Striving to go Forward (The Spirit and Hope of Africa)
By Ellen Miyona Mudzimu (2009)
Published by Thorn and Leaf Publishers
ISBN: 978-0-7974-3887-3

AN African proverb goes: “Until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.”
This serves as a reminder to Africans that unless they glorify their own achievements, praise their heroes and heroines, only the distorted tale by whites will carry the day.
It is the rich African history whites want blacks to forget.
It is the African heroes and heroines whites do not want us to celebrate.
However, the power is in the hands of Africans.
Until they make that conscious decision to celebrate their own, their history will soon be forgotten.
One way of ensuring history is not lost is documenting past events for future generations.
In the book Striving To Go Forward (The Spirit and Hope of Africa) by Ellen Miyona Mudzimu, the author is inspired by the works of her late father Silas German Mudzimu.
The book chronicles the life of Silas, born Chabvunduka Mudzimu in 1909 in Marembe (present day Nyamapanda) and the developmental work he did in Mutoko.
Having lost his mother at an early stage, Silas grew up under the care of his grandmother.
Like any ordinary black person during the colonial era, Silas faced the harsh discrimination and injustices of the colonial Government.
Taking advantage of the education system that allowed blacks to acquire some form of ‘formal education’, Silas managed to turn his life around.
“Chabvunduka was very interested in education from a tender age and he started attending night school at a local school at Makaha Mine,” writes Mudzimu.
Silas drew inspiration from Ghanaian Dr James Emmanuel Kwegyir Aggrey, the first African to hold a doctorate of philosophy in Africa and commonly referred to as ‘Dr Aggrey of Africa.’
Dr Aggrey visited the then Rhodesia in 1924.
“My father, then in his late teens, was among a large crowd of people who went to see Dr Aggrey and hear his address,” Mudzimu writes.
“Given that segregation was still rife in Rhodesia at that time, my father was surprised to see Dr Aggrey sitting, talking and laughing with whites, something that was unheard off at that time.
“When he (father) heard that Dr Aggrey was being accommodated at the Governor’s House, it dawned on my father that the much-revered whites respected an educated blackman and saw him as an equal.”
At that point, Silas figured that education would give Africans an opportunity to learn something from ‘whites’.
However, the education system was designed in such a way that blacks emulated whites and degraded efforts by blacks.
“Finally, when Dr Aggrey addressed the black people who had come to see the first African doctor, he dwelt on many issues but emphasised the two issues of education and land,” writes Mudzimu.
“His bravery to speak on those two burning issues, which whites used as weapons to oppress the blacks, was a turning point which made my father leave Salisbury and go to Old Mutare Mission to pursue his education.”
Indeed the issue of land was a bone of contention at that time in the country.
Whites had displaced blacks from fertile lands, driving them to reserves whose soils were not suitable for crop production.
Indigenes were protesting against this move by whites.
My father, Mudzimu writes: “Remembered this statement by Dr Aggrey on land; ‘Land is the heart of Africa, and if the heart is gone there be no more Africa.”
“He also recalled Dr Aggrey’s words to the African women in the audience, that they were not only the mothers of children, but they were the mothers of Africa and that they would someday have great political importance to Africa.”
True to the words of Dr Aggrey, blacks revolted to reclaim their land to ensure Africa remained intact.
Upon completion of his studies at Old Mutare, Silas returned to Mutoko where he worked as an interpreter and cook for United Methodist Missionary Reverend Wilfred Bourgaize.
Ironically, even though Rev Bourgaize preached the gospel of equality according to the Bible, he treated Silas as a third-class citizen.
“When crossing a river, my father would carry Reverend Bourgaize on his back so that his shoes and feet would not get wet,” writes Mudzimu.
“He was proud of his work and performed his duties exceptionally well.”
The ‘submissive’ nature of Silas towards Reverend Bourgaize is proof religion was just another vehicle for colonisation.
Despite the Bible teaching that all ‘creatures’ are equal, whites were not prepared to take blacks as equals.
Mudzimu highlights how missionaries applied the ‘carrot and stick’ technique to manipulate blacks.
“Each time they got to a place, they would address the chief or headman about the need to have schools for their children,” she writes.
“Gifts were given to chiefs who had agreed to establish schools in their areas.”
Silas, irked by the colonial regime, played a part in the liberation struggle.
“When the war of liberation seriously intensified, the colonial Government put the people in protected villages or ‘Keeps’ saying they were protecting them from terrorists, although in reality it was meant to stop them giving food and logistical support to the freedom fighters,” writes Mudzimu.
“Despite being put in Keeps, dad and the others continued to feed the boys and girls who were fighting for the country.
“They would break the fence so as to go out and meet the freedom fighters and get instructions on what to do.”
With more narratives celebrating the lives of local heroes, future generations will not be deprived of factual historical events and stories.