adminVaidah Mashangwa
“Educating the mind without educating the heart is useless.”These are the words of Aristotle, the iconic Greek philosopher and scientist who was born in 384 BC and died in 322 BC.
As we prepare to commemorate and celebrate the great contribution that our heroes and heroines made for our great nation to obtain the independence of that we are all proud of, let us stop and reflect on the ideals that they sacrificed their lives for. Independence, freedom, self-determination, economic and political emancipation, sovereignty are often the themes associated with this time of the year.
The First Chimurenga/uMvukela of 1896-1897 was a demonstration of early resistance to white rule in Matabeleland and Mashonaland. It was a struggle for land and cattle and against taxes, the main reason being that both the Shona and Ndebele were primarily agrarian and relied on cattle and land as their primary sources of livelihood.
When the whites began to arrive in huge numbers, they immediately started to steal land, cattle and imposing taxes on blacks. Those who failed to pay the taxes suffered confiscation of cattle, loss of land and imprisonment. It was this unfair treatment that forced the black people to revolt against the British invaders.
Further, the black people were denied the right to vote or stand for Parliament or hold high office in the army, police or public service. Africans were excluded from the best schools, residential areas and other amenities which were reserved for whites only.
As racial tension mounted, the Second Chimurenga/uMvukela began in 1964 and culminated in the independence of Zimbabwe in 1980 after the signing of the Lancaster House Agreement in December 1979. Thousands of gallant sons and daughters of the soil died in both struggles.
While battles were fought including the Third Chimurenga for us to obtain political and economic independence, the First Lady, Cde Grace Mugabe is fighting her own unique battle, a battle to ensure that orphans and other vulnerable children have food, clothes and shelter. Her aspirations and dreams are a clear demonstration of what a true mother is.
Every Zimbabwean should realise that the freedom our great sons and daughters paid the ultimate sacrifice for, will not mean anything if we do not play our part in building our great nation. We must all realise that each time we point a finger at someone, three fingers are pointing back at us, a clear indication that we have to be the change we desire to see in our society.
Only through sacrifice, hard work and commitment to a cause greater than ourselves can we truly embrace the spirit of our liberation struggle, validating the great sacrifice made by our gallant sons and daughters.
In this series, we embrace the spirit of our heroes by chronicling the selfless works of a heroine whom often little is said about, our First Lady Cde Grace Mugabe whose philanthropic works embody the very ideals of our liberation struggle.
In her own way she is leading a love revolution in the nation by offering the disadvantaged children of Zimbabwe an opportunity to attain the most priceless asset, a decent education. It is works like these that epitomise the very essence of the struggle which was to bequeath to the next generation, an independent nation where they could pursue their dreams and reach their full potential. What better way to do this than to offer decent education, food, shelter and parental support to Zimbabwe’s orphans and vulnerable children by empowering them with resources that equip them to live normal lives.
Our First Lady recently celebrated her 50th birthday, a moment at which she intimately opened up to the nation about her philanthropic work and the condition of her heart. What particularly caught my attention as a columnist was the joy and excitement displayed by the children who have benefited from her work as they took to the stage to dance and celebrate. At that moment I found myself imagining how great our nation would be if we all in our own way, within our own means, contributed to the betterment of our society.
Often as Zimbabweans we miss the forest for the trees as we let global media houses and social media tell our story for us. We let them paint a picture of doom and gloom, focusing only on the negative. However, nowhere in history has a pessimist been credited with bringing about positive change.
History never seems like history when you are living through it. Our First Lady is working tirelessly to better the lives of Zimbabwe’s disadvantaged children. It is her great love for children that motivates and drives her actions not aspirations for political gain as her detractors and cynics would like the world to believe.
Let us therefore rally behind her as a nation and support this noble cause. Her rare deeds ought to be appreciated and emulated as her legacy will be felt by generations to come.
- Vaidah Mashangwa is the Provincial Development Officer for Bulawayo in the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender and Community Development. She can be contacted on 0772111592 email [email protected]
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Bongani Ndlovu