adminfour times and threw the smoldering coffin nail away, seeing it better to bury his face in his hands in shame as tears rolled down his chubby childish face. One needed no special glasses to see that the young soul was in a state of severe mental anguish as he occasionally kicked himself in a show of being dissatisfied with himself.
“Aya ndiwo mahwani manje aya. Ndaita mutserendende ndega pa razor,” the lanky fellow with an emerging moustache said while throwing his hands about in disgust.
He finally picked himself up, made his way home and went straight to bed with his shoes on. The world seemed to have collapsed around this young life. His mother watched from a distance, of course making sure nothing harmful was in the boy’s bedroom for fear he could be overcome by the forces of darkness and decide to take his own life.
And the radio did not make young Garikai’s life any better. The broadcasters played the song Ungraded (MaU) by the late “Doctor Love” Paul Matavire much to the chagrin of this young man.
Zvawakaita mwana hazvina kunaka,
Zvawakaita mwana hazvina kururama,
Mombe, huku, mbudzi zvese ndakatengesa,
Ndichiti uwane mari yekufunda nayo,
Ndaiti chirere chigokurerawo,
MaU ako akushaisa basa,
Kana B kana C wakakoniwa,
Love needucation hazvifambirane, went the song.
Each time the wordsmith’s song went a stanza deeper, it appeared as if a sharp-edged sword was being driven into Garikai’s flesh.
Such are the times we are wading through in the ghetto gentle reader, as O’ and A’ Level students collect their results. Children cry, ask for a chance to write again while some kill themselves owing to the discomfort that comes with being associated with failure.
As results come out, children momentarily start respecting their parents and taking their studies seriously only for the bubble to burst as time wears on.
Chakadya chakaoneka, mutanda wakasiya mbare. There is no smoke without fire. Children and parents alike need counselling on what to say and what not to when failure visits the home.
Those school-leavers who fail to make good grades often find solace in alcohol and drugs if they are not given proper counselling and at least a chance to try again. In the ghetto, one who fails his exams immediately becomes a signpost or a landmark.
When people give directions, they will say: “Kuenda kumba kwangu hakurase. Unongoverenga imba nhatu kubva pamufana uye wekufoira chikoro, wodarika pekasikana kenhumbu wobva wasvika pamusuwo chaipo.”
Rushed marriages are not a cure for failed examinations.
People who marry because they are running away from a situation often find themselves picking up the tabs in future pondering how foolish they were in the first place, resulting in marriage breakdowns.
Those women who marry just because they failed in school also fail to make good mothers because they are not competent enough to organise a family budget and calculate the amount of food to prepare for a certain number of people resulting in wastage or disunity.
The case also applies to boys who rush to work because they could not make good grades.
These people often find themselves stuck in menial jobs without any chance of moving up the ladder or even to buy shares in the firm.
Doing a job you did not train to do often results in you being almost like a doormat as those with the requisite qualifications step on your toes on their way up.
Everyone seems to want to know what happened to the boy or girl next door.
“Kakabuda sei kamuchinda kekuzvida kayekaye? He was full of himself and now it’s a chance for him to prove to the world whether or not he is a man worth his salt,” I heard some people saying of a young man who lived near them.
That he had sat his Advanced Level examinations the previous years was as if he had committed a crime.
“This is the time you start seeing no reason in sending children to school.
“What is the point? Why even my brother thought it necessary to starve us of entertainment while sending his intellectually challenged son to school boggles the mind. He should now see for himself that moyo wakanaka unoparira,” a vegetable vendor shamelessly said while arranging dry and fresh onions at her roadside stall in Glen Norah last weekend.
She questioned the wisdom behind sending children for Advanced Level when they could find jobs with O’ Levels and then push themselves up later when time and funds permit. In her wisdom or lack of it, girls needed just to get married immediately after O’ Level to preserve family dignity.
“Ndiko kurasa mari manje kwakaitwa namukoma Jabu. Mwana musikana anoda kuroorwa achirimudiki kuitira kuti atenge mhuri achiri mudoko. Manje zvekuti hee, chikoro kudinidini zvinounza mukondombera mangwana,” she purred.
Gentle reader, people make and unmake themselves through what they say.
The moment certain characters open their mouths, you are assured of them declaring their petty jealousies openly or in jest.
The mouth is used as a very dangerous weapon by people to discredit those who are on the path of success and perhaps show intense hatred for the personal development of some characters they believe in their mental eyes should not succeed.
As I commit pen to paper gentle reader, the examinations branch is inundated with calls by strangers seeking to find out how someone next door fared in the previous examinations.
Some people go to the extent of offering people at the branch lunch and drinks in exchange for information on how someone else failed.
Instead of concentrating on issues that build the nation, news on how someone fared in exams has taken most ghettoes by storm.
It is not unusual during this time of the year to find someone blocking a rival’s child access to someone with capacity to provide employment.
“You should not entertain those people. They are just dangerous. Can you expect honey from a fly? The young one of a lion is as dangerous as its mother.
“Do not take enemies for friends,” I heard a certain old woman telling her son, of course all in an effort to frustrate their neighbour’s child’s chance to secure a job. Gentle reader, the fact that examination results are now being released proves the changing seasons when everyone should play a part in moulding responsible members of the community.
It does the nation no good to laugh at someone who flunks at the expense of giving them something to do for national development.
When need to be responsible, but for now it’s time to laugh and cry.
Inotambika mughetto.
Online Reporter