adminDr Masimba Mavaza
Correspondent
I HAVE a friend here in the Diaspora who, for the purposes of this article, I shall call Chamu.
He came to the UK in 2001 and has a story to tell, a story that’s not so shocking to many Zimbabweans in the Diaspora because that is the reality on the ground – families are ‘dying’ in the UK.
Said Chamu: “In 2001, I travelled to the UK for the first time to seek employment and make a better life for my family. I worked in Luton at a printing company and my salary was £5 per hour.
“When I arrived in Luton, I stayed at a friend’s house in Dunstable while my father and my siblings stayed in Luton, renting a house from a notorious racist Asian man. After my arrival, my father got a job with another agency where he graced each and every industrial location for manual work.”
Chamu worked hard and sent his mother, back home in Zimbabwe, some money and travelled every year back home for his vacation.
He brought people some clothes and toys.
After he felt established and the laws of immigration granted visas to those who could prove they were employed, the owners of the factory helped him find a lawyer.
He became a permanent resident and was able to bring his his mother and her two brothers – Chamu’s uncles.
“They are now settled in the UK, but hardly visit or even call my father — and it hurts,” said Chamu. “I remember how my father suffered to help bring them to the UK. I remember how he could not eat enough or buy any clothes for himself and it’s the treatment they are giving him now which makes me angry.
“My father now is in a care home and can do very little for himself, while those he helped bring the UK have abandoned him. None of them think of him in the time of need. They all prioritise their own needs and have completely abandoned my father. In fact, they now actually accuse my father of witchcraft. It is very painful.”
Chamu’s story echoes the reality of those we help here in the UK.
Peter from Leicester City said when he brought his sister to the UK, she was an ‘angel’.
However, a few months down the line, she started complaining that she was being used as a slave.
One Sunday morning, she left the house, never to be seen again.
All Peter knows is his sister was moving in and out with different men and even spoke very badly of him.
Patrice from Manchester recounted how he survived on one meal a day, saving money for his brother’s children’s school fees back home.
He remembers how his children survived on council benefits, while his brother’s children attended boarding schools in Zimbabwe.
It was until he went to Zimbabwe for holiday that he had a change of heart and stopped sponsoring his brother.
Patience, who is also here in the UK, narrated a story where she paid school fees and even helped her brother to marry.
When she went back to Zimbabwe, she saw the true colours of those who waved a begging bowl at her while they developed themselves behind the scenes.
I concur the behaviour of some of our relatives makes it difficult to help them, especially in the long run.
No doubt, the UK has made many Zimbabweans heartless.
Humanity, as we know it, lost its meaning at Gatwick Airport or Heathrow Airport.
Brothers have turned against each other, while fathers and mothers have abandoned families.
Ubuntu/hunhu, as we know it, has eluded us and we have become ‘animals in a foreign jungle.’ Moreblessing Mbizo narrated her sad story, her face bearing two distinct lines drawn by the tears. She narrated how she stayed for months at a house she was working as a house maid.
In England it is called live inn.
She was paid 700 pounds a month, and would send 600 pounds every week to her brother. The brother was to build a house for her. The brother built a five bedroomed beautiful house in Glendale.
When Moreblessing flew home to inspect the house, she was shocked – the brother told her that the house was his and that she only a donor. She tried to go to the deeds office and indeed the house was in his brother’s name. Pushed by pain and severe heart break she flew back to the UK. Since that day she had never gone back home not even phoned home. She now strikes a lone dejected figure in the assisted living scheme in Kettering.
Many Zimbabweans in the diaspora have stories to tell.
The relatives back him and have short changed them.
Most will tell you stories of how they were made to cough out the last penny on their visit to Zimbabwe.
The joy of meeting relatives will end on the second week and completely wiped when the last penny is gone.
Relations in Zimbabwe are built on money and the flow of the money is always one-sided. [email protected]
Online Reporter