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Saved by a python

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Cde Nelson Sibongile Ndarasika

THE day was going to be eventful.
There was no way it was going to turn out otherwise.
When I woke up that summer morning in August 1978, it was not only to the sound of chirping birds.
Being a guerrilla one never really slept, you woke up with all your senses attuned to the environment.
The liberation struggle was at its peak, we were giving Rhodies a hard time.
I had been in the trenches for three years.
Our guerrilla warfare had evolved, we were overwhelming the Rhodies.
To survive our senses were keyed to detect the enemy from the moment one rose from sleep, even in sleep one had to be conscious.
But that morning I woke up to an interesting visitor, a snake.
A huge python had coiled itself not far from my head.
I was startled. One Comrade Shingirai Muhondo assured me all was well.
The snake was a good omen.
It symbolised protection, he assured me.
The liberation struggle was not only fought on the physical plane but also on a spiritual one.
After the peaceful departure of the python, Cde Muhondo duly went under a Muhacha tree and thanked the ancestors for protecting us thus far and appealed for continued protection.
Soon collaborators brought us food.
While having the breakfast brought us by the chimbwidos, a plane came flying over us.
Erroneously we dismissed the plane; we thought it was one belonging to a nearby farmer.
We rarely made such assumptions, they were costly.
The survival of a guerrilla was hinged on taking into account even the minute of details.
No sooner had the chimbwidos left that one of them returned.
We were surprised to see Edna Mlambo back.We wondered what she had forgotten. She had returned to warn us.
Edna had slunk away from the rest of her group after they had spotted Rhodesian soldiers.
She did not finish her delivery.
As she talked we heard sounds of approaching helicopters.
They were three of them.
It was summer, vegetation was scant.
We had no cover.
We would be sitting ducks.
Fortunately we had two propelled grenades.We fired at the copters.
And immediately they realised that we were well armed and rose up in the sky.
It was the move that saved us.
As the copters manoeuvred to avoid being downed by us, we jumped into nearby reeds.
We had camped along Rusitu River, which had huge reeds on its banks.
The python, at that moment in the reeds, I really hoped was a message that I would survive.
There were only six of us that included Cde Paradza, Cde Trymore and Cde Smoke.
We were out-numbered and out-gunned.
The reprieve, in the reeds, was not long as in no time a Rhodesian ground force descended on us, firing.
Was the ‘message’ from the python genuine, it did not look like so.
Suddenly the bullets that had been whizzing above our heads changed direction.
Fire was directed elsewhere.
Fortunately fellow comrades in nearby areas were also hard on the heels of the Rhodies and were engaging them.
The Rhodies were now sandwiched between us and the guerrillas that had become our saviours.
We pumped bullets into the Rhodies until we ran out of ammo and then crossed the river, headed away from the battle field.
Only two of our comrades were injured.
Later we heard that more than 15 Rhodies had perished in the fight.
The python had come through.
But had it?
What had happened to Edna, she was in the middle of the battle.
A fortnight later at a pungwe in Ngaone, Edna appeared, she survived the battle.
The python had come through.
COMPILED by Emergency Mwale

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