Zimbabwe: In The House of Stone

By Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

My father once told me, my son, “we may be poor, but we are not powerless. And we may be in distress, but we are not hopeless.” His words echoed in my head. He always believed that things would be better, even when the doctor said he would not survive.

I saw many long faces on the street.

Contorted and distorted faces of hungry neighbours tired of queuing for loaves of bread. They reminded me of the famished Israelites waiting for manna in the wilderness. And they rebelled against Moses when they were languishing in the desert on their way to the Promised Land. But my mother reminded me that Jesus said, “man shall not live by bread alone”.

An old man twisted his wrinkled face in an ugly grimace. He was really showing his misery on his cheerless face.

As I was walking on the street, I was humming Tuku’s Moto Moto in ChiShona.

Read the rest on the American journal http://www.nathanielturner.com/zimbabwehouseofstone.htm

I had the opportunity to visit Zimbababwe in the past. I had an unfortunate but very typical kind of experience with another *Westerner*. He was complaining to me that the government in Zimbabwe conrtrolled the press. I had never met him before, and I asked him if he was sure of what he was telling me. He stated that he was. We were standing near a shopping center. I pointed to about a dozen men, all of whom were standing in front of small piles of newspapers. I explained to the young American that there were over a dozen different newspapers on display and maybe we should take a look at some of them. He again complained that there would be no point as the government controlled all of the newspapers. So many? I asked as I guided him over to the news vendors. I picked up a newspaper that had a front page article which was critical of Mr. Mugabe. I asked the fellow, "Are you telling me that Mr. Mugabe's government is printing articles like this?" What do you suppose his response was, given that he had insisted that the government controlled all of the newspapers? "See! Even the newspapers criticize the government!" Which wasn't the issue we had been discussing at all. But that is how it goes,