Lest I Forget — The Inspirational Life Of My Mother (Happy 58th Birthday)
My mother encountered a very tough upbringing. Her father and mother met in colonial Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). They had both come to Rhodesia as immigrants in search of work. My grandfather came from Mulanje, Malawi; while my grandmother was a Basotho from South Africa. The two stayed together as husband and wife, and were blessed with two daughters; Shelta (my mother) and Margaret (my mother’s younger sister). During my grandparents’ stay together, they never introduced each other to their relatives; neither did they make any efforts to explain the same to their children.

Sometime in 1970, when my mother was in Sub B (the equivalence of Grade 2 in modern Zimbabwe); my grandfather was arrested at a mine where he was working. He was accused of having stolen a raw mineral stone (presumably with gold). That accusation was neither tried in a competent court of law, nor supported by any exhibits. The word of the colonial white men who supervised him were enough “proof and evidence” to seal his fate. He was subsequently banished from Rhodesia with a Prohibited Immigrant (PI) status; and got deported back to Malawi. He never got a chance to kiss his wife or daughters goodbye. Whether he arrived alive in Malawi or not, that has never been proved to this day. His family, us included; never saw him again. We don’t have any picture of him at home; neither do we even know his name!

My grandmother; whose name was Anna; lived on with her two daughters after her husband had been banished back to his homeland. Unfortunately, due to the colonial segregation and societal imbalances, both her daughters dropped out of school. That sealed the educational fate of my mother and her younger sister; Margaret.
['Tapiwa Zuze']
['Mothers', 'Parenthood', 'Motherhood', 'Family', 'Parenting']