True Story: The day randakatengeserwa phone yedhaga mutown

 True Story: The day randakatengeserwa phone yedhaga mutown

By Prince Gora

Last year, my writing took a real hit as I struggled to adjust to the pressures of post-college adult life but this year I have vowed to not only write new stuff but to also complete all the things I have been meaning to write about for the longest time but kept on postponing.

So today is the day I tell you about one of my many experiences neboys netonaz. It is also the day I publish my first piece written in Sho-nglish (a mixture of Shona, slang and English).

So back in 2015 I was fresh from high school and not even sure kuti ndoenda here kuVar because I knew that a mere 11 points (and to think that some are getting 50 points out here in 2023) wouldn`t get me a scholarship and paden mari papasina zvamuchose hapo.

So during that period I did anything and everything to get by. From being a dhakaboy, assistant carpenter, butcher boy and etcetera. I even once spent a week or so ndichichera majecha kuEpaton Park kwedu uku.

But the highlight of it all is the two months I spent while doing street vending in Harare CBD.

If you guys remember, back in 2015 Dr. Amai Stop It vakamboti regerai vanhu vatengese mustreet vawane raramo chii chii paya, right?

So this other uncle of mine took that opportunity ndobva vati mpfanha huya utengese maphone accessories tonaz tiite bag.

Ndikati haa bho mdra, let`s do this.

In an almost prophetic way, ndakabva ndawana poshto right at the mouth of my future workplace pana corner First Street and Jason Moyo apo at the then Barclays bank building (now First Capital).

Zvakambotanga zvakaoma but sevapfanha vepataundi takangohardira kusvika zvakutoita, maiziya?

Then this other Saturday, after a good sale bvandati ndimboendawo patelone wifi near Edgars 1^st Street/Jason Moyo Ave apo.

After browsing the internet for a few minutes, vamwe jah man vakangopindira vakabata Nokia N95 vachiti mupfana unemarii apa?

I don`t remember the model that I was using at the time but I know kuti yanga iri China last zvayo. I also didn`t have money (80% yemari yandandinayo yanga iri yebasa).

So ndakangomuti haa handina hangu mari blaz.

Zvikanzi ukuona chii mpfanha, dakutongokuitira favor semunhu arikuda mari saka kana swap and top bho futi. Phone iyi ndatoivhara munhu so dakutongoipfuudza as soon as possible.

That lured me in, bvandangoti ndine $10 chete mdra.

Zvikanzi haa ishoma mari yako iyi mpfanha, wedzera.

And I was like haa handina hangu mkoma and turned my back on him.

Then the guy turned to those, ‘desperate talking to self’ stunts zvekuti I could hear him achiti ndodiiko, mari ndikuida but haa mari yempfanha uyu ishoma bvadzazongoti horaiti ngatiite dhiri racho.

Bvandapihwa phone paya and I did the usual routine tests - checking the touch, camera, earphones, SIM and SD card, and network connectivity - all the usual stuff. They were all okay. Then I asked him, "How do I know that it's got no charging problems?"

"That's no big deal mafana, let's go to any shop that sells cellphone chargers, pretend that we want to buy a charger and they will test the charging for us."

Ndikati haa bho dhiri iri. I just couldn`t see anything going wrong from here so I kept my SIM and memory (SD) cards muN95 iyaiya.

Then trouble began.

Instead of leading me into a nearby shop as I expected, the guy took me to a puny store kuna Inez Terrace uko but for some reason I didn't think much of it then, ndakangoti haa bho.

The funny thing is that on the way there takatopfuura nepane imwe khule yangu so yanga yandi-mentor into vending ikatonditi mpfanha hausi kuvharwa here iwewe ndikati maya khule, I am in charge.

Tasvika in this other crowded shop pana Inez Terrace takangti tikudawo charger, it was tested tikaona haa iri kushanda.

