Where quelea birds are like gold

salivate to the aroma of the already pounded millet in the well-knit basket, which is about to be mixed with the pounded nyi fruit to make Chingende, the traditional nutritious Nambya bun.
It is almost time for breakfast at Zvabo-Makuyu community, a place where the healthiest, nutritious natural foods are eaten, place of hope that is so close yet so far away.
As one leaves the dust-caked truck, stop  going down east of the coal mining town of Hwange, turn left and start meandering down the narrow tarmac just before crossing the lifeless and polluted Deka drum river.
The suffocating dust of the Chibondo Mine accompanies you to a hazardous 10-kilometre road which is characterised by sharp and deadly curves which will lead to Zvabo-Mukuyu Village of Mashala ward in Hwange District Council.
Here you are welcome by rocky grounds with only isolated patches of soil.
When you get close you, observe the poverty-stricken inhabitants of this community whose source of livelihood and survival leaves a lot of questions and than answers.
On patch of the Chibondo Hills is a ruin- like household characterised by shack-like clay huts which resemble an old bird’s nest.
Here lives 72-year-old Basekulu Tabona Shoko with his great-grandchildren who one can tell by their pale frost skins that life is not rosy, as also evidenced by the cracks in their feet telling the story of feet have never worn a thing called a shoe, all their lives.
Do not be fooled that what you see in Basekulu’s household is due to his age or vulnerability, but is the same throughout this whole village.
“Life goes on here as like any other place and we live it to its fullest,” said Basekulu.
The elderly man said households mostly rely on selling the quelea birds commonly known as “Tundonga” which they trap during the harvest times.
“We sell these God-given birds which are like gold to us,’’ he said.
They also depend on wild fruits known as nyi which they harvest and dry before they take it to the Hwange town market.
Baobab Bulls fruits are also harvested for sale.
Those lucky to have patches of fertile ground would plant and grow “inzembwe” millet as maize cannot survive the scorching sun and the erratic rains since Hwange falls in Natural Region 4 which is characterised by little and unpredictable rainfall. Crop agriculture is an untold story in this area.
He said Bunyunya is one of the nutritious food which is said to be an immune system booster.
This is the pounded seed of a nyi fruit which is mixed with water to substitute cooking oil.
“Bunyunya gives all the vitamins needed in the body and is mostly eaten by the children and those who are sick for a quick recovery,” he said
Besides the selling of Tundonga and harvesting the nyi fruits, women in the community of Zvabo-Makuyu depend on basket knitting and must walk for more than 20 kilometres to sell their products.
Shalujani Shoko, one of the elderly women in the community, said they obtained the knitting grasses from Chibondo Hills and they knit some decorated traditional baskets.
“The aridity of the area has taught us to substitute farming with other activities such as the knitting and carving of curios which we sell in Hwange or Victoria Falls,’’ she said
A few individuals are absorbed by the mining companies which they accuse of paying them peanuts after some time as there are no fixed paydays.
Basekulu Shoko said it is hard for them to move to other places as they are now used to this lifestyle and have devised several coping mechanisms.
The linkage to this village from other places is just not easy as it is better by foot due to the poor state of roads which makes it hard for vehicles to access
One development worker said in the good old days when the economy was ticking, e community Zvabo-Makuyu was getting assistance from non-governmental organisations, such as the Roman Catholic Church-run Cadec, now Caritas.
It is time for the Government, the council and all stakeholders to come together to assist this community.
Rutendorwashe Mapfumo is a journalist based in Hwange and can be contacted on [email protected].