1. Saw a video of those rural folks who were saying everything is good. From a political standpoint ZANU PF folks might celebrate but from a humanitarian point they need help from themselves. I grew up in one such area kuMatandamaviri. When we were in Grade 2, Dhuvai got married
2. By the time I reached Grade 7, I think 10 girls had already fell pregnant and were all below 16. Village 2 (KwaMhokore) had Mapostori who did not vaccinate kids and also married young girls. A number of kids died from preventable diseases.
3. We didn't pay School Fees but we had something called Building fund and it was $5/family. So many dropped out of school becoz it wasn't lucrative to sell your goat just so that you child can read or write. Instead they could just spend their days being productive in the fields
4. We had smart folks in my class. I think when we wrote Grade 7 we had abt 20 kids who had 10 units and below. Of the 70+ kids in my stream, I believe on 14 went to secondary sch & only 1 made it to University. What happened to the other 50+ kids?
5. They sat at home. Remember these are resettlement areas where each family had 5 hectares. So they either became subsistence farmers or illegal fishermen maTugwi or they became border jumpers into South Africa. A good number died of AIDS.
6. The last time I visited this area in 2009, there was a cholera outbreak. A former classmate Matewe was now the ZANU Councillor. Another Jakubosi was a Constable he was guarding the tent that had dead bodies. Some of the kids who had died were of my former classmates.
7. I have kept in touch with the community, still less than 50% of kids who graduate from Nyahombe & Tokwane Ngundu make it to O levels. The cycle of poverty continues. ZANU PF has no incentive to uplift their lives because the poor they remain the easier to manipulate.
8. Personally it breaks my heart because I know smart folks who could have been anything in this world who were reduced to duvu-fishing & mudhombo-snuffing paupers whose kids are following in the same footsteps. We should be ashamed instead of celebrating this. Ndatenda!