Hepanoi pakunobhandara charger, jah man vakati, "mpfanha wati ukubhadhara charger", ndikati maya mdra mati ndimi mukubhadhara bvatatotanga kupikisana paya until the embarrassed shopkeeper snatched the charger from his hand. We left the shop with serious faces ndikabuda padoor ndichiti haa apa tahwinha apa.

Handina kumbowaster time ndikati blaz mukuona chii, batai phone ne mari yenyu yetop up iyi inini mondipawo N95 yangu tobudana.

Blaz vaya vakangoti, "Mpfanha chimbomira, muridzi wephone akutiteera uyo", he said the words pointing with his head to a guy who was approaching us, barely 10 metres away.

When the guy arrived akabva anzi, "Mpfanha uyu adakutoper $10 paphone iyi zvinobuda here?" He addressed his friend while showing him my phone.

Mface wake akangoti haa hazvibude izvi, panotoda minimum $25 apa.

And I was like, “Haa handina hangu that much money ngatiite reverse dhiri pachiri padhuze mukoma.”

The guy who had originally approached me got closer to me and whispered so that only I could hear him. The said owner of the phone didn't seem to care much while this went on.

"Mpfana, we can still do this deal, I can trick this guy, just follow me."

Sempfanha wepatonaz I followed him on the pavement towards Speke Avenue, turned two corners along the avenue then the guy suddenly turned to face me and told me in a whisper kuti tiite kadhiri kacho faster faster.

“Ndipe mari nephone, here is yours, hide it so that this guy won't see you with it.”

And once again, his friend seemed to not have noticed anything for he continued to walk mindlessly.

I knew that he wasn't going to count the money right away, so I handed him almost half of the amount we had agreed on and raced towards the corner thinking of myself as the cleverest person on the face of the earth and only stopped at the other side of the road.

It was then that I decided to check my pockets for the $30 that I had secured there...and what the hell?

The left pocket of my jeans was empty. I very much tried to stay calm and checked the right hand side pocket and the back pockets but haa mari can`t get.

I traced the few steps I had just walked hoping to have dropped the money somewhere but still haa there was no money. I just assumed that the money had been lost (I didn`t think of the obvious at that point).

All that was left off my rich pickings for the day was just five bucks that I had withheld from the phone deal. The new phone was at least the one thing left to put a smile on my face - or so I thought.

I dipped my hand in my right-hand pocket to take it - there was no doubt that the phone was inside the pocket, I mean I could feel it, it was there in the pocket.

And for sure it was there.

Trouble came when I tried to switch it on.

Kubaya switch kudai, phone ingaite on?

Ndikati maya, let me try again - a little bit harder this time, phone ikatiwo maya handibake inini. Then I tried even harder but still no signal came up.

Impatiently, I decided to check if the battery was rightly positioned and … boys ka, I almost sank to the ground, kunyura mutara pakati petaundi chaipo.

Apparently the gods had decided that I hadn't had enough misery already so they had punished me even further. The phone I had bought was a fake one; no mhani ndikutadza ku-explainer, there wasn't a phone at all, just the covers filled with mud inside.

On top of this, I had also lost my SIM and SD Cards.

After ndaona phone yemadhaga things began to make sense. The crowded shop was so that they could steal from me, the underhand handover thing at the corner was so that I couldn`t check the phone and they could just disappear into thin air.

I was broken, cracked, damaged, dejected, disjointed, destroyed, fragmented, horrified, ruined, shattered, smashed, wrecked and properly, properly humbled!

I didn`t know the phrase then but haa ipapo mbinga yakashaker zvekutodzokera kuzero uko kusvika pakungobata gotsi.

I know zvangu kuti Mwari haabve kumba kwedu but haa these 2 guys ka, whoever they are, Mwari ave navo.

You would think that I became cleverer after this incident but haa tonaz itonaz chero zvikadii. As recent as May/June 2021 ndakatengeserwa the wrong phone paCopacabana apa. Haa boys rachoka, ma1.

Thank you, ngiyabonga, ndinotenda!

