Online Reporter
Fadzayi Maposah
Correspondent
I am proud to be a Zimbabwean and proud to be an African. There is nothing like the African sunrise, the sun, or the sunset.
People actually travel from all over the world to experience what we have all the time. I remember growing up, sunrise meant that I had to leave the cosy blankets.
It was especially so when we visited our grandmothers when they were still active and were able to stay alone. Later as the years piled, they could not stay alone and ended up staying with our aunts before, finally staying with us for the rest of their lives.
Life is to be lived now. At times we think that we shall start living our lives later when all our ducks are in a row. The time to live is now.
So back to my grandmothers, with the benefit of hindsight, were endowed with great wisdom, but those days when I was in contact with that wisdom, it appeared as if I was being bothered. They were particular about waking up early, and it was supposed to be before sunrise.
They had a statement where they said “munhu haafanirwi kutangirwa nezuva kumuka” (loosely translated, it means the one must wake up before the sun rises).
There are some people who replace munhu with mukadzi, and the meaning changes to a woman must rise before the sun, for my grandmothers it was just munhu, the person.
Male or female they simply wanted one to wake up early and get things done early. Now we have 5am clubs that encourage people to wake up early and at times because they have it written down, they seem to be the ones who began it all.
Once an individual was up, there were assigned roles. The majority of the tasks were physical. It meant work was done and there were spot checks immediately effected and if the required standard was not met, the work had to be redone.
Early mornings at my grandmothers or at home growing up was about getting things done. It has become part of my lifestyle that I get up, do chores and then relax. I know of people who wake up and simply relax. I do not do that.
I am not saying that what I do is the best, but I have observed that it works well for me.
Others have evening routines, while others have afternoon routines. I guess the important part is to get a routine and that one actually sticks to that which works out well for them.
Getting up early has the benefits of watching the beloved African sun rise. If one is outside, one gets sun kissed cheeks and is able to hear the birds sing the morning song and take in lots of early morning fresh air.
Depending on where one stays, the sounds that you may get to hear in the morning totally vary, so is the sunrise we all get to see. This winter many will seek the warm sun, there will be discussions at tea break where there is ample sun light.
Greetings in a car park that has rays of sunshine will take longer, and even the garden may have more variety of healthy vegetables just because someone is ready to combine work and basking in the sunshine without having to be assigned a different role.
I was thinking that some of the things that were done many years ago, like encouraging people to be active and being outdoors, are exactly the same things that are being encouraged to improve one’s health now.
I had a discussion with a colleague and I was telling her that I had discovered someone who made very good peanut butter.
She laughed and told me that I was really getting old, peanut butter seriously? I told her that it had nothing to do with age as I had always loved peanuts, and the peanut butter.
I can have peanut butter on my bread, my mealie meal porridge, my green vegetables (tsunga, covo, rape) and still consider myself to be having a good day.
Oh how I love rice with peanut butter? Have you tried that recipe? What about pumpkins with peanut butter, or sweet potatoes? These are just examples of simple dishes that are as close to natural food as possible without much processing.
Like the African sun, they rise to the occasion all the time with immense benefits, although some may have allergies and cannot enjoy these dishes.
I know of people who have stopped having mealie meal porridge or any other porridge that is given its time to simmer on the stove just because they had too much of it when they were growing up. They now opt to have refined cereals instead for their breakfast.
Whatever they ate close to natural foods, they have opted to give up and instead take up what they wished they had more of when they were growing up.
Non communicable diseases (NCDs) are on the increase in Africa. According to the World Health Organisation, these are chronic conditions resulting from a combination of genetic, metabolic, environmental and behavioural factors and are the leading cause of death and disability worldwide.
NCDs are a major health challenge that are undermining social and economic development. They include cardio-vascular diseases, diabetes, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and mental health conditions.
Lifestyle contributes to these conditions. How we live is very important. The good life that we think we may be living maybe taking us quickly to our death beds. While others travel to see the African sun, the continent’s citizens do not see anything special about it.
This Africa Day, try to see what is that is African that you can do to take care of your health. Is it what you will eat? Is it how you will make time to interact with others for that community feel, or will you take a walk in the woods as exercise?
Is it not sad that we may never enjoy the African sunrise and sunset when we are not well? Our grandparents and ancestors did many things to take care of their health and well-being.
As we commemorate Africa Day on Monday, take stock of what you can learn and improve your health from being African.
