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Isdore Guvamombe Saturday Lounge Reflections
An Ethiopian airlines plane puffed of the runaway at Robert Gabriel Mugabe International Airport in Harare on October 5 2021 and soon the metal bird flew over picturesque mountains, silver lined clouds, boggy marshes and little everything else as it marshalled the air.
Among the passengers was a rarity, the spirit medium Mbumavaranda, a Rozvi autochthon and occult whose antics have defined religion and religiosity, the art and the belief, the belief and the execution of the belief in the traditional spiritual realm.
Those who have followed him recently know that he exhumed knobkerrie from the Great Zimbabwe National monuments where historians and archaeologists using modern equipment had failed to detect, despite trudging the length and breadth of the ancient city.
Mbumavaranda and his delegation were on a journey to Cairo, Egypt to recover a cup left there by a member of hic clan more than more than 900 million years ago. It was now a relic in an Egyptian museum.
Outside the spiritual realm it would sound stranger than fiction and, given the importance attached to historical artefacts, one would think, the medium was overrating its prowess.
Soon the plane landed in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia the cradle of civilisation and hub of air traffic. Bvumavaranda and his delegation then connected to Cairo.
History has it that the Rozvi hailed from Egypt and were part of the labour force that built the pyramids. That is a narrative for another day and I promise it will come.
Back to Bvumaravanda, the plane landed in Cairo and everything was being led by the spirit. The search was set.
Initial accommodation arrangements quickly changed as per the dictates of the medium. Soon an apartment was arranged and the delegation lived there.
Scouting started.
The search and work to recover the cup was on and the spirit led the way and cleared the hurdles, language was a barrier but soon, the medium’s delegation bumped into a woman at the market who spoke English and was able to translate.
A mosque was identified and it was an old school that had been turned into a mosque and museum. Apparently, Bvumavaranda’s ancestor had attended the school from Somalia in the 14th century and donated the cup to the school as a souvenir when he finished his studies. But the medium is on a mission to recover all its ancestors’ relics.
This is not a script for an African movie, it is a real story of Zimbabwean spirit medium— who armed with nothing but the spirit, an ephod and snuff- has defied all odds and unearthed 14th century historical relics from Zimbabwe to Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt Meru in Kenya and Cairo in Egypt as he puts up a museum of his Rozvi clam at a shrine in Musana communal lands, a spitting distance north east of Harare. So far, so good, for him. To his ancestors be the glory!
After finding an interpreter, the medium and his delegation approached the mosque turned museum and without any problem where shown the cup. It had now been moved from the main display to storeroom.
The curator there graciously gave Bvumavaranda, the cup and it has been brought to Zimbabwe for display at the shrine.
As Bvumavaranda continues his trailblazing unearthing of historical artefacts, Zimbabweans in their broad totality, from the ordinary people to archaeologists and historians might as well benefit from the spiritual realm.
For once we have got a spirit medium that has said everything that has happened. Whatever he has promised he as delivered.
As it turns out the future of our culture lies in the hands of spirit mediums like Bvumavaranda, who, still in their time, can be used to demystify any issues in the country.
In a country where many Christian prophets have proved unreliable, the country might really be going back to its real roots and true self.
Time, they say is a great teacher, as we give Bvumavaranda time and space to deliver more, our minds are being opened
In March the medium shocked the nation in a spiritual journey to identify and exhume paraphernalia of a Rozvi autochthon, Bvumavaranda himself who lived and sunk into a swamp in anger and disgust in the 14th century, after his trusted friend Mbauro breached longstanding taboos, way before the construction of Great Zimbabwe National Monument.
The story is that one day, Bvumavaranda and his friend Mbauro, were on a stroll on a swamp on what is today the Great Zimbabwe National Monument. Bvumavaranda carried with him a special paraphernalia, which included a clay gourd and a small knobkerrie passed on from his grandfather.
The paraphernalia had taboos, with the most important being that no one else should touch them.
Mbauro touched the knobkerrie and the gourd. Disappointed, Bvumavaranda, sunk into the swamp in a standing position and died. He was never buried the usual way.
It was dug and found.
A few weeks later the medium also unearthed another Pre-Great Zimbabwe relic, a clay pot in Gwanda. Since then he has not stopped until he went to Egyt for the latest, recovery.
From the look of things, more is coming and indeed, we will learn more.
In the final analysis, it might be that we become that generation so privileged to witness some of the historical secrets of old times, should the medium Bvumavaranda continue with its current plinth.
Online Reporter