I have been meaning to write this for the longest time but due to one reason or another - ZESA, work, laziness and so forth, I haven`t been able to and kept on postponing and postponing and postponing and postponing until I finally decided to face my demons head on and sat down with my computer to type this.

I so much want to give myself all the great for soldiering on for years until I attained my degree but when I look back, I realize that in this country and in my case in particular, it indeed takes a whole village to raise a child.

I have already wrote a bit about some of the challenges I faced during my college years and will most likely give a detailed account about them in future but I don`t want to talk about that today, today I just want to thank, where possible, by name, everyone who has made my academic journey, even though long, meandering and difficult, a fairly successful, thus far.

This piece is particularly important for me because I was offered an opportunity to do just that at a recent family function but couldn’t as emotions got the better of me.

I however like the emotional part of this journey for many reasons.

The thing is, by the time I finished my undergraduate studies, everything had all but changed. I had long joined the hustling streets and had gotten comfortable with things that are very far away from my field study so much that even today, a couple months after graduation, I am yet to hop back into my field of study (though I plan to in a couple of months). 

The long and short of it is that, thanks to people like Zacharariah Mashawetu, Namatai Kwekweza, Youngerson Matete, among many others, graduating from college didn’t have as much of an impact as I had originally thought that it would have when I started.

As a result, I tend to take the achievement very very lightly.

And, this is where the emotional side of me come in handy. It reminds me of why I started and I persisted all those long years and of course why I have to thank everyone who lent a hand along the way.

It will be understandable to many for me to focus on my college years or more logical to others for me to start from the start, back in kindergarten. For me though, the journey kicked off proper proper around 2011 when I was in sixth grade.

I obviously have to thank my grandparents who were my guardians at the time. Special thanks goes to especially my grandma (may her soul in peace). She was relentless and ever supportive throughout my stay with her. I remember some time around 2010 when she used to set an alarm for 2am just so that she could wake me up to study. She also never cared how much candles or lamp oil I burnt in a single night. Gogo, thank you so so much!

Then, there`s this friend whose close association not only brought me joy but also made a better person and a better student; thank you Panashe.

Here`s also to another friend who stayed with me in the after hours of school, motivated and challenged me to keep studying during the last of my days at Epworth High School. Thank you dear friend, Lynnscent. I hope you will keep thriving for the very best in everything.

I really have to thank my aunt who took me in and cared for me during my A’ levels and only God knows how things could have turned out to be if hadn’t been that generous. Thank you so so much Tete for caring for me.

Here`s also to another aunt whom I could always turn to when the going got tough. On my memorable 21st birthday, she gave me a laptop that I have just used to polish the final version of this thank you note, a laptop that was quite handy during all my time in college and even during the first few months of work before I bought mine. At one time, in my third when I almost dropped out again, she even borrowed me money and I sailed through. When I culdn`t secure internship, she also stepped in. Thank you Tete.

College could not have been possible if it were not to an uncle who went out of his way to make sure that I kick start my college education. Not only did this guy pay for my first semester fees, he also furnished me with a laptop that made my first semester a little bit bearable. Thank you, dad.

Here`s to another uncle who lent me a hand always, provided funds, bought me a work suit and provided countless other things when I needed them, thank you too, dad.

Here`s to an uncle who offered me employment when I needed it the most. Thank you too, dad

Here`s to a then stranger who became a mentor, Todd. Your deeds are plenty, small and big, material and immaterial. Thank you loads.

Here`s to a then stranger who stepped up to pay a whole semester tuition fees when I was about to drop out again. Thank you Ntando.

Here`s to my first year lecturer and mentor who encouraged to come back to school after dropping out. Thank you Mr. Madzo.

