interests in the village's corporations, acquired shares in the various factories,(there is nothing wrong with that if your professional code of conduct allows it, but there is then a danger of bias when your helpers are involved in policy formulation)and established a near monopoly in the business of selling fuel. They took the lion's share of practically every important enterprise in the village. So even as they gazetted prices in paDare(parliament), the minute they got away from paDare they would call their garage managers, factory managers and shop managers not to follow the gazetted prices. It is such double standards that the ordinary people in the village noticed and they followed suit & also became corrupt, thus increasing corruption in the country to Nigerian levels if not more. The result was a deterioration of all standards in the village and the subsequent decay of all institutions in the village. Grandpa any questions you have concerning why producers and retailers continued to flout the gazetted prices and why production slowed down drastically in the industries ask some of your helpers because they are shareholders in most of the industries and are some the producers and retailers , don't rush to blame it on sanctions and sabotage by the foreign settlers. This gross corruption destroyed our village grandpa, it destabilised the village and dangerously undermined the very basis of public confidence in you and your helpers. What puzzles me is that you had a very competent and loyal intelligence service at your disposal who must have informed you of the corruption that was going on. They could not have dared to withhold correct information from you regarding that issue of corruption so the conclusion most villagers come to is that you knew what was happening but did not have the nerve to stop your helpers from being corrupt, for reasons best known to yourself. You will no doubt, grandpa, appreciate that the inability to control your helpers has been a sore point for the people of this village. This village-wide corruption fuelled by your helpers resulted in many negative consequences in the village, most of them disastrous in nature, for example it made it extremely difficult for the entire village population to salute, respect and have confidence in you and your helpers. The entire village government under your leadership was severely compromised by this corruption and it was your national responsibility as chief to prevent it but you didn't. It is also common knowledge grandpa, that you and most of your helpers keep large bank accounts aboard and this shows that you have no confidence in the village that you run. Those funds you keep aboard are badly needed in the village for development and if you were to bring them all back into circulation in the village our economy would greatly improve.
I could go on and on listing the mistakes you made during your reign but I choose to go straight to the bottom line. The bottom line grandpa is that I beg you to put the interests of the villagers and not your own selfish interests first. If you do that, you will do the most honorable thing under the circumstances and together with your helpers resign from the village chieftainship and allow a transitional government to be put in place before fresh democratic elections can be conducted in the village, so that the village can start on a new slate. Your resignation at this point in time as we start a new year will serve the best interests of our beloved village and the villagers who are suffering immensely as we speak will be most grateful to you.
Before I pen-off allow me give a prayer grandpa. Here goes the prayer, "I stand at the threshold of a new year. May God help me to be kind, fair and wise in all my affairs. Let Jesus lead me as I try to adapt Christ-like behaviour as taught by my Roman Catholic christian upbringing and as I learn to love all my fellow villagers and try to act in ways that make their lives better. Amen."
Yours sincerely
Muzukuru Stillwaters
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
The maxim that can heal the world.
A century ago when, "Love thy neighbor," was the maxim that most people followed in their day to day living, the Titanic hit an iceberg and sank. Only a third of the huge ship's passengers survived. Most were women and children. Several male passengers refused to enter lifeboats because they wanted to make sure that women and children were safe first. Such chivalry and unselfishness is greatly applauded but unfortunately it is rarely found these days. A few years ago, on the 4th of August 1991, to be precise, the Oceanos sank off the Transkei coast and the Captain and his crew were first to abandon ship and sail away in a lifeboat leaving the passengers to fend for themselves. The credo that the captain and his crew allowed to lead their lives was, "Every man for himself." The "me" generation had sprung up and their goals are always inclined towards self, self-preservation, self-gratification, egoistic self-love, selfishness, self-etc, the list of words prefixed with self would have filled this page if I had continued. Their lives are so centred on self that they have no room left to think of other people. They have this wrong notion that the world revolves around them and every other person in it is a pawn placed there for the soul purpose of being used as stepping stones to serve their needs. Gone are the, "I am my brother's keeper," credos that used to encourage the humanity in people to come out.
Am still trying to figure out what brought about the change in people from the time of the Titanic to now. Where did grandparents and parents go wrong when they were bringing up the, "me" generation.? Or was it the movie industry that bombarded screens with movies that had themes celebrating self more than the love of neighbors.? Or was it the teachers and lecturers who concentrated on giving pupils knowledge only and not ethics and wisdom.? Or was it the pastors, priests and bishops at church who failed to instil enough Christ-like behaviour into their congregation? Or was it the concentration on business and sports competition that made people value winning for themselves and not for others.? Whatever the reason is, it has diluted the humanity in most people's hearts if not completely killed it, from lack of practice. I shudder at how people in this generation choose to be indifferent to other people's suffering. Think of the lives that could be saved if we all looked out for each other instead of just looking out for ourselves. Think of how the present economic depression would be such a light burden to carry if we all helped each other carry it. Think of the lives in the hyper-inflationary environment in Zimbabwe that could be saved from hunger if we were to let our lives be ruled by the maxim, "Love thy neighbor."
Talking about Zimbabwe, it is this same, "me" syndrome that has seen Grandpa Mugabe clinging on to power at an age when he is supposed to be enjoying old age quietly and peacefully without the burden of ruling a nation. It is a public secret that his reason for clinging on to power is motivated by self-preservation from being charged for his acts of atrocity against humanity during his reign as well as self- gratification. If instead of thinking of himself only, he were to think of the ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe who have suffered enough under his rule he would have done the right thing and gracefully resigned. It is also this, "me" syndrome that has seen Tsvangirai hiding in Botswana motivated by self-preservation from being accused and charged of insurgency. Somehow Tsvangirai's continued stay in Botswana reminds me of the captain of the Oceanos who abandoned ship when it was about to sink leaving passengers to fend for themselves. I am sure the captain of the Oceanos when asked why he abandoned passengers also gave a similar excuse as Tsvangirai is giving, something like, " I felt the passengers were better of with me out of the ship controlling the ship remotely than with them in the ship showing them how to manouver to safety." Mandela is one heroic man whom Mugabe and Tsvangirai should emulate. His life history stands out in stark contrast to the way these two Zimbabwean leaders are carrying on. Mandela did not cling on to power like what Mugabe is doing, but then again Mandela's hands and conscience were clean and he had nothing to haunt him and threaten him from taking the much needed rest. Talk about living hell on earth, forced not to rest when one wants to because of one's sins is what I would call a hell on earth. Also unlike Tsvangirai, Mandela did not mind being wrongfully jailed for a good 27 years as he worked towards saving South Africans from apartheid. He could have run away to a neighboring country if he wanted to but he decided to stay in his country through thick and thin. Mandela's life history shouts out to all leaders that when one is a leader it is imperative that his/her life be governed by the credo, "Love thy nation's people above your own selfish interest," instead of, "Every man for himself." But do our Zimbabwean leaders care to listen to the shout, no, they are busy concentrating on their own welfare.
To all you readers I say, "Lets heal the world by once again making the maxim, "Love thy neighbor," rule our lives.
Am still trying to figure out what brought about the change in people from the time of the Titanic to now. Where did grandparents and parents go wrong when they were bringing up the, "me" generation.? Or was it the movie industry that bombarded screens with movies that had themes celebrating self more than the love of neighbors.? Or was it the teachers and lecturers who concentrated on giving pupils knowledge only and not ethics and wisdom.? Or was it the pastors, priests and bishops at church who failed to instil enough Christ-like behaviour into their congregation? Or was it the concentration on business and sports competition that made people value winning for themselves and not for others.? Whatever the reason is, it has diluted the humanity in most people's hearts if not completely killed it, from lack of practice. I shudder at how people in this generation choose to be indifferent to other people's suffering. Think of the lives that could be saved if we all looked out for each other instead of just looking out for ourselves. Think of how the present economic depression would be such a light burden to carry if we all helped each other carry it. Think of the lives in the hyper-inflationary environment in Zimbabwe that could be saved from hunger if we were to let our lives be ruled by the maxim, "Love thy neighbor."
