Online Reporter
Fadzayi Maposah
Correspondent
I REMEMBER the very first television set that my family owned.
It holds the fondest of memories, and I suppose what makes it stand out so prominently is that it was the first. The television set came when we had moved to a new house in West View, Kadoma, and a year later, my brother Chaka and I had to move schools.
The house that we moved into was painted light green. It had a big verandah that was an ideal spot to watch what was happening on the road.
This was a time when most homes had medium-high fences and small gates. We could see what was happening outside the family yard without having to open the gate and go outside the walls.
So occasionally we would sit on the verandah and be silent observers of what was happening kwanaMona (at Mona’s house). I was to learn later on that her full name was Desdemona. She was one of the people who ensured that I spoke fluent English. She would smile and correct me when the English did not come out as it was supposed to. From Mona I learnt that to polish any skill, practice is key.
My English language was polished by speaking and having conversations with Mona, even short ones by the fence.
Vana Mona were from Shurugwi so they were our relatives. Her parents and mine had common people that they knew.
On the other side of our house lived a family that my parents adopted the father as their nephew (muzukuru), when they became Mbuya naSekuru, my sister and I (then it was just Nyari and I) instantly became vana mainini and my two brothers, Chaka and Cephas vana sekuru. We felt safe in an environment that had our relatives.
Our television was black and white, and it was positioned so that we could all watch it well from the different sides of the lounge. The lounge, according to my eyes as a child, was huge.
Honestly, as a child, there was just too much space, and as one who had to help with mopping and polishing the floor, then as I was taught the ropes around the house, it meant that the workload had increased.
Even the bedroom that I shared with Nyari was huge. When we went into our parents` bedroom, we were amazed that there was so much space just for them. The room was massive. Even with their bedroom furniture and the room`s fitted cupboards, there was still space. Cephas still a baby having been born the previous year, was also accommodated in our parents` room.
He had a big white cot bed that continued to fascinate us. It had been bought just after his birth, and I remember that Chaka, Nyari and I had loved watching it being brought into the house and then into my parents’ room.
It was the first time we had had a cot bed at our house, and we loved watching my mother make the little bed and then put the baby to sleep in the cot.
So when we moved, we had lived with the cot bed for almost a year, and it was no longer a fascination. In terms of the family records, Cephas was the first child in our family to sleep in a cot bed, paving the way for others that came after him.
Our first television set was a centre of fascination in our home. Then we had no idea that it was possible to watch a film in colour. Neither did we even think that there would be flat screens that were extra light and could be stuck on the wall.
Our first TV was well placed on a coffee table. My siblings and I “respected” our television set. We benefited from watching it, so we did our best to take good care of it, which included dusting it very carefully.
Watching a black and white television set made our whole vision black and white. There was very little colour that we could deduce from what we watched.
Many years later when we watched a colour television, the cartoons were extra colourful. Miss Piggy from the Muppet Show was nice and bright in colour as compared to what she had been in black and white. The start of shows was breathtaking in colour. It was a major achievement to watch television.
Why should I be talking about our family firsts, including our move, the TV and even my brother`s cot bed? Our firsts are very important in our lives and they leave imprints on our lives.
While I have shared happy firsts, attached to these happy firsts, there are also negative issues. Having a television set meant that there was a reduction in the amount of time that we spent together as a family, and the television set took over some roles that we had had people in our lives do.
We moved from Rimuka, where we stayed for so long in a communal space called the Messengers Camp — where there were many houses all within one fence and with only one gate —to having our own gate as a family.
While it was exciting to move and start something new, it was also scary, we were leaving behind our friends and the life we had ever known, which included our home which, although small in size, was big regarding the emotions it contained.
People go through issues silently. Someone is experiencing a first today, it could be a life-changing one, yet the individual does not have the appropriate support. Not everyone will have a Mona who corrects with a smile.
The response she gave me encouraged me to be bold enough to continue learning to speak English.
I heard last week that there is a teenager near where I stay who committed suicide after she saw her “boyfriend”, also a teenager, hug another girl. Some may be asking, was that a reason enough to take her life? People struggle with issues silently, and at times when they opt to talk about those issues, the responses can be a barrier to further engagement.
While watching a black and white television may be fascinating for someone who has never watched TV, it can be a non-event to someone who has access to a colour TV.
While the whole world may be in colour for some, others have had the colour removed for them, and everything is dark and dreary for them — and it is all black and white. People empathise as they may be experiencing a first, and are not fully equipped to deal with it. Let us be more accommodating to listen and support.
This week, the world commemorated Suicide Prevention Day on Wednesday. Suicide has become a public health issue globally, with the World Health Organisation reporting that an estimated 720 000 people die due to suicide. Suicide is the third leading cause of death among those aged between 15 and 29 years.
