The story of Tendai Chimina

FOR more than an hour we stayed huddled, no one dared move, the sound of gun fire dictated that we stay put.
Various thoughts wandered in our heads, what had happened.
One thing was clear, there was a sellout in our village.
And that issue, beyond doubt, would be resolved.
I had attended pungwes and it was at these gatherings that mysterious issues were unravelled, sellouts that thought were not known were fished out.
But for now we prayed and appealed to the ancestors that vanamukoma emerge victorious in the raging battle.
Our village, Muchemwa, in Svosve had been host to comrades operating in the area.
And the comrades were attacked on a rainy morning of 1978 that will forever remain etched in my mind.
I was just a boy, but I will never forget the day.
It was a day that war was not just brought to our doorstep, but into the house.
The images and memories of the bitter and protracted liberation struggle will forever remain etched in the minds of those that were old enough to know that a war for independence was being waged.
The notorious and cruel Rhodie Iain Kay operated in our area; he had at one time led Rhodesian soldiers that killed more than a hundred of our cattle at a dip tank.
The gunfire that had us huddled together in the house eventually died.
We said more prayers.
We prayed that the Rhodesians would not be given the opportunity they so much relished, parading dead bodies of guerrillas.
It was an act meant to break our spirits and demoralise us.
It never did.
It just made us angrier and more determined to assist the freedom fighters.
By 1978, the guerrillas were a force to reckon with.
They were no longer a rag-tag struggling army as they had transformed into an efficient force that was causing Rhodesians sleepless nights.
The Rhodies were overstretched and conscripting their children barely out of high school into the war they were losing.
Meanwhile, the guerrillas were turning away people who wanted to join the struggle advising and sending some to continue with their schooling in preparation for a free Zimbabwe.
After a while, we emerged out of our homes.
Some comrades made contact and informed us that six of their comrades had been injured to the extent that they could not make it out without being detected by the Rhodies.
My father Phibion Chimina and other men of the villages swiftly brought the guerrillas into the village for treatment.
That moment not much could be done besides cleaning the wounds and making the fighters comfortable.
Plans began to be made to secure medicines for the guerrillas.
This was no easy task.
The presence of the guerrillas had to remain a secret.
Especially as we suspected that we had sellouts in the village closely working with the Rhodesians, but there was an immediate need for medicines or we would lose the fighters.
I had never seen an injured fighter that close, in our home.
The image, the bloodied bodies was gruesome.
This was a different sight.
We were used to a singing and gun waving mukoma, an incapacitated one was a first for me.
My hatred for Rhodesians increased at that moment.
While the elders and some comrades planned what to do word came that the Rhodies were searching the houses.
They knew that there were injured comrades and that they had not yet left the battle zone and they were determined to finish them off.
And punish those that had offered them refuge.
For a moment, in a state of panic, the elders thought it best to abandon the village.
Being found with guerrillas guaranteed death.
But the comrades reassured them that they would be fine.
They were instructed to remain calm.
The guerrillas disappeared as swiftly as they had appeared.
And then just at the edges of the village opened fire.
The Rhodies abandoned the search that was about to begin to engage the guerrillas.
The freedom fighters tactfully retreated, getting the Rhodies away from the village.
And the elders did not miss the strategy that had been employed to save the villagers as they quickly evacuated the wounded guerrillas to nearby caves.
When the Rhodesians returned hours later to resume their search, the wounded comrades were safe in the caves beginning the process of recovery.
Compiled by Evans Mushawevato