Talking about Zimbabwe, it is this same, "me" syndrome that has seen Grandpa Mugabe clinging on to power at an age when he is supposed to be enjoying old age quietly and peacefully without the burden of ruling a nation. It is a public secret that his reason for clinging on to power is motivated by self-preservation from being charged for his acts of atrocity against humanity during his reign as well as self- gratification. If instead of thinking of himself only, he were to think of the ordinary citizens of Zimbabwe who have suffered enough under his rule he would have done the right thing and gracefully resigned. It is also this, "me" syndrome that has seen Tsvangirai hiding in Botswana motivated by self-preservation from being accused and charged of insurgency. Somehow Tsvangirai's continued stay in Botswana reminds me of the captain of the Oceanos who abandoned ship when it was about to sink leaving passengers to fend for themselves. I am sure the captain of the Oceanos when asked why he abandoned passengers also gave a similar excuse as Tsvangirai is giving, something like, " I felt the passengers were better of with me out of the ship controlling the ship remotely than with them in the ship showing them how to manouver to safety." Mandela is one heroic man whom Mugabe and Tsvangirai should emulate. His life history stands out in stark contrast to the way these two Zimbabwean leaders are carrying on. Mandela did not cling on to power like what Mugabe is doing, but then again Mandela's hands and conscience were clean and he had nothing to haunt him and threaten him from taking the much needed rest. Talk about living hell on earth, forced not to rest when one wants to because of one's sins is what I would call a hell on earth. Also unlike Tsvangirai, Mandela did not mind being wrongfully jailed for a good 27 years as he worked towards saving South Africans from apartheid. He could have run away to a neighboring country if he wanted to but he decided to stay in his country through thick and thin. Mandela's life history shouts out to all leaders that when one is a leader it is imperative that his/her life be governed by the credo, "Love thy nation's people above your own selfish interest," instead of, "Every man for himself." But do our Zimbabwean leaders care to listen to the shout, no, they are busy concentrating on their own welfare.
To all you readers I say, "Lets heal the world by once again making the maxim, "Love thy neighbor," rule our lives.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
2009 here we come, in full force.!!!!
This is the last article that I am posting on this blog this year, am taking a break and you will hear from me again on the 2nd of January 2009. I want to take this opportunity to wish each and everyone of you who touched my life in 2008 a happy new year. A lot of people touched my life this year in their own unique, special and not always positive ways and I want to acknowledge all of them in this article, my last message in 2008 before I enter into 2009 which promises to be a year of new beginnings.
First and foremost my complements for the new year, 2009, go to my fellow Zimbabweans who touched my life in 2008 with their resilience and faith in God during the intense suffering we endured this year. As we look back along the long and arduous road we the people of Zimbabwe travelled in 2008, we can testify to moments in our pilgrimage when our faith was severely tested. This coming 1st of January 2009, New Year holiday, many of us will try to celebrate but it will be difficult to do so because we know deep down in our hearts that there is nothing in our country to celebrate and be joyful for. We have had our full share of the cutting of sorrow and grief in 2008 as our neighbors, friends and relatives died from hunger and cholera. We have experienced the wear and tear of trying to make ends meet in a hyper-inflationary environment. We have experienced the frustration and humiliation of queueing up at banks to get a very small amount of money that was not enough to feed our hungry stomachs, yet there was a lot of money in our bank accounts. And of course some of us might have faced the temptation to give up on life. On the 15th of September when the GNU power sharing deal was signed, the future seemed so full of hope, who would have known that three months down the line, nothing would have come out of it. Most people were excited then because they did not know that the Lord, our God, thought we were not done yet and was going to increase even more the temperature in the oven he put us into this year. As we approach 2009 and continue to be baked in the oven with no positive end in sight, let us keep our faith and hope, gain new insights, explore new wonders, question new manifestations before accepting them and call the nation to a vision still to be realised of sustainable development and a healthy economy. Whilst we thank God for the GNU leaders even though there is nothing to thank them for, we have a duty to raise questions about their competence as leaders of our nation, about their ability to bring about a total reconstruction of a land so severely brutalised. Let us together be locusts called Zimbabweans and work together as a team torwards coming up with New Year resolutions that are inclined torwards rebuilding our country. In 2009 let us change our attitude of passivity and docileness and empower ourselves with the freedom of expression so that we don't nurture dictatorship tendencies in our leaders. Let us reclaim our power as civil society to have a say in the way our country is run. Let us not be like sheep who follow blindly leaders who have shown over and over again that all they are concerned about is power and not the lives of Zimbabwean citizens. Let us withdraw our trust and loyalty to the leader who doesn't stand with us in sickness(cholera), in poverty & hunger and when we are being killed for supporting him and instead chooses to run away with his family to Botswana everytime we need his support the most. Let us await patiently for the right leader, ordained by God, who can lead us as a nation to that proverbial place in the sun, to emerge among us in 2009 and then pledge our full support for him instead of following any of the ineffective GNU leaders for the mere reason that we have no other better choice. In short let us ensure that 2009 is the year we stand up together as Zimbabweans with one voice that says, "Enough is enough," and advance in ranks torwards determining our own destiny.In 2009 my concern for my fellow Zimbabweans will continue to be dictated by my Christian bias for the disadvantaged, marginalised, poor and ordinary people of God who are usually bypassed and sidelined. I will continue to be their voice and make sure that my voice is heard. I love you all Zimbabweans and wish you a happy new year.
Secondly, I wish to pass the complements of the new year to readers who take the time from their busy schedules to follow this blog and read what I write. Ladies and gentlemen our pursuit for peace, love and happiness unto the whole world continues. None but ourselves can bring peace, love and happiness into our lives and I have faith that in 2009 we will do just that. Let me take this opportunity to thank you readers for walking up the hill of 2008 with me. It wasn't an easy climb, what with recession shaking the roots of the US economy and as expected when giants fall, there was a domino effect that followed which affected the economies of every nation in the whole wide world. As a result, attaining peace, love & happiness in our lives became an uphill struggle and some nearly lost all hope had it not been for Barrack Obama whose message of the change we need in this world gave back hope to despairing souls. Obama made us all believe that, "Yes we can" and for sure we can. With Barrack Obama and his love for peace and happiness unto all nations and him being the most powerful man in the world as from the 20th of January 2009 by virtue of him being the President of the most powerful nation in the world, I believe that our vision for peace, love & happiness unto the whole world will soon be facilitated to become a reality by him. So dear readers there is so much to look forward to in 2009. Happy new year readers, I love you all and wish you lots of peace, happiness, prosperity and above all this lots of love in your lives in 2009.
Last but not least I wish to thank my daughters, my dad, my brothers, my cousins, my friends, all my relatives and Asha who made 2008 a fabulous year. I am hoping 2009 will be even better and we will continue with that love & family togetherness that enabled us to survive as Zimbabwe collapsed.
TO ALL:
1) That I've made promises to and never kept - it was not deliberate, I got caught up in trying to make ends meet in a hyper-inflationary environment and I promise to improve in 2009.
2) That I owe lunches, dinners (there are many in this category), movies, night outs, etc., I'll fix that as well and make time for that as soon as our economy gets back to normal.
3) That have supported me and made me smile through all my hardships (especially my daughters Amanda & Emma, my friends Agnes, Chipo, Clemencia, Babra and Monika. )... I say "A BIG THANK YOU" and I hope you will be there for me in 2009.
4)Those I've disagreed with, argued with and just never got along with... well, its part of life, let's do some introspection & some soul-searching and get into 2009 with "a clear head"; hopefully we'll improve our level of tolerance and understanding with each other...I hope 2009 will be a better year for us.
5)Those that I've hurt... unintentionally or intentionally, my apologies...It was never a calculated action.
6)Those that stuck a knife in my back (You know who you are)... the past is all
forgotten... forgiveness is the best revenge (not that I am revenging, just saying)... and life goes on!!!...Hope 2009 will be better for us.
7)Those that have let me down(especially Dumi)... oh well... I should have known better...but I forgive you and still care about you , though not in an intimate way. Let us remain friends in 2009.
