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| Submit your
"In The Hood" story |
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Do you have a story that you think the
Bulawayo Community member may find
exciting/interesting?? Do you have a story that has
links with people or places in Southern Africa,
Bulawayo, Botswana, South Africa, Zimbabwe etc?? Then
share your story with us by submitting
it here! |
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| Peering
through my window ::: Donovan Elliot, United Kingdom |
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Looking out of the window of my apartment, I was
reminded of a time in the Word of God, when the Psalmist
wrote about Zion. Psalm chapter 137 verse 1
says, "By the rivers of Babylon, there we
sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion".
This was the mourning of the exiles in Babylon and on
this cold, unfamiliar day, I understood what the
Psalmist meant, because somehow it felt, as I sat,
peering through my misty window over those old fashioned
brown roof tops and the never ending streets in
this concrete jungle, like I was by those rivers of
Babylon, weeping over my own Zion.
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It's amazing the number of people in this country that
originate from Zimbabwe. Black, White, Mixed
Race and even Indian. They'll tell you stories about
their brothers and sisters scattered all over the world,
in places like: Canada, America, Australia, New Zealand,
Namibia, South Africa, Botswana and many other parts of the globe.
There's not a corner, where you won't find a Zimbabwean.
It's not surprising to find yourself seated in a bus or
train and hear people blurting away in vernacular,
about how many millions they have stashed away in
Zimbabwean banks. I remember earlier when I used to
travel on the bus regularly, I'd often find myself seated
behind two women gossiping away about the British in
Shona or Ndebele, oblivious to the fact that this young
mixed race person behind them, although similar, to a
degree, in appearance to their hosts: the object of their
scorn, was also from Zimbabwe.
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I've seen their confidence grow immensely. Now you have
Oliver Mtukudzi enthusiasts blasting his latest tunes from
their car radio's while driving along the High Street.
Shops are opening, laden with goods from back home, to
satisfy the crave for Mazoe, Life Buoy and Kapenta. One
in every ten Zimbabwean's you meet has started a Money
Transfer company offering the Zim dollar at an even more
competitive rate than the next. New pubs in cities as far
North as Newcastle, adorned with the Zimbabwean colours,
selling the most famous Zimbabwean lagers, like Bollingers
and Zambezi.
On the other hand, a visit to
Zimbabwe highlighted the huge vacuum that's been left by
this exodus. It's a shameful state of affairs. Hospitals
without doctors and nurses, houses without landlords,
farms without farmers and most importantly families that
have been torn apart by this tragedy. Growing up my
nickname was Jukes, adapted from my favourite
musician at the time, Johnny Clegg's album, Juluka.
I never knew some 18 years later, the words of
one of his songs on that album, would come back to
haunt me and my fellow Zimbabweans. We have become
"the scatterlings of Africa". Somewhere
in the midst of this confusion and near despair over a
once "Great" country, I remembered Zion. Psalm
137 verses 2-3 reads: "We hanged our harps upon the
willows in the midst thereof. For there they that
carried us captive required of us a song; and they that
wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of
the songs of Zion. How long shall we sing the Lord's
song in a strange land?"
For most these foreign lands have become home, whatever
happens in Zimbabwe will not change that, but reading
further I was pricked by what the Psalmist writes in verse
6 of the same chapter. "If I do not remember thee,
let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I prefer
not Jerusalem above my chief joy". Whatever the
outcome and my eventual destination in life, this
scripture helped me to appreciate my past. Zimbabwe must
always be my preference, a part of me must
always love Bulawayo above my chief joy.
America's longest standing (figuratively, because he was
physically disabled) President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt
once said "you'll only realise what the future holds
for you, when you cast away the doubts of
today".
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Many people within and
outside Zimbabwe, don't know what the future holds.
Amongst the daily concerns over bread and butter
issues, the cloud of uncertainty hangs...what does the
future hold for a Zimbabwean? For some of us,
God has been faithful and opened up new gateways in
life, but no matter how much we prosper here and
the joy it brings, it will never equal the "chief
joy" Zimbabwe.
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So are there any answers, is
there any solution out there? Maybe not out there, but
certainly there is "in the" Word of God.
Somewhere in the latter stages of my ministry in
Zimbabwe, I preached a message one Sunday, about
the Redeemed of the Lord. In my favourite book in the
bible: Isaiah; chapter 35 and verse 10, it says "
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to
Zion with songs and everlasting joy shall be upon their
heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow
and sighing shall flee away". This revives my hope,
surely there will be an end to this strife.
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With the music and the words
of the liberating song "Avulekile
Amasango" (the gates are open), by
Ishmael, playing in the background. I
looked again through that same window at my own
Babylon, the mist had cleared, I realised that the
roof tops, the streets and all the concrete were not a
dead end, but an opportunity. Like Daniel in the Lion's
Den, Shadrach, Meshack and Abednego in the Fiery
Furnace, during Babylonian captivity, I realised, that
this time was merely just a strip road to the highway of
success. This change implied two things: opportunity or
threat. So wherever you are, whatever you are doing,
arise with me and let's seize the opportunity! There has
never been a greater opportunity than this for
Zimbabweans to export their greatest wealth: people and
establish themselves in every sphere of the world. While
back home the opportunities are boundless, employees are
becoming employers. Back to front, whichever way you
look at it, the result is the same, we will emerge
greater people from this experience!
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Have a great time and say,
only if it matters to you: "THE REDEEMED OF
THE LORD SHALL RETURN". Convert, every
opportunity that greets you into something great for the
Lord and ultimately for yourself!
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| More
Neighborhood stories available here |
| A list of previous
submitted stories is available here! |
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