Let’s start at the bottom, a very practical place to begin, and then work our way up.
Think of a very poor person you know. If you can’t think of anyone, imagine one. Think also of a very poor place or community you have visited. For some, it may be difficult, but for me I have been there before.
I grew up on a farm in rural Africa. I have lived in a hut made out mud with a thatched grass roof over it. For floor polish, grandmother would use fresh cow dung – thinly spread across the floor and then left to dry. I have walked barefoot and been pricked by thorns under the soles of my foot, and risked being cut by a broken empty bottle of Coke.
Our food was not that great for me. I won’t say what it was I sometimes ate! Suffice to say that the food we all take for granted, and new clothes, were special treats for Christmas. And after some morning chores like milking the cows and then letting them out to pasture, I would walk 7 miles to school barefoot. I know many children in similar circumstances, travelled much greater distances than I did.
But, looking back now, I can only marvel at the grace of God in all what He has done in my life. I am glad I was not struck by a cobra which I feared the most, or attacked by some other wild animal on the way to or from school. Once, I nearly fell into a pit latrine when I collided with a larger boy at the entrance as I was coming out - while he was in a hurry to get in. I could go on and on!
Just as I wanted so much, back then, to have a better life and for my own kids never to experience such a life, today - I know there is nothing to smile about poverty and being poor.
Farai Mutsambiwa
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