8) Those who truly love me (they know it in their hearts), I want to say to you, "You ROCK...and I wish you lots of peace, love & happiness in 2009." Lets rock 2009 like we did 2008.
2009 HERE WE COME IN FULL FORCE
Monday, December 22, 2008
Letter to Grandpa Hamudiamwe on Unity day
In Zimbabwe it is a holiday called Unity day today. It is the day that the late Dr Joshua Nkomo put a stamp of approval on a one party state system in this country and I can't help wondering if Mudhara wethu, Nkomo, knew the mistake he was making in doing that. I wonder if he knew that in so doing he was killing democracy in this country. But you know what, I forgive the old man because he was only trying to save his Ndebele tribe from being completely eliminated from the face of the earth by Gukurahundi. As I woke up this morning and realised that I wasn't going to work I sat down and thought about the political events that have unfolded in the country ever since that fateful day of 22 December. Somehow my thoughts went to the fictitious Grandpa Hamudiamwe, chief of our village whom I told you about in an earlier article entitled, "Grandpa can't you see that your time is up," because he is one staunch believer of a one party state. I thought about how mindsets keep changing as people evolve and undergo personal development and growth and learn from experiences. To be sucessful as a leader one needs to have a flexible mindset that changes with the changing times and be aware of the paradigm shifts happening in the world and adjust his/her leadership style in line with them. That is were Grandpa Hamudiamwe, Chief of our village got it all wrong. Somewhere during his reign, he lost touch of the political paradigm shifts and got stuck in the old autocratic style of leadership and the old communist ideologies that had failed the test of time. The onus is now on us to teach the old dog new tricks and it is proving to be very difficult to do so because grandpa thinks he has got the monopoly on knowledge and wisdom and so will not listen to anyone. I thought of spending the holiday writing a letter to my Grandpa Hamudiamwe as part of efforts to teach him new tricks and then sharing the letter with you readers since I am afraid to have it delivered to him because I am afraid of facing his wrath if he reads it. Here is the letter to Grandpa but please will all forms of intelligence remember that Grandpa Hamudiamwe is a figment of my imagination and any resemblance he might have to anyone you know is pure coincidence.
Dear Grandpa
Grandpa we know how the communists poisoned your mind with their Marxist/Leninist theories of a one party state, when they were providing you with guns which you used to liberate us from the foreign settlers who had settled in our village. We know how they made you believe that having a one party state would unite all the villagers. They were wrong grandpa. What unites the citizens of any village is not the one party system, but freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom from abductions, freedom from detention without trial, respect of human rights, respect for the independence of the judiciary, free enterprise, equal opportunities, fair competition and a reasonable profit motive. Give these things to the people of our village grandpa and they will feel liberated and will be united in peace. Give them a one party system and they will feel oppressed and unhappy and where there is unhappiness there is disunity. Nowhere on earth has the one party state brought about national unity. For 72 years the USSR tried to use the one party system, the Communist Party, to unite all the 15 Republics but it failed. Ever since you got the chieftainship , 28 years ago, you have been trying to implement the one party system grandpa and it is clear that you are failing. In consequence of which you resort to strong arm methods like state organised murders, abductions and detentions without trial, gross violation of human rights, censorship of the press, rigging of elections and so forth just so as to kill all forms of opposition and maintain a one party system. Please grandpa get it into your head that a one party system does not work and it will never work no matter how desperate you want it to work. Allow other political parties in the village grandpa and let them contest you in fair democratic elections for chieftainship in peace, without intimidations, killings, tortures or detentions and gracefully admit defeat if you are defeated. Learn to let go the chieftainship position grandpa and get it into your head that the fact that you liberated the village from foreign settlers, doesn't mean that you have to rule the village until Kingdom come.
Grandpa if you had cared to keep up to date with the political paradigm shifts in the world you would have noticed that the communist ideology that you are still clinging on to as proved by your actions of killing opposition party supporters died and got buried ceremoniously when the Berlin Wall was torn down. You would also have noticed that democracy became the accepted ideology the world over and rightfully so because it is full of so much goodness. It respects the life of human beings and has policies that ensure that there is peace and happiness among the people. If for one one day you had cared to stop and ponder you would have thrown your, "I know everything," complacent and arrogant attitude out of the window and changed your communist leadership style and applied democracy into this village. You know what grandpa, if you think I am making a lot of sense, you have got a chance to make things right again in this village by swallowing your pride and calling for fresh fair democratic elections as early as February or March next year, 2009. Doing so will save a lot of villagers' lives who are living with the danger of the probability of dying from cholera and hunger if you remain in power. If you do decide on calling for fresh new elections I advise you to keep your over-zealous youth militia on a leash so that they don't unleash violence on to the the opposition parties supporters. Tell them in no uncertain terms that you will not tolerate any violence during the campaign period or after the election results have been announced and repeat it over and over again so that it gets through to their dull brains.
Let me conclude my letter by telling you grandpa that I respect you for liberating us from the foreign settlers and will always do so in spite of everything that you have done wrong since then. I refuse to judge you for your wrong doings, will leave God to do the judging. I will forgive you for your indifference as your helpers let the village go down the drain with their gross corruption and incompetence and as the villagers died of hunger and cholera, if you make this one right move and save the village from total collapse. My late Grandma Sarai, your late wife loved humanity and I am sure she would have agreed with me on this way forward. Please if you can't do it for me your granddaughter whom you hate for always coming up with controversial topics, do it for the memory of your late wife who loved you a lot. Please grandpa I plead you to do it for the innocent lives of the villagers who have suffered enough and expect you to be humane enough as to be sympathetic to their pathetic plight.
Grandpa even though you disowned me for the mere reason that I talk to much and have always been the one to argue with you concerning your tyrannical dictatorship, I remain your grand-daughter.
Yours sincerely
Muzukuru Stillwaters
Dear Grandpa
Grandpa we know how the communists poisoned your mind with their Marxist/Leninist theories of a one party state, when they were providing you with guns which you used to liberate us from the foreign settlers who had settled in our village. We know how they made you believe that having a one party state would unite all the villagers. They were wrong grandpa. What unites the citizens of any village is not the one party system, but freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom from abductions, freedom from detention without trial, respect of human rights, respect for the independence of the judiciary, free enterprise, equal opportunities, fair competition and a reasonable profit motive. Give these things to the people of our village grandpa and they will feel liberated and will be united in peace. Give them a one party system and they will feel oppressed and unhappy and where there is unhappiness there is disunity. Nowhere on earth has the one party state brought about national unity. For 72 years the USSR tried to use the one party system, the Communist Party, to unite all the 15 Republics but it failed. Ever since you got the chieftainship , 28 years ago, you have been trying to implement the one party system grandpa and it is clear that you are failing. In consequence of which you resort to strong arm methods like state organised murders, abductions and detentions without trial, gross violation of human rights, censorship of the press, rigging of elections and so forth just so as to kill all forms of opposition and maintain a one party system. Please grandpa get it into your head that a one party system does not work and it will never work no matter how desperate you want it to work. Allow other political parties in the village grandpa and let them contest you in fair democratic elections for chieftainship in peace, without intimidations, killings, tortures or detentions and gracefully admit defeat if you are defeated. Learn to let go the chieftainship position grandpa and get it into your head that the fact that you liberated the village from foreign settlers, doesn't mean that you have to rule the village until Kingdom come.
Grandpa if you had cared to keep up to date with the political paradigm shifts in the world you would have noticed that the communist ideology that you are still clinging on to as proved by your actions of killing opposition party supporters died and got buried ceremoniously when the Berlin Wall was torn down. You would also have noticed that democracy became the accepted ideology the world over and rightfully so because it is full of so much goodness. It respects the life of human beings and has policies that ensure that there is peace and happiness among the people. If for one one day you had cared to stop and ponder you would have thrown your, "I know everything," complacent and arrogant attitude out of the window and changed your communist leadership style and applied democracy into this village. You know what grandpa, if you think I am making a lot of sense, you have got a chance to make things right again in this village by swallowing your pride and calling for fresh fair democratic elections as early as February or March next year, 2009. Doing so will save a lot of villagers' lives who are living with the danger of the probability of dying from cholera and hunger if you remain in power. If you do decide on calling for fresh new elections I advise you to keep your over-zealous youth militia on a leash so that they don't unleash violence on to the the opposition parties supporters. Tell them in no uncertain terms that you will not tolerate any violence during the campaign period or after the election results have been announced and repeat it over and over again so that it gets through to their dull brains.