Here`s to a couple of college friends who made the successful end possible. Kat Mosety, Malvin Nyagadza, Chiedza Mapfumo, Munashe B. Sunhwa, Kelvin, Max, Merline the roommate, Part one bestie, Mr. Douglas Remhunga, Jimmy Machisi, one of the best roommates I ever had, Give, Hynne, project, study and assignments group mates Collen Gama, Amanda (MHSRIP), Evans Maseko, Josephine Ganganwa, Tapiwa Sithole, Oscar Munashe Kazembe, Kudzaiishe Mandizha, Pretty Mthunzi, President Barnette, and so many of you that I can`t name here.

I am a little bit ashamed though because despite cracking and cracking my big head for a couple of days now, I still can`t remember the name of the guy who let me squat in his room during that very difficult first semester in college. Friend, thank you!

Here`s to my bosses at Edgars whose offer of employment gave me a another shot at the knowledge cap. Mr Bwezani and Mr. Kadya, thank you.

Mr Dirikwe and Mr Paundi, for encouraging me to take the risk of quitting a job and going to school, thank you.

Here`s to my dissertation supervisor, Mrs Fungura, thank you.

Here`s to a stranger who became a close friend and then a stranger again during the last couple of years. Thank you, love.

The pandemic brought me a lot of sorrow and hardships but it also brought me a friend, a very close and very sweet friend who has been ever supportive of everything I do especially the academics. Thank you, sweetheart!

Dad, thank you for everything.

To my mom, who I doubt that she really understood what I was trying to do with my life during the last five or so years but still went to the ends of the earth to make sure that my dreams come true. Thank you, thank you, a million times mom.

Thank you to the various other people – family, friends, strangers, - that I haven’t mentioned here but still played key roles in this journey, I just want to say thank you.

Failing is not easy.

By Prince Gora

How do I begin? Well, perhaps I should start with a confession.

I wrote the first draft of this piece a few months ago and told myself that I wouldn`t publish it unless I had passed my then upcoming exam (the one I once wrote about in a blog piece titled “Hustling your way to graduation: The ups and downs”). I wanted to capture my emotions and feelings at that point in time but also didn`t want to publicize a potential failure.

See https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=2022041110532683

In the lead up to this exam, I was extremely anxious almost every day and had to take a one week sabbatical just before the exam.

One evening, some six days before the exam, while on a call with my girlfriend (yeah, she exists), I confided in her that I was afraid of this exam more than I had ever been afraid of any other in my life and couldn’t understand why. I used to study and go on to pass up to 10 modules in two weeks or so but suddenly, I found six days to be a pretty short time for me to grasp everything despite the fact that this time I was exclusively studying for 1 module; just 1. That is the day I drafted this piece.

“Don`t worry hun, you will be alright. You are simply afraid because this was the first time that you failed like this.”

Her response got me thinking. It suddenly dawned on me that my academic success (though relatively modest) was based on simply getting things right the first time. Failing a subject in primary school is almost an impossible task and in high school I literally never went below the 50 percent mark and managed to get pass marks in all my 10 subjects at O’ level and 4 subjects at A’ Level (not all straight As though).

In college things quickly changed. After some coursework mark mishaps, I did fail a course at the end of my first year. It was heartbreaking but not catastrophic as I proceeded to the next level. I worked on the coursework and got it all done with in the second year albeit at the expense of two more courses.

Foolishly, I waited or should I say gambled to address these at the very death and I lived to regret it. I put in some hard work in what was supposed to be my final semester at university and nearly got away with it except for this one course which I had failed back in my second year.

For the first time in my academic life, I had worked hard for something and still walked away empty handed. When I opened the results portal, I was devastated and only kept going by listening exclusively to Winky D’s Njema, Gafa Futi and Gafa Life: Kicks tape albums.

I lived with my failure in the hope of getting things right on the third time. As the chance to redeem myself came close though, instead of hope, I was restless and in despair. The thought of failing on a third try was a tough pill to swallow. I cannot help but wonder what would have happened if I had failed. This would have destroyed me, in every way imaginable.

After failing, they tell you to get up and try again but hear it from me; it`s easier said than done. You know you have to believe in you but sometimes it just seems to be too high a price to pay.