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I would be a millionaire and build a mansion for my very old mum and give her the best care and love before she departs this world. I would build a school in a very poor little village where I was born to help children not to travel 12 miles a day to and fro as they go to school. I wouldn’t want children in our village to follow my footsteps and others of my generation who used to wake up at 4.00am and start to prepare to go to school. By the sunrise we would start to climb the mountains while other children in other villages would be crossing the rivers and the valleys as we made our way to school daily. Most of the time we would be barefooted and in winter time the hard cold stones would pierce our skin and the pain would last forever. In summer time we would receive the heavy torrential rains accompanied by thunderstorms and lightning that would pour on us as we made our way home in the late afternoons. At times we would do the forbidden rule to lie underneath the tallest tree or pole as a way of avoiding being hit by lighting. By the time we would get home we would be wet and drenched but our caring parents would have made a big fire and made tea for us to get warm. Sometimes the rivers would be flooded and made the journey to school difficult for other children and missed lessons.In those times it was easier to catch a bilhazier and cholera and it would spread rapidly. Even after school we would help our parents with any chores or go to fetch water in far distance wells which would travel for about 2.5 miles. This had been our daily lives and for the few fortunate ones after primary level they would go to a boarding school or go and live with their extended families in towns to proceed with their secondary education but the majority would be spending years travelling 12 miles journey to school. School would mean sometimes learning under a tree and writing what what you have been taught on the ground. Even with sorts conditions we would never take school for granted. Our parents took pride on us. “Education is light. Knowledge is power”. These were often said words with our parents.
As I am writing the situation has never changed but worsened and some families have no source of income to send their children to school as the economy of Zimbabwe deteriorated in the past years. As a result the majority of children are out of school. My heart wants to help out but I lack the resources to help the deprived children whose future is in our hands.
I hope and pray that my words are falling on a fertile ground where they would germinate, grow, flourish and they harvest in abundance.