Let me conclude my letter by telling you grandpa that I respect you for liberating us from the foreign settlers and will always do so in spite of everything that you have done wrong since then. I refuse to judge you for your wrong doings, will leave God to do the judging. I will forgive you for your indifference as your helpers let the village go down the drain with their gross corruption and incompetence and as the villagers died of hunger and cholera, if you make this one right move and save the village from total collapse. My late Grandma Sarai, your late wife loved humanity and I am sure she would have agreed with me on this way forward. Please if you can't do it for me your granddaughter whom you hate for always coming up with controversial topics, do it for the memory of your late wife who loved you a lot. Please grandpa I plead you to do it for the innocent lives of the villagers who have suffered enough and expect you to be humane enough as to be sympathetic to their pathetic plight.
Grandpa even though you disowned me for the mere reason that I talk to much and have always been the one to argue with you concerning your tyrannical dictatorship, I remain your grand-daughter.
Yours sincerely
Muzukuru Stillwaters
Saturday, December 20, 2008
Christmas wishes versus the reality
Christmas is just around the corner. In an ideal world Christmas is a time of celebration with happiness and family togetherness. This year in Zimbabwe the reality at Christmas will stand out in stark contrast to the ideal Christmas because of the economic collapse in the country.
This morning as I lay awake in my sheets watching the breaking dawn from my bedroom window, I couldn't help but day dream about the Christmas I wish I could have this year. I got carried away thinking about past Christmases during the years of plenty when there was lots of celebratory food & wine, when I could afford to buy presents for all my close relatives & when we could afford to visit a holiday resort during Christmas time. All that was stolen from us by hyper-inflation, all we are left with are cherished memories of how it used to be and it is those memories that our hope feeds on and make us soldier on through the suffering without breaking down, with the hope that one day soon we will be able to live those memories again.
Here are my memories of past Christmases in pictures.
I wish for a heaven on earth this Christmas and I have faith that God will give me that heaven that I wish for maybe not in the earthly realm but definately in my heart
as I give my children, my dad and my brothers all the love that I have got in my heart that I could not express in the form of Christmas presents. In our family we intend to make this year's Christmas be full of the normal love & happiness and have fun even in the absence of anything to celebrate the day with.
I intend to spend the day quietly in the confines of my apartment doing the things I always enjoy doing. Like waking up my two daughters with a pillow fight, giving each other the small but full of love gifts that we sacrificed to get for each other and then telling them how I am the next person after Jesus who loves them, going to church with Grandpa and after church finding a quiet place to sit in the garden and meditate or do some soul-searching, playing with my daughters in the garden if the weather permits, then go back home to watch TV, water my lovely indoor plants, pamper myself with a relaxing bath and finally before I go to bed I will get online with my laptop and get in touch with Asha the love of my love who is in a very faraway land and couldn't come to join us this Christmas.
This to most of you, might seem like a boring way to spend Christmas but to me with love, peace and happiness surrounding me it will be a heaven on earth amid the rubble that Zimbabwe, the country I live in has become.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Grandpa can't you see that your time is up.
DISCLAIMER
This story is pure fiction about my Grandpa Hamudiamwe and no one else. Any resemblance it might have to your own Zimbabwean or African grandpa or any person you know is pure coincidence. Therefore all forms of intelligence should take it as such, a fiction story about Grandpa Hamudiamwe and no one else so that they don't make me disappear into thin air like Jestina Mukoko.
I have a grandpa who is 84years old and is chief of our village. He should be relaxed in an aged people's home by now but is still holding on to the threads of power in our village albeit against the majority of the clan's and most of the villagers' wishes. Twenty-eight years ago grandpa liberated the village from foreigners who had taken over the village and in so doing won the hearts of many villagers which is why back then the villagers voted him to be the chief of the village. As chief of the village he appointed helpers to help him run the village efficiently and most of these helpers were incompetent people whose only credentials were being a war hero. The result was that instead of developing the village, the helpers became corrupt and ran down the village into a total mess. Hospitals closed, schools became playing grounds, the water in the village became so dirty and germ-infested that it caused cholera among many other diseases, energy to cook with and use in the industries in the village became scarce resulting in production in the industries being ground to a standstill, roads became filled with potholes, the village which used to be very clean became a health hazard and to make things worse ethics and professionalism in the uniformed forces flew out of the window and resulted in no rule of law in the land. The most prominent thing grandpa did for the village during his reign was takeover farms from the foreigners who had settled in the village many decades ago and gave those farms to the local villagers. According to him it is that fact and not his corrupt and incompetent helpers that has caused the total mess the village is in because he says the foreign settlers and their relatives overseas then started acting vindictively towards the village system. Most of those villagers that he gave the farms to did not fully utilise the farms and the result was hunger in the village.
If Grandpa was a democrat, he would not hold it against me if I were to tell him point blank the mistakes he made when he was at the helm but he happens to have been indoctrinated so strongly by the communists who helped him liberate the village, such that he doesn't take kindly to rebukes or anyone saying anything against him. It is those Marxist/Leninist theories of a one party state that the communists instilled into his head that has caused a lot of blood to be shed during his reign because he believes in killing the opposition so as to maintain a one party state. At one time another tribe in the village didn't want to unite with him and his tribe to make a one party state and he ordered that many members of that tribe be butchered mercilessly in ways that are so inhumane and would cause those of a nervous disposition to have heart attacks. The head of that tribe and members of the tribe were then left with no option but to unite with him and his tribe so as to save the people's lives. Then there was the time when he was voted out of power and decided to cling to the power by unfair means, ordering his followers to cheat during the vote counts so that there is a repeat of the voting process. He then unleashed a campaign of terror in the village so as to intimidate the villagers to vote for him in the next round of voting. The result was the opponent withdrawing from the voting process so as to save people's lives. Under his rule, many people's lives have been lost due to their involvement in village politics and it is that fact that makes the villagers fear him more than they fear a pack of lions.
As I write this, people in the village are dying from hunger and cholera and grandpa is acting indifferently torwards that fact. It pains me to see my fellow villagers in pain, suffering and dying and knowing that this will continue as long as Grandpa continues to cling onto power. Most of the other villages in the land are fed-up with Grandpa and his communist actions, just as most of the people in the village he rules are fed-up with him, but no one dares tell him that to his face. Can't he see that he has overstayed his welcome? I bet it is the sturborn and "by ginya" gene he inherited from his Malawian dad who must have been related to Dr Kamuzu Banda that makes him ignore the fact that he is no longer wanted. I wonder were he put his pride. If he had any pride and a sense of honour he wouldn't cling to the chieftainship when he knows very well that he is no longer wanted.
"Grandpa can't you see that your time is up," I long to tell him those words but am afraid to because most people who tried telling him that are now either Saints in heaven or ghosts roaming the dark streets and his residence during the night.
This story is pure fiction about my Grandpa Hamudiamwe and no one else. Any resemblance it might have to your own Zimbabwean or African grandpa or any person you know is pure coincidence. Therefore all forms of intelligence should take it as such, a fiction story about Grandpa Hamudiamwe and no one else so that they don't make me disappear into thin air like Jestina Mukoko.
