The true life struggles of the Banana children

 

Michael Thabo (RIP), Nobuhle, Martin Mhambi , Nathan Sipho (Liverpool, U.K)

Life in Rhodesia

I guess our journey really started in the 70's when the family first migrated out of Rhodesia to the United States of America where our late father former President Canaan Banana was pursuing his academic studies in Washington D.C.

99 New Luveve before migration to America

 As a Reverend our dad travelled a lot around   the country most likely part reason we were all   born in different Cities. My brother in Wankie   (now Hwange), my self in Fort Victoria (now   Masvingo), my younger brother in Bulawayo   and the youngest my sister after independence   in Harare.

 On reflection these journey's across cities and   countries would remain significant events in our   lives even as young adults. Later in my article   you will see how these travels might have   affected our mental health and shaped what led   to some of our life challenges.

Person of Public Interest

Our family in New Luveve after returning from America

 I suppose when anyone is a person of public   interest like a preacher or politician they have   to try find a way to have a work life balance   otherwise their family will miss out on quality     moments to bond with them as a parent  and husband.

 

 I can only speak for myself but most likely my   brothers and sister might have felt the same   way, we never really got to know our father as a   dad because of his seemingly busy working   schedule and his love of his people. Our mum   basically performed both roles quite effeciently   and perhaps due to the strong extended family   network structure at the time also helped her   overcome some of the challenges that many   single mothers faced even though in her case   she was a married mother with a very busy   husband.

Zimbabwe Independence 1980

The arrival of independece in Zimbabwe did not help change the family conditions that we experienced pre-independence, truly speaking it actually worsened them as our father was no longer just ours alone but a stately father figure whom every citizen looked upto and respected as a Head of State. The only times we had to have conversations with him was at the dinner table but that environment was also quite intimidating as it was a long table where we sat at a distance from the Head of table and obviously table manners had to be adhered to also to English standards.

Small breakfast table in one of the sitting rooms Martin & mum eating.

I personally tried disrupting the process by hanging around out of normal working ours activities where my father would be involved in football training and on some weekends during off season also jump into the motorcade to go fishing with him and during football season also attend some of the matches with him, but in all these events there was no close conversations as he would be focused on communicating with the players and coaches or Statehouse staff in the case of fishing trips. 

Let me point out that my reflections directed at him are in no way an attempt to taint his positive contributions to society as a leader but to give you the reader perspective in terms of helping you appreciate some of the challenges faced by children of prominent individuals in society in terms of their relationships with their parents. Please also take note that my story might not be the same as the stories of other children in similar situations.