Zimbabweans Do Not Like To Honour Their Heroes Properly

"Go and tell the Spartans, stranger passing by, That here, obedient to their laws, dead we lie" - Simonides of Ceos (556-468BC), Epitaph on the monument marking the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BC).

It is an anomaly is it not? (As I read more into Zimbabwe’s history) that Changamire Dombo defeated the Portuguese using superior military tactics way back when - and the Portuguese even acknowledged this rout in their historical documents - yet travel the length and breadth of Zimbabwe, you will not find a single statue commemorating Changamire Dombo’s military genius. Search high and low, and you will not find this victory honoured in any medium - drawings, films, re-enactments, nothing! 

Yet, here I am, in the picture above, in Thermopylae, at a monument erected in honour of King Leonidas of Sparta who lost a battle here to the invading Persians in 480 BC. There already has been 2 major films made in honour of King Leonidas and his 300 Spartans. When I arrived in Athens, while relaxing and trying to get my bearings, I was talking to a young medical student in the Gazi District. Not only did she know of, word for word, the Battle of Thermopylae, she also recited the stories of Thucydides, Herodotus and Homer. I, on the other hand, am only getting to know the stories of my country the hard way, and retro-retrospectively too.

"Three hundred Spartans and their allies held off the invaders for seven days, until, their weapons smashed and broken from the slaughter, they fought 'with bare hands and teeth' (as recorded by Herodotus) before being at last overwhelmed.

Thermopylae means Hot Gates, named so because there are hot springs at this place. On the day I visited, it was overcast and raining, the mist you see there comes from the hot springs that are still active to this day. There can be no mistaking the site of the battle.

Of Prayers for Rain, “Judgement Nights” and “Miracle Money” - Part I

At a research day at Oxford University

I attended a discussion at the Overseas Development Institute in London where the former Nigerian Finance Minister – Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala - was speaking about her tenure in Nigeria. It was a very enlightening discussion and her explanation of the methods she used to fight corruption and vested interests in Nigeria deserves a separate paper of its own. I only mention this discussion because it was at this event that I met a strategist from Oxford University specialising on the politics of Southern Africa. She had just returned from Zambia so I asked her – without hiding that I thought it was ridiculous – what all that business of praying for rains was about? She, of course, not being of Zambian extraction, had to be politically correct, so said this was in tune with the expectations of the man in the street. Which is to say, the majority of Zambians did not think, like I do, that it was a monumental waste of time to pray for rain when the science is clear what has caused this delay. 

Little did I know that prayers for rains were coming to my own beloved Zimbabwe and, the man on the street would also be gratified that such “positive” “action” had been taken by the government. What’s next? We are going to start praying to get parking spaces next to the store entrance every time we go shopping? Does the bible not caution against praying for frivolous things? There is also an element of deception to the timing of the prayers for rain. I noticed that in Zimbabwe the day for prayers was called when Al Jazeera weather report had already predicted rainfall. Still, this is not the crux of the problem, the problem is that there is a significant number of our countrymen who subscribe to these prayers for rain when the historical record clearly shows there is a pattern to El Nino. This is a terrible misunderstanding of cause and effect.

As the Malawians also had national days of prayer for rain, I do not think the leaders are unaware of the science, instead, they are just doing what they know their constituents will respond positively to. The President of Malawi is a man of science – a Professor – so is his Vice President. Zimbabwe’s leaders are very well educated and, if they so choose, could actually teach a graduate course on El Nino. The fault here lies in civil society (it is civil society that has chosen to believe that the crowing of the cockerel causes the sun to rise). The way for me to explain why this is the case involves me having to go back to my childhood so as to talk about the lessons we learnt from our parents and grandparents. I will then show you why school education could not easily uproot what we internalised as children. Then I will go on to talk about the essence of the national psyche in Southern Africa and the dangers inherent in such a psyche. All this I will do in Part II and Part III as my new thing on this blog, is to make very brief and accessible entries each time.

Talking to a strategist who works on Politics in Southern Africa recently.

Why I Ran In 2016?

“If you are planning for a year, sow rice; if you are planning for a decade, plant trees; if you are planning for a lifetime, educate people" - Chinese Proverb.

For all my study of Greek political thought, I couldn’t tell you who predates the other, Sophocles or Aristotle? I only mention this because the point I want to rely on in this blog entry, was made by both authors, yet I cannot decide who was reaffirming the other. Sophocles said call no man happy until he is dead, while Aristotle went even further and said; even if a man lives an excellent and happy life, we cannot call him happy either if his offspring fall into ruin after his death.

This tells me that it is not advisable for any mortal to claim to have the right formula for an excellent life. So, although what I am doing this 2016 is inspired by my own childhood experiences, I know it is only one of the possible pathways to excelling in life. I do not claim to be living the happiest possible life either or, even, to be in the vicinity of my goals in life. What I do claim, instead, is that I am satisficing, by which I mean I am heading in the general direction of those goals. 

What started me off in the general direction of my goals is that, growing up in rural Zimbabwe, my Grandfather had a thick volume Who’s Who among his very few books. Reading what other people had achieved must have sowed the idea in my mind to emulate their pathways. It is this start in life, I wish for every one of my rural countrymen. 

Now, the circuitous introduction I have put up above is only meant to support one idea and one idea only: access to books and knowledge must make for a happier life than living in ignorance. It is with this idea in mind that I have decided to make all my Marathons and Half Marathons in 2016 to be in aid of raising money to send books to rural areas in Zimbabwe. 

My Grandfather - John Kanhutu. Later, I will tell you about the social compact he had with President Mugabe and, my place in that compact.