I have a grandpa who is 84years old and is chief of our village. He should be relaxed in an aged people's home by now but is still holding on to the threads of power in our village albeit against the majority of the clan's and most of the villagers' wishes. Twenty-eight years ago grandpa liberated the village from foreigners who had taken over the village and in so doing won the hearts of many villagers which is why back then the villagers voted him to be the chief of the village. As chief of the village he appointed helpers to help him run the village efficiently and most of these helpers were incompetent people whose only credentials were being a war hero. The result was that instead of developing the village, the helpers became corrupt and ran down the village into a total mess. Hospitals closed, schools became playing grounds, the water in the village became so dirty and germ-infested that it caused cholera among many other diseases, energy to cook with and use in the industries in the village became scarce resulting in production in the industries being ground to a standstill, roads became filled with potholes, the village which used to be very clean became a health hazard and to make things worse ethics and professionalism in the uniformed forces flew out of the window and resulted in no rule of law in the land. The most prominent thing grandpa did for the village during his reign was takeover farms from the foreigners who had settled in the village many decades ago and gave those farms to the local villagers. According to him it is that fact and not his corrupt and incompetent helpers that has caused the total mess the village is in because he says the foreign settlers and their relatives overseas then started acting vindictively towards the village system. Most of those villagers that he gave the farms to did not fully utilise the farms and the result was hunger in the village.
If Grandpa was a democrat, he would not hold it against me if I were to tell him point blank the mistakes he made when he was at the helm but he happens to have been indoctrinated so strongly by the communists who helped him liberate the village, such that he doesn't take kindly to rebukes or anyone saying anything against him. It is those Marxist/Leninist theories of a one party state that the communists instilled into his head that has caused a lot of blood to be shed during his reign because he believes in killing the opposition so as to maintain a one party state. At one time another tribe in the village didn't want to unite with him and his tribe to make a one party state and he ordered that many members of that tribe be butchered mercilessly in ways that are so inhumane and would cause those of a nervous disposition to have heart attacks. The head of that tribe and members of the tribe were then left with no option but to unite with him and his tribe so as to save the people's lives. Then there was the time when he was voted out of power and decided to cling to the power by unfair means, ordering his followers to cheat during the vote counts so that there is a repeat of the voting process. He then unleashed a campaign of terror in the village so as to intimidate the villagers to vote for him in the next round of voting. The result was the opponent withdrawing from the voting process so as to save people's lives. Under his rule, many people's lives have been lost due to their involvement in village politics and it is that fact that makes the villagers fear him more than they fear a pack of lions.
As I write this, people in the village are dying from hunger and cholera and grandpa is acting indifferently torwards that fact. It pains me to see my fellow villagers in pain, suffering and dying and knowing that this will continue as long as Grandpa continues to cling onto power. Most of the other villages in the land are fed-up with Grandpa and his communist actions, just as most of the people in the village he rules are fed-up with him, but no one dares tell him that to his face. Can't he see that he has overstayed his welcome? I bet it is the sturborn and "by ginya" gene he inherited from his Malawian dad who must have been related to Dr Kamuzu Banda that makes him ignore the fact that he is no longer wanted. I wonder were he put his pride. If he had any pride and a sense of honour he wouldn't cling to the chieftainship when he knows very well that he is no longer wanted.
"Grandpa can't you see that your time is up," I long to tell him those words but am afraid to because most people who tried telling him that are now either Saints in heaven or ghosts roaming the dark streets and his residence during the night.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
The road to soul-searching .
One of the maxims my late mother used to nurture us into virtuous, respectable people was, "Let your life speak." What I found so fascinating about this particular maxim among the many that she used to raise us up into children she could be proud of, is that, to me its meaning kept changing as I grew up.
My early youth understanding of "Let your life speak" led me to conjure up the highest values I could imagine and then try to conform my life to them. I thought it meant, "Let the highest truths and values guide you." I lined up the loftiest ideals I could find and set out to achieve them. Of paramount importance during those formative years was the need to make my parents proud of me not necessarily what would make me be proud of myself. Somehow I got the idea that my life had to speak good to my parents only. The results were admirable, often laughable, and sometimes grotesque but they managed to build a good foundation for my character.
In my teens the maxim, "Let your life speak," retained the meaning of my early youth and added on to it what my peers would applaud. Things like fashion, latest hairstyles, latest music cassetes, reading the latest novels and seeing the latest films. The need to be accepted and belong to a peer group became incorporated into, "Let your life speak." So most of the time what I would do as a teenager wasn't really what deep down in my heart I felt I wanted to do but what my parents and my peers would approve of. But always they were unreal, a distortion of my true self--as must be the case when one lives from the outside in, not the inside out. I had simply found a "noble" way to live my life without taking consideration of what the person that is me wanted.
In my married years the meaning of the maxim , "Let your life speak," added on to it what my husband and his clan would approve and discarded peer dependent values that I had added during my teen years. I was determined to make my marriage work and so followed what the older women in my clan had advised me was the ideal behaviour that was expected from a married woman according to our culture. "Let your life speak," then meant letting my life speak good to my husband and the society. The real person that is me became hidden as I tried to conform to the norms of a Zimbabwean marriage. The results were rarely appreciated and my soul was disturbed, true peace and happiness eluded me and as long as I did things without asking myself what I wanted first I felt suppressed. There may be moments in life when we are so unformed that we need to use society norms and culture like an exoskeleton to keep us going and when doing so doesn't bring us happiness we are bound to revolt. Trying to live by an abstract norm, will invariably fail--and may even do great damage
By all appearances, things were going well, but the soul does not put much stock in appearances. Seeking a path more purposeful than accumulating wealth, holding power, winning at competition, or securing a career, I had started to understand that it is indeed possible to live a life other than one's own. Fearful that I was doing just that, I would snap awake in the middle of the night and stare for long hours at the ceiling. My aunt had advised me that a good woman was supposed to tolerate violence from her husband as part of marriage and keep quiet if the husband acted irresponsibly but that was not how I wanted my husband to treat me. True self, when violated, will always resist us, sometimes at great cost, the cost to me was my marriage but I have no regrets.
Today, "Let your life speak" means something else to me, a meaning faithful both to the ambiguity of those words and to the complexity of my own experience. I learnt that before I let my life speak I have to do some soul-searching & know what I want
from life, not what my peers or the society want, or else my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my intentions. My new meaning of, "Let your life speak," came from my realisation that everyone has a life that is different from the "I" of daily consciousness, a life that is trying to live
through the "I" who is its vessel. It takes time and hard experience to sense the difference between the two, to sense that running beneath the surface of the experience I call my life, there is a deeper and truer life waiting to be acknowledged. If I am to let my life speak things I want to hear, things I would gladly tell others, I must also let it speak things I do not want to hear and would never tell anyone else! My life is not only about my strengths and virtues, it is also about my liabilities and my limits, my trespasses and my shadow. An inevitable though often ignored dimension of the quest for "wholeness" is that we must embrace what we dislike or find shameful about ourselves as well as what we are confident and proud of. I do not feel despondent about my mistakes, though I grieve the pain they have sometimes caused others. Our lives are "experiments with truth" and in an experiment, negative results are at least as important as success. I have no idea how I would have learned the truth about myself and my calling without the mistakes I have made.
Listening to what my soul wanted became the key to letting my life speak. The soul speaks its truth only under quiet, inviting, and trustworthy conditions. The soul is not responsive to subpoenas or cross-examinations. At best it will stand in the dock only long enough to plead the Fifth Amendment. At worst it will jump bail and never be heard from again. The soul speaks its truth only under quiet, inviting, and
trustworthy conditions and the onus was on me to create such conditions for my soul.
The soul is like a wild animal, tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out. But if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious soul we seek. In the many hours of solitude I spent as I tried to use solitude as an antidote to loneliness I managed to make my soul emerge for a time long enough for me to search it for answers about the road that my life had to lead. The result was this pursuit for peace, love and happiness that my blog is all about.
My early youth understanding of "Let your life speak" led me to conjure up the highest values I could imagine and then try to conform my life to them. I thought it meant, "Let the highest truths and values guide you." I lined up the loftiest ideals I could find and set out to achieve them. Of paramount importance during those formative years was the need to make my parents proud of me not necessarily what would make me be proud of myself. Somehow I got the idea that my life had to speak good to my parents only. The results were admirable, often laughable, and sometimes grotesque but they managed to build a good foundation for my character.
