What's In A Name

‘What’s in a name,that which we call a rose will smell just as sweet if called by another name’,William Shakespear wrote.

What's In A Name

Traditionally ,our names are supposed to depict some happening in our parents’ lives,Reval,Sarudzai,Makandionei,Dambudzo to name just a few of the names that hang around the necks of some Zimbos like a tire-necklace ,for those of you who are not aware, this is a sadistic form of punishment devised by the South Africans where they pour petrol into a used tire ,put it around a person before setting it alight. The victim dies an agonizing death. Unfortunately, most of these people with these traditional names somehow actually suffer as in the case of one called Nhamo (Suffering).Many a time these children with the hard-luck inspired names change these names to “acceptable” ones once they get a chance or when they start going to secondary school because we know that teenagers can be cruel if you don’t have a cool name, one can end up being bullied mercilessly.

This is the reason why some Zimbos end up with names like Kubi,an Anglicized version of the name Kubvoruno,which was deemed uncool by its owner. Usually we are in the habit of having two names one given at birth which is normally in the child’s mother tongue ,then another which is Christian inspired for the church baptism. These are the names that are normally adopted once one starts going to school or when they want to appear ‘cool’ names like; John,James,Peter,or Mischeck. Many a time these guys  with the ‘found names’ tend to ignore those who grew up with them should they accidentally meet and greet them using the hated “African” names.Of later there has been an upsurge of cool names which are inspired by celebrates like;Beyonce,Ronaldo,Alisha to name but A few.

A lot has been said about the need for our people to be conscious of where they come from by not many can withstand the need for them to appear cool in the eyes of their colleagues and peers.Peer pressure applies even too the aged,so a lot of less hardy types will cower to have their traditional names called in circles where they want to be regarded as being in with the program. In Lesotho, where I had the pleasure of living for quite some time ,a lot of children have English inspired traditional names like ;Paramente from Parliament,Lepolisa from a policeman or Lesole from the word soldier in English.I was unable to establish the thinking behind the names but suffice to say quite a few giggles were stifled at the mention of these names.But most importantly ,that is a nation which is in love of its culture,to the extent that most of the given names are in Sesotho- the mother tongue.

I rest my case, you be the judge.

The Power Of Positive Thoughts

I was fortunate to get the Pdf of the book; THINK AND GROW RICH  by Napolean Hill, from one member of a motivational group that I belong to, on Whatsapp.  After reading a few pages of the first chapter ,I have discovered the real reason why a lot of the ventures I have started have failed.

The Power Of Positive Thoughts

 I have discovered that we are what we are because of the thoughts that we have in our heads.In the year 2010,with just 500 rands in my pocket, I was fortunate enough to start a High school and within a month I had managed to have over a hundred students ,eight fully  employed members of staff.This was a result of the fact that I had been employed three years previous to that at a private school that was run by a man who was so irresponsible that he would spent the money that was  paid by the students as his private income instead of the fact that it was money for the running of the business. When later on in 2009 he had problems paying us our salaries ,I THOUGHT OF STARTING MY OWN SCHOOL.That thought was the seed that lead me to pool my resources and and talk to the disgruntled members of staff about my plans of starting my own schools. Most of them were really enthusiastic  about joining me. Because  I was determined and knew what I wanted, I was able to advertise ,register and start the school at the beginning of 2010.An investor came on board after I told him my vision, he put up the deposit for the premises which we were renting and the school was able to pay him  back within the first month of operating as well as pay rentals ,allowances for members of staff as well as buy stationery for the day-to- day running of the school.

After running the school for two years and having experienced the stress of fighting with my “partner” in the venture ,who would make it a point to sabotage me at every turn, I threw in the towel and walked away from the baby I had conceived in my mind and nurtured to its birth. With hindsight , I have discovered that the course of action I took was not the best one ,I should have stuck it out and found ways of running the “partner “ out of the business instead of giving up so easily. I was guilty of failing to persist and sustain the burning desire that I had when I thought of the business venture in the first place. Despite the fact that my erstwhile partner had turned into my enemy, I should have soldiered on.

Interestingly, He did try to run the venture on his own for a while but I was later told that it folded spectacularly. He did not have the vision nor the desire to carry out the project.How many of us have started projects only to abandon them at the first sign of trouble. Statistics show that most small businesses fail in the first two years of inception,This the period were one finds that there are a lot of teething problems ;from lack of funds to run the project, lack of expertise and maybe not having the clientele for the business.

The Case Of Mistaken Identity

Whilst standing outside one of the major banks in Harare, I was accosted by a young lady with a toddler in tow, at first I thought that she was one of the ladies who have perfected the art of begging,who regularly swindle gullible people out of their hard earned cash by telling them tall tales of hard luck so that they can part with a few coins.

