A peep into my Book My Early years as a child (Edited extracts)

Thank you for taking your time to read this short introduction looking at my early life as a child in pre-independence Zimbabwe. I was the 3rd born child in my family during the colonial era in Rhodesia now Zimbabwe at Fort Victoria Hospital now (Masvingo). Both my parents were teachers though my dad was also a reverend for the Methodist Church. My early years were spent on the road for reasons best known by my parents, what I can remember is from the time we lived at Njube Methodist Church in Bulawayo during the early seventy’s. My name Nathan was derived from the prophet Nathan in the Bible for obvious reasons, we later moved from Njube to New Luveve where my mom started a job as a teacher at a local school there called Mashayisikova Government Primary. 

My dad left us to further his education in the USA Washington D.C, I had no idea what was going on as our mom just made sure we ate and had uniforms for schools, things were tough at times, I remember sometimes having sitshwala (sadza) with water and sugar as my mom could not afford to buy food for us when my dad left. We as kids did not know the reasons then but with empty stomachs ate what ever was given to us at the time. To try and counter the affordability of food,my mom decided to grow a vegetable garden at the side and back of the house, she grew mubida(mavegi), onions, carrots and tomatoes which became our common dish with the occasional meat once in a while and chicken was for special occasions. To try and provide us with a variety meal we would also have sour milk, mathumbu, and macimbi during certain times of the year. She gave us chores around the house and also had to water and weed the garden on certain days,it wasn't so bad as we also had to learn about building composts and gardening as part of our curriculum at school. I can't really say I felt any difference as a result of my father going abroad. We used to go to school bare footed as life was hard for most families then, however my mom did buy me tenderfoots (black all star) that I ended up wearing to school. 

Social life was fun, we didn't have any fancy toys like the kids of today, our toys were wire cars, pipe guns and somes broken bricks. I also learned how to fish, which became a very big hobby for me, but there was always risks of being bitten by snakes and other dangerous African creatures. I did come across several species of the snake family, cobra's, black mamba, green mamba and puff adder. My mom never wanted to eat my fish because she said I had caught them in water infested by the sewage systems, I didn't care to me it was a meal and most of all a great catch. 

During school holidays my mom would take us from the townships to the rural areas to her father's farm (Ekhaya), I enjoyed farm life, it was a completely different environment from town life. We would go and catch 'Magedleni' that was the name of the bus service that would deliver us to the nearest growth point. We would then walk several kilometres to my grandfathers homestead as the roads were not good enough for cars and buses to drive along, at first the distance seemed very long, but perhaps because we knew what to expect after that and also got used to the walking distance the trip became shorter and quicker. Being in the rural areas was a whole new experience. Early in the morning like 4:30-5:00am my grandfather would wake us up so that we can go milk the cows in time for my mom and them to make breakfast for all of us. 

I remember stepping all over the cow dung and the smell of farm life...an experience that I have treasured up to today. After milking the cows we would then let them out of the kraal to go and feed in the field which in those days funny enough was always green. During the day we would go swimming naked in the river, if you were thirsty you would just dig a hole by the river and then wait a little while for the water to fill up before drinking it..that was life in those days. If you were hungry there were all kinds of wild berries to feed from, but some of them were not to be abused as they could upset your tummy and eventually mean you had to be spaded. Spading was every Childs worst nightmare..we couldn't understand the principle behind sticking that rubberish device in our backsides and squeezing fluids inside..ha ha ha...that was the life. Some days we would get up even earlier to go and plough the fields, I did not see the reason behind the early start then, but when I think of it now it was probably because they wanted to get some work done before the hot scorching African sun came out. 

There were a lot of wild animals around mostly Baboons and monkeys and the occasional grass snake. My favourite food was "amasi"(sour yogurt) and sitshwala or sadza..That is what I think I found most exciting about visiting the rural areas. Then there was the bed time stories, in those days they were done around a fire at night normally narrated by grandma, most of these were about these very short man who ate people. 

Back at school, during the 10 o'clock break we used to buy hot buns, I think for a tick which was below a cent one could buy 2 buns, and they always used to be fresh and a bit warm. School was fun but like every establishment there were bullies and in those days some people started school at a much older age, so you would have these very big girls and boys in your class and guess what, most of them were really slow learners. I kind of understand why now but didn't understand it back then, in our school days there was corporal punishment. I remember teachers had their different forms of punishment, I had one teacher who used to pinch us under our thighs, the one lady teacher used to hit us with a ruler but the worst one I had was called 'Dhliwayo', he taught grade 7 and had a shambok, one white one and a black one he called 'umagula engafi' meaning the one that gets sick but does not die. He taught mathematics and you did not want to get things wrong in his class tests otherwise your day would be one to remember for a very long time. I was kind of lucky to avoid punishment from Dhliwayo as the family had to move from Bulawayo to live in Harare where my dad was to start a new job..

continued...for publication in a date to be announced..please comment and make suggestions for improving reading.