by Clarah Manuhwa
My Zimbabwe, my land, my home, where my first cry was heard, treasured and recorded.
Would you emabrace me as you did back in the day,
Time would tell…Head held high, we marched like an army in unison sent on a mission to reunite with her again. It was going to be that yearly celebration everyone awaited| X-mas and New years. Family and friends were still the same, ever cheerful and always joking about ‘’kubatanidza kuti zviite.’’ Good times, bad times, through her mood swings I remember we had all survived. O Zimbabwe. How I had missed her and her people. After an hour ride to home, I already knew her changes and her hot urban grooves topping her favorites ‘’Tezvara varamba’’. Yes, I was resonating with her again. In a weeks time I had learnt of her developments and witnessed her divisions, I also hadnt missed the whispers of her gossip.O Zimbabwe ever buzzing
Vibrant, so energetic
Full of life, always oozing
Given a questionaire, Complex | so I would tick
For too long, our stories have been told by someone else which has resulted in a lot of misconceptions and dilution of our history. When people think of Zimbabwe they envision our president| Mr Mugabe as the remaining dictator. But my country is more than our leader; our country is its people. I have realised the enormous power and presence our Zimbabwean youth execute. Maborn free they call us. To us independence is the country we were born in when no war met our eyes, only our ears have been tormented by the stories told to us by elders and we thank them for their fight, today we will do the same | not with guns and blood but with our brains to shape an educated Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe is indeed to me the most peaceful country, we might have had our share of political violence but it never erupted into major ethnical violence or genocide. Indepedence to me means a moment where I look back into our Zimbabwean history, our roots, the struggle of our people and realise the depth of the statement *Zimbabwe sovereignty.* If you are Zimbabwean then yes, Independence means you are a powerful voice in your country and you have the right to shape a positive country. Like a mother, our baby has to be nutured to grow. She is now 32 years, and still we are ready to take the lead and shape her into a treasure many will be envious of and many men will want to wed.
Happy Independence Day Zimbabwe