The Case Of Mistaken Identity

Imagine my amusement when she asked me whether I was a Mr Chirume from Mutare.I shook my head with a chuckle to ease obvious embarrassment. She apologized and went on her way but it got me thinking of the time IN THE KINGDOM IN THE SKY(LESOTHO) ,When I had a similar case. I saw someone whose striking resemblance to my late cousin brother had me make a double take.

My brother, rest his departed soul had passed on a couple of years before the chance encounter with his “twin “ in Lesotho.He had been ill for quite some time before his demise. Two days before he passed on ,I went to the taxi rank where he normally picked up passengers. I was informed by his colleagues that he had not been coming for work for quite some time. I proceeded to his place of residence and found his mother giving him a bath (this was a grown man of about forty years),his wife had deserted him because of the illness which finally took him to his grave.

On the day I saw the person who looked so similar to him, I took a double take, my mind told me that it could not be possible but my heart skipped a beat all the same. For a few seconds there I think I believed in reincarnation. I believe I had not fully processed his departure then. 

I finally was able to put the case to bed after thinking about it for a while and seeing the absurdity of my thoughts.But lately I have learnt  that there is an urban myth that somewhere in the world there is someone who looks exactly like you,Science says such a thing does not exist but bearing in mind the fact that there are over Seven billion on earth at the moment the the chance that someone might look like you out there can not be ruled out.

The Quest For The Elusive Dollar

It is an open secret that things are tough in Zimbabwe at the moment ,people spend most of their time hustling to get the elusive greenback.

The Quest For The Elusive Dollar

So serious is the way in which some people hustle that there are reports that people have gone as far as Nigeria ,Ghana and Mozambique in order to look for charms which purportedly help them to acquire money at any cost. The dailies are full of reports of people who would have gone to these so called ‘Prophets’ and Witch Doctors who promise them heaven on earth. Often times they are given small twigs and told to go and do as the ‘Prophets’ will have advised. Most of them cry foul after discovering that the twigs end up turning into enormous snakes which completely take over their lives.

Recently ,a certain lady from Chinhoyi, who claimed that her mother had left here a huge snake when she passed away, had to resort to one of local radio stations in order to look for help as the gigantic snake had completely taken over her life and turned it into a living hell. Those in the know claim that the damsel in distress had a huge mansion and several top of the range vehicles but she could not attract nor keep a spouse as it was taboo for her to do so. She lived alone with only a maid to keep her company in the huge mansion. Loneliness and the need to be reed of the demanding reptile, forced her  into  turning to the radio station in order to ask for help. It is reported that several ‘Men of God ‘ tried and failed to kill the gigantic snake, with some reports saying it was as big as ten meters and weighted several tonnes.

Last week, there was a reported breakthrough in the case as some Prophets went to the home of this lady and succeeded in killing the snake.

Another reported case is one of a lady from one of the affluent suburbs of Harare, who reportedly went to Mozambique in her  quest to get instant riches, she was told to go and perform some rituals , when her money was enough for her needs ,she had to return to the Wizard who had given her the herbs ,un fortunately for her, she did not return and the room where she was supposed to keep the money that was created by the wizardry was so full of money that she no longer knew what to do with it. At the time of writing she was so overwhelmed that she was asking for advice.

In our quest to be better than the Johns next-door some of us are going out of our way and abandoning the nurturing of our parents to the extent that we end up biting more than we can chew.

It Takes A Village

A nephew of mine paid me a visit the other day so that he could check on me after he learnt that I had sprained my leg.After exchanging greetings and discussing the weather,the true nature of his visit soon became apparent when he started complaining of the difficulties he was getting in trying to raise his eldest son as an upstanding member of the community.

It Takes A Village

Like most of the young people of his generation my nephew has his sense of entitlement were he expects things to be done for him and things are handed over to him on a silver platter. His father has a small business which has managed to put him through school and the university education which is now enjoying is a result of the efforts of his father. The parent had in his wisdom asked the young man to have a holiday job so that he could earn a some pocket money .Towards the end of the vacation job stint, the young man was not happy about the fact that his payment was delayed which resulted in him pouring out his heart to the effect that he did not think much of his father and he would much prefer his mother ,who was more understanding and gave him all that he asked for as for the surname he might as well change it since his father was not fair to him.

Things got so bad that he has since dropped out of University and he wants to go back to form five so that he can resit his “A” level examination once more.He completely misses the fact that he has spent a lot of time ,effort and expenses on his studies todate. Nobody seems to be able to stop him from going on this self- destructive quest of his and the family is at their wits’ end.He is warming his back at moment whilst consuming the musical programs that are spewed by the various channels on the Television set.

