HomeOld_Posts‘Spirit medium told me to remain a chimbwido’

‘Spirit medium told me to remain a chimbwido’

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The story of Cde Nyarai Bob

I GOT involved in the liberation struggle at the tender age of 13 at the behest of my niece Agita Chinanga.
Rhodesia was not a good place.
Africans lacked everything.
There were no opportunities for black people to amount to anything significant in society.
I received a little education.
I only managed to go beyond first grade at Kasanga Primary School in Rushinga District, Mashonaland Central Province.
We were poor and the system did not care.
That is how heartless and cruel Rhodesia was.
There was never any follow-up on why blacks could not attend school.
In fact, the whole system was designed in a manner that allowed Africans only a rudimentary education which did not empower them in any significant way.
Nevertheless, I remember the war vividly; lack of education can never make me forget the horrendous experience of war.
War was ugly.
Out of my four relatives who went to join the liberation struggle, only Winnnet Mapuranga and a cousin returned home.
Soon we came to know and grasp the idea of the liberation struggle through the pungwes.
These were very educative.
Despite the horrendousness, we sang and danced, in the process learning all that was required from us to ensure success of the liberation struggle.
Lessons were delivered until we understood we were a critical component of the struggle.
Those who fought with guns would not succeed if we did not play our part.
We were equally important.
Those trained in Mozambique, Zambia, Tanzania, China, Romania, the then Yugoslavia and Russia would be ineffective if we did not lend them our support.
Such knowledge made us proud contributors as collaborators.
We were needed for the successful execution of the struggle.
And we did not take our role lightly as we ensured vanamukoma got everything necessary for success, from food to information about the movement of the enemy.
It was our struggle too.
And we did not shy away from it and did not hesitate to make sacrifices.
Due to my diligence, I soon became head of the chimbwidos in my area.
I led in the mobilisation of villagers for meetings.
Even though we first ate the food we prepared, it was also my responsibility to ensure that the food for the fighters was handled by trustworthy people.
Since grinding mills were few and far between, we took to the pestle and mortar to turn the grains into mealie-meal, the same way we used thorns and sisal fibre to mend the fighters’ clothes.
Besides availing food rations to the cadres, villagers gave them clothes and in some instances, blankets.
At one time, I almost nearly crossed the border into Mozambique for military training, but aborted the trip at the last minute following advice from a spirit medium.
It was made clear that I would contribute more to the struggle as a collaborator.
At times we accompanied freedom fighters as they moved to new bases, helping them ferry their weapons.
These were missions fraught with danger, especially if the movement was known by Rhodesians who would have received information from sell-outs.
Sometimes we moved about with the comrades, but those missions were fraught with danger as we soon learnt.
One such nasty contact occurred in Bungwe Village.
Unknown to us, the Rhodies were waiting after laying an ambush.
And as soon as we got into the killing-bag, a fierce gun battle ensued.
We scurried for cover and those who managed to get out of the ambush sought refuge in a nearby river.
We were fortunate there was a guerilla detachment in the area that quickly came to reinforce the freedom fighters under attack.
I strongly believed in divine intervention during the war.
Some attacks were so intense we really did not understand how we survived such battles.
An ambush would be perfectly set by the enemy, but still we would come out of it, some with no injuries at all.
Still we did not stop to serve until ceasefire in 1979.
Compiled by Richard Khosa

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