In my teens the maxim, "Let your life speak," retained the meaning of my early youth and added on to it what my peers would applaud. Things like fashion, latest hairstyles, latest music cassetes, reading the latest novels and seeing the latest films. The need to be accepted and belong to a peer group became incorporated into, "Let your life speak." So most of the time what I would do as a teenager wasn't really what deep down in my heart I felt I wanted to do but what my parents and my peers would approve of. But always they were unreal, a distortion of my true self--as must be the case when one lives from the outside in, not the inside out. I had simply found a "noble" way to live my life without taking consideration of what the person that is me wanted.
In my married years the meaning of the maxim , "Let your life speak," added on to it what my husband and his clan would approve and discarded peer dependent values that I had added during my teen years. I was determined to make my marriage work and so followed what the older women in my clan had advised me was the ideal behaviour that was expected from a married woman according to our culture. "Let your life speak," then meant letting my life speak good to my husband and the society. The real person that is me became hidden as I tried to conform to the norms of a Zimbabwean marriage. The results were rarely appreciated and my soul was disturbed, true peace and happiness eluded me and as long as I did things without asking myself what I wanted first I felt suppressed. There may be moments in life when we are so unformed that we need to use society norms and culture like an exoskeleton to keep us going and when doing so doesn't bring us happiness we are bound to revolt. Trying to live by an abstract norm, will invariably fail--and may even do great damage
By all appearances, things were going well, but the soul does not put much stock in appearances. Seeking a path more purposeful than accumulating wealth, holding power, winning at competition, or securing a career, I had started to understand that it is indeed possible to live a life other than one's own. Fearful that I was doing just that, I would snap awake in the middle of the night and stare for long hours at the ceiling. My aunt had advised me that a good woman was supposed to tolerate violence from her husband as part of marriage and keep quiet if the husband acted irresponsibly but that was not how I wanted my husband to treat me. True self, when violated, will always resist us, sometimes at great cost, the cost to me was my marriage but I have no regrets.
Today, "Let your life speak" means something else to me, a meaning faithful both to the ambiguity of those words and to the complexity of my own experience. I learnt that before I let my life speak I have to do some soul-searching & know what I want
from life, not what my peers or the society want, or else my life will never represent anything real in the world, no matter how earnest my intentions. My new meaning of, "Let your life speak," came from my realisation that everyone has a life that is different from the "I" of daily consciousness, a life that is trying to live
through the "I" who is its vessel. It takes time and hard experience to sense the difference between the two, to sense that running beneath the surface of the experience I call my life, there is a deeper and truer life waiting to be acknowledged. If I am to let my life speak things I want to hear, things I would gladly tell others, I must also let it speak things I do not want to hear and would never tell anyone else! My life is not only about my strengths and virtues, it is also about my liabilities and my limits, my trespasses and my shadow. An inevitable though often ignored dimension of the quest for "wholeness" is that we must embrace what we dislike or find shameful about ourselves as well as what we are confident and proud of. I do not feel despondent about my mistakes, though I grieve the pain they have sometimes caused others. Our lives are "experiments with truth" and in an experiment, negative results are at least as important as success. I have no idea how I would have learned the truth about myself and my calling without the mistakes I have made.
Listening to what my soul wanted became the key to letting my life speak. The soul speaks its truth only under quiet, inviting, and trustworthy conditions. The soul is not responsive to subpoenas or cross-examinations. At best it will stand in the dock only long enough to plead the Fifth Amendment. At worst it will jump bail and never be heard from again. The soul speaks its truth only under quiet, inviting, and
trustworthy conditions and the onus was on me to create such conditions for my soul.
The soul is like a wild animal, tough, resilient, savvy, self-sufficient, and yet exceedingly shy. If we want to see a wild animal, the last thing we should do is to go crashing through the woods, shouting for the creature to come out. But if we are willing to walk quietly into the woods and sit silently for an hour or two at the base of a tree, the creature we are waiting for may well emerge, and out of the corner of an eye we will catch a glimpse of the precious soul we seek. In the many hours of solitude I spent as I tried to use solitude as an antidote to loneliness I managed to make my soul emerge for a time long enough for me to search it for answers about the road that my life had to lead. The result was this pursuit for peace, love and happiness that my blog is all about.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Friends like these make the world worth living.
On finding out that I was hurting & on the verge of breaking up with Dumi, my friends Chipo, Agnes, Clemencia , Babra & Monika, (who normally comment on this blog but are not doing so these days because they want to do so over the Christmas holiday when they are relaxed at home and using my blog as a source of entertainment) teamed up through communication technologies and came up with a, "sorry you broke up" card, (even though we hadn't broken up yet, it was their way of urging me to break-up with him ) on which they wrote some very beautiful words that touched my soul. They knew that behind the bravado facade my heart was hurting. These are the kind of sweet words that I can't help but share with you readers of this blog.
AGNES WROTE,
Just because God is still preparing your King doesn't mean that you aren't already a Queen.
Just because no man has shown up who can love you on your level doesn't mean that you have to stoop to their level.
CHIPO WROTE,
Just because most men feel threatened by your above average intelligence and the high standards you set for yourself doesn't mean that you have to pretend to be mediocre-minded and lower your standards.
Just because no man has been smart enough to realize the true love that you are capable of giving and receiving doesn't mean that you are not worthy to be loved.
CLEMENCIA WROTE,
Just because you haven't been fortunate enough to meet your Mr Right yet doesn't mean that your Mr Right is dead, he is out there somewhere and the two of you will eventually meet.
Just because Dumi cheated on you with Dudu doesn't mean the next man who comes into your life will do the same.
BABRA WROTE,
Just because you are alone & lonely now doesn't mean that you will remain alone & lonely forever and die a lonely old maiden.
Just because God hasn't shown you your soulmate yet doesn't mean that he won't show you your soulmate in your lifetime.
MONIKA WROTE,
You are always in my heart and in my thoughts and in my prayers. Sorry to read, that you are on your own again. Welcome to the club! I wish there was nobody joining.
When I read those words I felt choked up, overwhelmed with how my friends always rally around me in my time of greatest need. Just when I thought I was alone once again in this world, my friends showed up to declare their love for me and their support. Dealing with the loss of a relationship, even if it ends by your own choosing, is never easy. There are feelings of anger, sorrow and blame to sort out, as well as new choices and a new relationship to face without letting it be affected by past wounds, past baggage. These friends of mine have been my daily companions, helping me ease the difficult period from having a relationship with someone to being out of the relationship & feeling alone. (even though Dumi still swore that he loved me with words though his actions said otherwise) From coping with the pain of being cheated on, to discovering new ways to love and nurture myself, from tackling feelings of despair and confusion to learning to enjoy the present moment.
With friends like these, it is no wonder that I feel so appreciated, loved and happy
to be in this world even amid the rubble that Zimbabwe has become. I love my friends Agnes, Chipo, Clemencia, Babra & Monika for being there for me.
AGNES WROTE,Just because God is still preparing your King doesn't mean that you aren't already a Queen.
Just because no man has shown up who can love you on your level doesn't mean that you have to stoop to their level.
CHIPO WROTE,Just because most men feel threatened by your above average intelligence and the high standards you set for yourself doesn't mean that you have to pretend to be mediocre-minded and lower your standards.
Just because no man has been smart enough to realize the true love that you are capable of giving and receiving doesn't mean that you are not worthy to be loved.
CLEMENCIA WROTE,Just because you haven't been fortunate enough to meet your Mr Right yet doesn't mean that your Mr Right is dead, he is out there somewhere and the two of you will eventually meet.
Just because Dumi cheated on you with Dudu doesn't mean the next man who comes into your life will do the same.
BABRA WROTE, Just because you are alone & lonely now doesn't mean that you will remain alone & lonely forever and die a lonely old maiden.
Just because God hasn't shown you your soulmate yet doesn't mean that he won't show you your soulmate in your lifetime.
MONIKA WROTE,You are always in my heart and in my thoughts and in my prayers. Sorry to read, that you are on your own again. Welcome to the club! I wish there was nobody joining.