I was roped in to try and talk some sense into him.His intention is to change the program of study.In most peoples view this is throwing his future away.Since I am a bit removed from the situation ,the belief was that I would be able to hear his side of the story and advise his parents so that a collective decision could be reached.After I had sat with the young man and he listened to my and his parents view presented by a neutral,the matter is still up in the air and his future hangs in the balanced.

I have had the privilege of tutoring some hard working youths who were down on their luck and many struggled to have anyone who could pay for their education and it pains me to find one who has parents and extended family egging him on and making sure he has all he needs in order to get a University degree which a lot of other deserving people crave for but fail to get because of circumstances beyond their control,but he is prepared to throw it all away on a whim.WHAT A SHAME

Be Aware Of Whom You Are Dealing With part2

In the year 2000,an incident happened which opened my eyes to the fact that at times I trust too much ,too easily.

Be Aware Of Whom You Are Dealing With

Having  been living and working in Lesotho for two years , I had made friends among people I used to play Volleyball with.One of them Mandla(not his real name) approached me and told me he had a girlfriend who worked at this place where they assembled mobile phones .Two days later he came to me with an almost new mobile phone which he claimed he had got from his girlfriend ,he professed that he was having problems operating it ,I did the best I could to try and help him get a grip on the operations of the phone. Eventually he suggested that we exchange phones as the he insisted that the one I had was easy for him to operate. He then said for an extra 500 rand he would give the phone and he would have the one I had.

I gave Mandla my phone and a hundred rand note I have with the promise that I would give the remainder of the cash at the en d of the month .Somehow I insisted that we draw up a simple agreement to this effect. Two weeks after the exchange I got a call from a stranger who asked to meet with me ,when we did he turned out to be a police officer who informed me that the phone I was using had been stolen and the owner of the mobile phone was also there.I took out the phone and recounted how it came to be in my possession. They suggested that we go to the home of the guy I was talking about so that we could confirm my story.When we arrived and Mandla was confronted ,he readily confirmed my story ,the officer then suggested that we go to the police station so that we could give our statements ,I was surprised when we got there to be informed that I was an accused person in the case and I was then put in police cells over the weekend.What really made the matter painful for me was the fact that Mandla was set free as he claimed to be below eighteen years of age and the fact that his cousin was a police detective at the station.

I spent a harrowing two days and three nights in the police cells and was taken to face the magistrate at Maseru Magistrate Courts on the Monday,the prosecutor who was xenophobic and abusive once he heard that I was a foreigner ,took to me into the chambers of one magistrate who asked for my passport and a thousand rand bail, I was told to report to the main police station every last day of the month until my case was heard.The first time I went to report for my first remand ,after the prosecutor started running his mouth about the fact that we foreigners came to their country to impregnate their sisters and left them with babies which they had to raised on their own ,I let loose my frustration and berated him about the fact that he was not being objective and looking at the merits of the case. Subsequent to this ,whenever I would go for a new remand date ,he would disappear and later tell his colleague to inform me of the new date.After a year of these cat and mouth games ,I had tried on my own to go and see the magistrate in charge of my case,I ended up just abandoning the case and just stopped going to the court. I was however lucky in that Mandla’s aunt was able to return my mobile phone after I came back from court after the initial remand.

This one of the things that have turned me into the cynic I now am,It now takes me time to trust people.I am no longer the gullible person I was then.If something looks too good to be true,then its too good to be true.

Children Say The Darnedest Things

I spent a innocent half hour with my granddaughters and it was fun because there was no pretense on their part,the eldest is five years old and has just started school ,grade 0 she says .In my time we did not have such,at seven years old one started grade one and that was that!

Children Say The Darnedest Things

What I enjoyed the most was the fact that there were screeches of loud voices and I was engulfed in hugs ,each of the two elder girls competing for my attention and the almost six month old baby gurgling away contentedly without any care in the world .Maybe the fact that I always bring some goodies in the form of bananas and those chicken flings that children love so much is the reason why I am so well received but I don’t care !When their eyes light up with recognition ,that is enough for me.

The eldest rushes to their room and comes back with her small hands leaden with a school bag ,school shoes in the other hand and a pair of rubber boots (for when it rains I suppose) in the other hand and loudly proclaims the fact that she is now going to school .Her heart is bursting with the good news and she just has to share them with her grandfather.

The second born declares contemptuously that she doesnot go to school nor does she sing in the church choir.She boldly declares that she hates both those activities and volunteers the fact that she loves to play.It is said with such a serious countenance that one cannot help laughing.

It is moments like these that I truly appreciate how fortunate I am to have a daughter and the granddaughters she bore,nothing beats the feeling of being loved unreservedly. I am going to enjoy this for as long as it lasts before the ugly world turns them cynical.