THE most important thing is for people to believe in themselves, to have an inner force which is invincible.

It is neither brains nor brawn which are the most powerful force in an individual, but willpower. 

It is willpower that drives one to achieve great things, as our liberation struggle illustrates.

It is the greatest source of strength, the inner primary driving force and command centre for success.

When a person sits down and says: “I will do this, I will do that,” a powerful force is ignited and plans become reality.

The willpower is a spirit force which cannot be easily defeated.

No amount of pain or suffering can defeat that force, not even guns or machetes; it continues to fight long after the body is worn out.

It is the force of their will which kept comrades going long after the body was ravaged by hunger, thirst, disease and when many of their compatriots fell all around them.

It enabled each comrade to fire that one last bullet even as the enemy surrounded them… outnumbered and outgunned they did not surrender, telling the enemy that they were not defeated but were just going through a temporary material displacement. 

This same spirit we celebrate each April 28, the spirit of the seven comrades of Chinhoyi, who, when surrounded by air and ground enemy forces, did not surrender but fought until the last bullet; this spirit force continues to fight in us today, inspiring us never to give up on our Zimbabwe. 

Their bodies and their minds obeyed the command of their will that Zimbabwe will be free.

The word patriotism is sometimes perceived to be ephemeral, esoteric, romanticism of an overrated ideal, but actually it is the most powerful force which embodies the fiercest will of love for one’s country, so fierce in its intent to shield and protect one’s country, it is a love affair unto death. 

No romantic novelist has written a greater epic love story than the one which unfolds when there is deep love for one’s country, when there is patriotism; it surpasses all, encompasses everything meaningful in life. 

Vana madenyika abandoned everything; mother, father, wife, husband, children, school, businesses and jobs, everything.

Ultimately they give up their lives. 

There is no greater force! 

A patriot will never think or do anything to harm his/her country — his/her countrymen come first.

In this epic love story, you will understand why children ran away from home to join others in the struggle, walking all the way from Gokwe to Zambia in some cases.

You will understand why grandmothers risked their lives, escaping from ‘Keeps’ with sadza strapped to their backs like babies, fully knowing that if they were caught, it was instant death.

They risked everything so that the comrades could have food.

It is a love story which tells you why sadza was cooked everyday for thousands of days, for thousands of combatants. 

Capitalist ‘economists’ would come up with a formidable budget, argue that ‘poor’ peasants could never marshal such resources, would conclude that such a project was impossible. 

Indeed the ‘poor’ shared the little they had with the comrades and in this manner sustained a guerilla war for years, until victory.

It is what the late Fidel Castro underlined when he was looking for funds to wage the war against the Baptista regime: “I don’t want the millions from the politicians, any rich guy or millionaire whose money is tainted. I prefer cents from the poorest of the vendors of newspapers, vegetables or fruits in Santiago.

Even if it’s 10 cents, they deprive themselves of food for themselves and their children to help the Revolution. That, to me, has more merit than anything.” (Figueroa: 2016)

Vana mbuya, vana mai, vana baba had no budget but they did it for love and they succeeded. 

They had so much love for their country and made sacrifices to feed an army of thousands of combatants for years — in times of plenty, in drought, they soldiered on. 

They shared with ZANLA and ZIPRA forces, food which was just enough for them and their families. 

It is this force, patriotism, which has fired revolutions across the world and ensured their triumph. 

In Cuba, 1961, barely two years after the revolution, Castro was able to launch a literacy campaign spear-headed by 100 000 school children between the ages of 12 and 19 to go to each nook and cranny of the island to teach the peasants and workers basic literacy. 

The teachers took no more than the equivalent of a backpack and a lantern. During the day, they worked in the fields and factories with their students and taught them at night. 

They ate what the peasants and workers ate, they slept where the peasants slept. 

At the end of the year they had nearly eradicated illiteracy in their country.  

In this moment socialism shone at its best, shone with blinding brilliance. 

No one took a purse with him/her; the community welcomed their teachers with love and respect and it was a great success.

No-one boggled people’s minds with formidable, forbidding budgets, pros and cons… the greatest resource at play here was their great love for their people and this committed them to help others, for no reward except that others also became literate. 

Today, Cuba has one of the highest literacy rates in the world. 

It has a public health system better than the United States; every citizen is afforded health care comparable to the best in the world. 

The World Health Organization (WHO) notes that Cuba achieved this not because of abundant resources but because of the will to do so and that any other ‘poor’ country can achieve as much.  

The magic wand which enabled Castro to achieve so much for his people was not a Treasury bursting at the seams, it was his great love for the Cuban people and the love of so many other patriots who were prepared to work with him to achieve maximum social justice for his people. This earned him the title ‘Friend of the poor’. 

Despite 600 assassination attempts, a savage trade embargo, attacks by US sponsored  dissidents, numerous economic sabotage attacks, all by the US, Fidel marched on, doing the best for his people, undeterred by the vilifications and attacks.

In Cuba, there are no people on the streets, everyone has a home. 

Cuba has trained thousands and thousands of doctors and teachers. 

It has 30 000 volunteer doctors in 60 countries, including South Africa and Zimbabwe; it has an international programme to give free eye care to Latin Americans which has restored vision to three-and-half million Latin Americans — the target is six million. This includes provision of free glasses and contact lenses.

Cuba has achieved all this despite being classified as a ‘poor’ Third World country. 

But how? 

The patriotic fervour that fired Fidel and compatriots to fight to free their countrymen from the Baptista regime lasted the mile, it is the force that enabled him to achieve so much.

When, at his funeral in 2016, children wore T-shirts inscribed ‘I am Fidel’, they were paying tribute to an epic love story; Fidel’s love for his people, the Cubans, his unwavering, tireless efforts to uplift the mass of his people, which love bequeathed them a special legacy, in which each person can be educated to the best of his/her ability, each person is afforded health care comparable to the best in the world, each one has a home, in which Cubans believe in themselves.

If we are all united and committed to uplift the nation and desist from sabotaging economic revival efforts, we too can bust sanctions. 

An epic love story indeed! 

Aluta contua!