Last night before I went to bed I was reading an article from Susie Moore my favourite life coach, she recommends one must practice gratitude everyday. From form 3 up to form 6, I visited this municipality owned library six days a week. When in 1991 my mother bought a new house in the new township of Rujeko (Yellow City) next to Dombotombo Township, a 2bedroom house after my father died, the house did not have electricity for the first two years so going to library after school until it closed at 7pm was a good idea.
Most times she would rent out the other half of the house leaving two rooms for the 6 of us and cousins who came from the village looking for work as domestic workers in Marondera, it made sense to go to the library everyday it was open from Monday to Saturday. The librarians were very strict but they allowed us to bring our textbooks in. We would occupy the second room that didn’t have many books. During school holidays, we met students from some of the top schools such as Kutama college, Goromonzi High School, Marist Brothers Nyanga Boys High school etc and I realised they were not more bright than those of us going to township schools.
The last time I went to that library was in September 1998, I had joined the insurance industry in December 1997 and I was writing my second insurance exams. I took study leave and went to my mother’s home in Marondera. I would go to the library to study. I had already passed the first local insurance exams in March 1998 and now I had enrolled for two subjects with Insurance Institute of South Africa. It was very expensive raising the forex but I was determined to get the qualifications. That decision paid off, in 2002 I became a manager and in 2007 when the economic environment deteriorated in Zimbabwe, I and hundreds of my peers applied for work permits at the South African embassy in Harare and came to South Africa and joined the insurance industry and it was very easy to fit in.
I remember in September 1998 Zimbabwe was fighting in the DRC civil war, I could have become a soldier. From 1996, I had been a temporary teacher. Beginning of 1997 I was teaching at Kambarami Secondary School close to Murehwa Growth Point, my aunt Mrs Maposa asked me to come Sunningdale during the April school holidays so that I could help teach mathematics to my cousins. One day we visited my uncle Mr Farai Tsiga at his flat in Avondale very close to King George road, a walking day from Avondale Shopping Centre. Years later I would stay in Avondale for 4 years.
My uncle a war veteran was a Captain in the Zimbabwe National Army and he suggested that it would be a good idea for me to join the army and he would inform me when the officers’ recruitment commenced. I had no intention of joining the army, in my culture my uncle is considered my father and one doesn’t argue with his father. A contrast, in 1996 when the Airforce of Zimbabwe advertised for Cadet Pilots, becoming a pilot was enticing. I did apply and went for the interview at Manyame Airbase next to Harare International Airport and did the written tests in various subjects including general knowledge. I came unstuck in the Physics paper as I had studied Biology instead of Physics and I did not return the next day. Luckily we didn’t have cellphones then, my uncle phoned my school about twice around May/June 1997 and I never bothered to return his calls.
In July 1997, I left my teaching post as I desperately needed to be in Harare. At that time I was studying with Chartered Institute of Management Accountant and I would visit CIMA library in Harare at Michael House along Baker Avenue which was now renamed Nelson Mandela Avenue every weekend to compare notes with fellow CIMA students. After teaching for almost a year, I knew teaching was not for me. If I had finished school a year or two earlier, I could have qualified for the Cuba teacher training program I am sure I would have taken the offer as going to Cuba was enticing. In all my working life, I have never seen professional who are as demolarised as teachers. I joined NCR Zimbabwe as an apprentice in their printing division in the Southerton Harare, I took a 65% percent salary when I left teaching to go to Harare. I was staying with Maposa family in Sunningdale and I walked to and Southerton Industrialist site via Mbare Township and back home.
Eventually I got a big break in December 1997 when I was employed by Eagle Insurance as a Trainee Underwriter. A few days before Christmas my uncle Mr Tsiga was involved in a vehicle accident next to Mazoe Dam and died on the spot. I took unpaid leave to attend his funeral which was held at his parent’s home in Mufakose very close to Machembere bar. Sekuru Gibson my eldest cousin from my mother’s side also a war veterans and a former soldier then an aide to Vice President Simon Muzenda had also bought a house in the new government housing development next to Machembere bar. We boarded the bus to our village in Jekwa, Murehwa. My mum was already at the village. My uncle was buried at the top of the hill where all his clan is buried.
In February 2002, I would visit a funeral parlor very close to Dombotombo Library to choose a casket for my mother. Once I had selected the casket, MaNyoni’s uncle Mr Vhori brought a similar casket all the way from Harare. My mother always told me that hardwork and education would get me places and I had no choice but to believe her as she repeated this to us daily. I am so grateful for the journey I have travelled so far. I know of many of my peers some of them brighter than me but never made it 🙏🏿
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