When I read those words I felt choked up, overwhelmed with how my friends always rally around me in my time of greatest need. Just when I thought I was alone once again in this world, my friends showed up to declare their love for me and their support. Dealing with the loss of a relationship, even if it ends by your own choosing, is never easy. There are feelings of anger, sorrow and blame to sort out, as well as new choices and a new relationship to face without letting it be affected by past wounds, past baggage. These friends of mine have been my daily companions, helping me ease the difficult period from having a relationship with someone to being out of the relationship & feeling alone. (even though Dumi still swore that he loved me with words though his actions said otherwise) From coping with the pain of being cheated on, to discovering new ways to love and nurture myself, from tackling feelings of despair and confusion to learning to enjoy the present moment. 
With friends like these, it is no wonder that I feel so appreciated, loved and happy
to be in this world even amid the rubble that Zimbabwe has become. I love my friends Agnes, Chipo, Clemencia, Babra & Monika for being there for me.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Zimbabweans are crossing the thin line between love & hate
It is exactly three months after the signing of the Government of National Unity (GNU) deal on the 15th of September and yet nothing has come out of it. It has proved
to be a Going Nowhere Union. As I went down memory lane to the euphoria following the signing of that deal I couldn't help remembering the article I wrote on my blog soon after the signing of the deal which was entitled, "A penny for my thoughts." If you read that article and its comments you will remember this part of a comment on that article when I was advising the GNU leaders. "My word to Mr Prime Minister is that we know that you are not very learned but we believe that one doesn't have to be very learned for one to be able to run a country. As long as you choose the right intelligent people to advise you and to run the key ministries you are home and dry. Make sure that power doesn't go into your head and make you arrogant and refuse to listen to advice. Also remember that your strength lies in the fact that most Zimbabweans love you because you are in touch with the plight of the ordinary Zimbabweans. Always remember that there is a very thin line between love and hate so if you want most Zimbabweans to continue loving you, make sure you remain in touch with the ordinary people's needs and deliver those needs. Zanu PF has always labelled you as a puppet of the West and how you handle the issue of land redistribution will determine whether they were right or not. Everyone will be watching that issue very closely and it is an issue that can make or break you. Let me conclude by thanking you Mr Prime Minister for bringing democracy back into Zimbabwe. Had it not been for you I wouldn't have the freedom to write all this on my blog and the comments from my friends wouldn't be so frank and straight to the point. With these few words of advice I rest my case."
When I made that comment I had hope that the signed GNU deal was going to be implemented. Anyway the point I am trying to make is that it seems Tsvangirai did not heed my advice. His slow reaction to the cholera pandemic & the hunger ravaging the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans has caused many of his supporters to cross the thin line from love to hate. His refusal to come back home from Botswana citing the fact that he has no passport has made even more of his supporters to cross the thin line between love and hate. If he managed to go to Botswana without a passport, he can easily come back home without a passport. Zimbabweans see that as running away from them at a time when they need him most, a time when they are dying and would want their leader to be there for them right there on the ground & not remotely. Showing concern and organising medicines and food supplies for them. What Tsvangirai is forgetting is that his power lies in the people who support him and he should always make sure that he is addressing the problems in those people who support him. The fact that the equitable power sharing deal has not been agreed upon is no excuse to desert his supporters. Many Zimbabwean intellectuals have always thought that Tsvangirai is not President material due to the fact that he is not very learned and that fact affects his reasoning power but they still rallied behind him because he is a better devil than Mugabe who allowed his ministers to run down the country when he was in power. Besides, Tsvangirai was the only other credible election candidate because Simba Makoni had lost timing to announce his divorce from Zanu PF & his candidacy in the elections so people were left with no option but to support Tsvangirai. It seems, that support has gone into his head and made him loose focus so it is about time we tell him the truth that most people support him only because there is no other party besides the unpopular Zanu PF party and not because they think he is fit to be President. If he wants people to continue supporting him he should maximise his one strong point & show his love for ordinary Zimbabweans instead of running away to Botswana every time the ordinary Zimbabweans have major problems in their lives. It is not the first time he has done that, if you remember well he did that again soon after the 29th of March 2008 elections when Zanu PF green bomber militia started perpetrating gross violence to his supporters in the rural areas. While his supporters in the villages were being killed, maimed and beaten up for supporting him, he was in hiding in Botswana and South Africa. If a leader shows such cowardice by running away and not standing up to defend his supporters, it is no wonder that his followers follow suit and rarely stand up to defend their rights. He is instilling the cowardish behaviour into his supporters of taking flight or hiding when things get tough instead of standing up & fighting. The situation here in Zimbabwe is going to continue to get worse through his strategy of waiting for Zimbabwe to collapse totally, (whilst he & his family live lavishly in Botswana)hoping that it is only then that the Mugabe regime will relinquish power to him. The question is has he taken consideration of what the ordinary people want? Do ordinary Zimbabweans want to continue suffering until the country totally collapses and most of their relatives have died from hunger and cholera, so as to pave way for his getting into power.? Does he honestly think that he is so great that his getting into power is more important than the lives of Zimbabweans who are dying as he waits patiently for the country to collapse.? Is he worth dying for? I am not saying that he should submit to SADC or Mugabe's unfair demands in the power-sharing deal, all I am saying is that he shouldn't sit on his laurels just because an equitable power sharing deal hasn't been signed. He should be seen to be working here in Zimbabwe towards making sure that the hunger and cholera human catastrophes in the country that are affecting the ordinary Zimbabweans who love or loved him have been eliminated.
Let me conclude this article by telling you about a certain American whose arrogance and pride when he tasted power caused his downfall. The press called this particular American a "fallen power figure," after his arrogance and pride forced his resignation from a top political advisory post in Washington DC. Looking back on how it all happened the man said, "I started out being excited working for the President, then I became arrogant, then I became grandiose and then I became self-destructive. I am prone to being infatuated with power and believing that the rules do not apply to me." An Associated Press article said that during the months leading up to his resignation, he ignored his workmates' advice, his friends' advice, his supporters' needs, his wife's advice as well as the rules.
That man's story is the trap that I see Tsvangirai falling into if he allows pride to shape his attitude and determine his actions instead of embracing humility in his life. As he reads this article his pride might say, "Rubbish I don't want to hear it", but wisdom will say, "You are close to the edge, humble yourself, stop & listen." If he is wise he will listen to this advice and make sure that from now onwards his behaviour, actions and reactions will not cause more supporters to cross the thin line between loving him and hating him.
The reason I wrote this article is because I don't want to nurture a dictator by not pointing out when a leader does something wrong. I urge all Zimbabweans not to repeat the mistake they did with Mugabe of not telling him when he was in the wrong and in so doing nurturing him into a dictator. Let us all learn to point out to our leaders the areas were they go wrong instead of keeping quiet and letting them neglect us or do as they please with our country and our lives.
to be a Going Nowhere Union. As I went down memory lane to the euphoria following the signing of that deal I couldn't help remembering the article I wrote on my blog soon after the signing of the deal which was entitled, "A penny for my thoughts." If you read that article and its comments you will remember this part of a comment on that article when I was advising the GNU leaders. "My word to Mr Prime Minister is that we know that you are not very learned but we believe that one doesn't have to be very learned for one to be able to run a country. As long as you choose the right intelligent people to advise you and to run the key ministries you are home and dry. Make sure that power doesn't go into your head and make you arrogant and refuse to listen to advice. Also remember that your strength lies in the fact that most Zimbabweans love you because you are in touch with the plight of the ordinary Zimbabweans. Always remember that there is a very thin line between love and hate so if you want most Zimbabweans to continue loving you, make sure you remain in touch with the ordinary people's needs and deliver those needs. Zanu PF has always labelled you as a puppet of the West and how you handle the issue of land redistribution will determine whether they were right or not. Everyone will be watching that issue very closely and it is an issue that can make or break you. Let me conclude by thanking you Mr Prime Minister for bringing democracy back into Zimbabwe. Had it not been for you I wouldn't have the freedom to write all this on my blog and the comments from my friends wouldn't be so frank and straight to the point. With these few words of advice I rest my case."
When I made that comment I had hope that the signed GNU deal was going to be implemented. Anyway the point I am trying to make is that it seems Tsvangirai did not heed my advice. His slow reaction to the cholera pandemic & the hunger ravaging the lives of ordinary Zimbabweans has caused many of his supporters to cross the thin line from love to hate. His refusal to come back home from Botswana citing the fact that he has no passport has made even more of his supporters to cross the thin line between love and hate. If he managed to go to Botswana without a passport, he can easily come back home without a passport. Zimbabweans see that as running away from them at a time when they need him most, a time when they are dying and would want their leader to be there for them right there on the ground & not remotely. Showing concern and organising medicines and food supplies for them. What Tsvangirai is forgetting is that his power lies in the people who support him and he should always make sure that he is addressing the problems in those people who support him. The fact that the equitable power sharing deal has not been agreed upon is no excuse to desert his supporters. Many Zimbabwean intellectuals have always thought that Tsvangirai is not President material due to the fact that he is not very learned and that fact affects his reasoning power but they still rallied behind him because he is a better devil than Mugabe who allowed his ministers to run down the country when he was in power. Besides, Tsvangirai was the only other credible election candidate because Simba Makoni had lost timing to announce his divorce from Zanu PF & his candidacy in the elections so people were left with no option but to support Tsvangirai. It seems, that support has gone into his head and made him loose focus so it is about time we tell him the truth that most people support him only because there is no other party besides the unpopular Zanu PF party and not because they think he is fit to be President. If he wants people to continue supporting him he should maximise his one strong point & show his love for ordinary Zimbabweans instead of running away to Botswana every time the ordinary Zimbabweans have major problems in their lives. It is not the first time he has done that, if you remember well he did that again soon after the 29th of March 2008 elections when Zanu PF green bomber militia started perpetrating gross violence to his supporters in the rural areas. While his supporters in the villages were being killed, maimed and beaten up for supporting him, he was in hiding in Botswana and South Africa. If a leader shows such cowardice by running away and not standing up to defend his supporters, it is no wonder that his followers follow suit and rarely stand up to defend their rights. He is instilling the cowardish behaviour into his supporters of taking flight or hiding when things get tough instead of standing up & fighting. The situation here in Zimbabwe is going to continue to get worse through his strategy of waiting for Zimbabwe to collapse totally, (whilst he & his family live lavishly in Botswana)hoping that it is only then that the Mugabe regime will relinquish power to him. The question is has he taken consideration of what the ordinary people want? Do ordinary Zimbabweans want to continue suffering until the country totally collapses and most of their relatives have died from hunger and cholera, so as to pave way for his getting into power.? Does he honestly think that he is so great that his getting into power is more important than the lives of Zimbabweans who are dying as he waits patiently for the country to collapse.? Is he worth dying for? I am not saying that he should submit to SADC or Mugabe's unfair demands in the power-sharing deal, all I am saying is that he shouldn't sit on his laurels just because an equitable power sharing deal hasn't been signed. He should be seen to be working here in Zimbabwe towards making sure that the hunger and cholera human catastrophes in the country that are affecting the ordinary Zimbabweans who love or loved him have been eliminated.
Let me conclude this article by telling you about a certain American whose arrogance and pride when he tasted power caused his downfall. The press called this particular American a "fallen power figure," after his arrogance and pride forced his resignation from a top political advisory post in Washington DC. Looking back on how it all happened the man said, "I started out being excited working for the President, then I became arrogant, then I became grandiose and then I became self-destructive. I am prone to being infatuated with power and believing that the rules do not apply to me." An Associated Press article said that during the months leading up to his resignation, he ignored his workmates' advice, his friends' advice, his supporters' needs, his wife's advice as well as the rules.
That man's story is the trap that I see Tsvangirai falling into if he allows pride to shape his attitude and determine his actions instead of embracing humility in his life. As he reads this article his pride might say, "Rubbish I don't want to hear it", but wisdom will say, "You are close to the edge, humble yourself, stop & listen." If he is wise he will listen to this advice and make sure that from now onwards his behaviour, actions and reactions will not cause more supporters to cross the thin line between loving him and hating him.
The reason I wrote this article is because I don't want to nurture a dictator by not pointing out when a leader does something wrong. I urge all Zimbabweans not to repeat the mistake they did with Mugabe of not telling him when he was in the wrong and in so doing nurturing him into a dictator. Let us all learn to point out to our leaders the areas were they go wrong instead of keeping quiet and letting them neglect us or do as they please with our country and our lives.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Ten days to Christmas
The Christmas season has arrived in full force and all the world with one accord rejoices that God gave to men, a Saviour to save us from sin. The celebration of Christmas is people's way of making up for missing Jesus's birth. I personally think that you can't trully celebrate Christ's birth until you have invited him into your heart and a proper celebration has got nothing to do with presents, going to holiday resorts or eating lots of good food, it is about how you feel connected to Jesus in your heart as you celebrate his birth.
There are so many Christmas traditions that we follow without full knowledge of where they originated and their significance in relation to the birth of Christ. Wanting to find answers for everything in life is what I am known for and so I delved around for information that provides answers about some Christmas traditions.
I want to share that information with you.
1. Why do we have Christmas trees?
Legend has it that in ages past when miracles were the order of the day, a child seeking shelter on a bitter winter's night knocked at a forest hut. A woodcutter and his wife took in the child and fed him. Overnight, the boy turned into an angel- the Christ child- dressed in gold. As a reward for the couple's kindness, the child broke a twig from a fir tree and told them to plant it, promising that each Christmas it would bear fruit. And so it did, a crop of golden apples & silver nuts, the first Christmas tree. This legend originated in Germany and before long the now familiar sight of giant Christmas trees in public places and more modest ones in shops and homes was widespread. Nothing expresses the magic of Christmas more fully than a fir tree ablaze with light, shimmering with frost, real or artificial and crowned with a star. Christmas trees are beautiful but as we celebrate Christmas let us not let ourselves or our kids get lost in their beauty to the extend that they forget to celebrate the real meaning of Christmas, which is the birth of Jesus Christ.
2.Who is Santa Claus?
Santa Claus was a certain Bishop Nicholas of the Roman-ruled city of Myra in Asia Minor. He was renowned for his piety and gentleness, his gifts to the poor and his love of children. When he died in the year 326 he was declared a saint. St. Nicholas became known as Santa Claus from the Latin, Sanctus Nicholas which the dutch called Sinterklaas. Santa Claus became the jolly, red-robbed, "ho-ho-ho!" character of current tradition due to the image of St Nicholas wearing red and breeches and smoking a pipe that the early Dutch settlers in New York had on their ship. This image of Santa Claus was enhanced by an American writer and publisher, Washington Irving and later by Clement Clarke Moore who published a popular poem entitled, "Twas the night before Christmas." This poem depicted a chubby St Nicholas wearing a red costume and breeches and riding with his eight flying reindeer, squeezing down chimneys and filling children's stockings with toys. Finally in 1863, Harper's Illustrated Weekly published a cartoon in which Santa appeared as we know him today, complete with long white beard and a fur-trimmed coat.Santa Claus was indeed a man of great benevolence and generosity but let us not forget or let our children forget that Christmas is not about him, it is about the birth of Jesus Christ.
3. What is Boxing day all about?
The name Boxing Day originated from the medieval times when it was the day when priests emptied church alms, boxes of money given by parishioners at Christmas and distributed it to the poor. In prosperous homes, servants opened boxes that held tips saved during the year. In later years and up until now Boxing Day became the day when presents are given as some sort of tip for good behaviour or good work done throughout the year.
It feels good opening boxes of presents on Boxing day but we shouldn't look forward to that day more than we look forward to the day Jesus Christ was born and let us teach our children that the opening of presents on Boxing day is far less important than the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth.
Let me conclude this article by giving Charles Dickens the credit due to him for the gusto, merry-making and the awakening of loving and kind thoughts in people during the Christmas season, as families are united in a spirit of charity and love, that is the modern day Christmas. Charles Dickens caused the current jollity and spirit of goodwill during the Christmas season through his series of annual Christmas books entitled, "Christmas Carol."
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
