Diaspora Cases: “There is no place like home”

03 Aug, 2014 - 06:08 0 Views
Diaspora Cases: “There is no place like home”

The Sunday Mail

0108-2-1-ZVIRIKUFAYA1

The brothers and sisters from Zimbabwe also fellowship during social gatherings [In Australia]

At the height of Zimbabwe’s economic challenges, many left the country for greener pastures in countries like the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States and New Zealand.

Others settled closer to home in South Africa, Botswana, Mozambique, Lesotho and Namibia. But despite starting new lives, they are still proudly attached to their umbilical cord and miss home — badly.

Sunday Mail Extra caught up with some of them on the sidelines of the recent International AIDS Conference in Melbourne, Australia.

In 2005, Oliver Maboreke, a former teacher, was awarded a scholarship and left for Australia. What he encountered there was beyond his imagination.

“My cousin met me at the airport on a Tuesday and I only saw her on the next Sunday as we were going to church despite us staying in the same house. She was always at work, doing shifts.

“Being fresh from home I nearly came back. University had not opened so I had nothing to do and nowhere to go. Back home, I had many friends and would go anywhere. Here, the television became my friend until I started classes,” Maboreke says.

He now appreciates Zimbabwe more since the idea of “community” remains foreign in Australia.

When his family finally joined him, living in a small circuit of 12 houses confirmed his fears. It took them close to a year to talk to their neighbour.

Every year Zimbabweans in all Australian states host the Zimpride, where they gather for sporting activities like soccer

Every year Zimbabweans in all Australian states host the Zimpride, where they gather for sporting activities like soccer

“My neighbour’s wife saw a snake in their house, freaked out then ran to our house. That’s when we started to talk.”

In Australia, Maboreke says, a lot of Zimbabweans and other foreigners have mental health issues.

“They come here and get lost in the system and become lonely. They cannot relate to the people here and cannot attach themselves to the Zimbabwean community, leading to depression. For example, a student may work two to three jobs and have no relatives and friends and no time for interaction. When you hear someone is mentally ill, it’s not always drugs but the depression associated with loneliness,” he adds.

Zimbabweans have been creating social platforms such as the Zim Community Day.

“We started with 10 people, but now almost 1 000 are coming. We cook sadza and other traditional foods and socialise. This has been helping. The disease here is loneliness.”

Languages

Local languages can easily vanish, especially for children born in foreign land.

As such, most Zimbabweans in Melbourne now enrol their children in Shona and Ndebele language classes.

“I am a SaManyika and very particular about my kids learning my language. I also send them to Zimbabwe once every year. I was born in the village and also want my kids to have the same experience,” says Maboreke.

Many kids born in Australia do not feel like they are Zimbabwean or Australian, Maboreke adds.

“They are like a lost generation because of their colour and where they come from. Other kids here do not easily accept them.

“That is why we encourage parents to enrol their children in the Ndebele and Shona schools so that these kids are proud of their Zimbabwean identity.”

Maboreke is also on the African Think Tank board.

“Before the Australian government comments about Africans or even Zimbabwe, they consult us and we always clarify some of the things they prejudge. We tell them we have our own challenges, but they are not as bad as they think.”

Food and Sport

Traditional Zimbabwean food coming through South African suppliers ties them to their roots.

There is a shop in Melbourne that specialises in foods like maize meal, kapenta and dried vegetables, among others.

“My family eats sadza thrice a week. Because of the work regime, some people turn to fast foods, but this is very expensive.”

Every year they host Zimpride, where Zimbabweans in all Australian states gather for sporting activities like soccer.

Up to 5 000 Zimbabweans attend these tournaments.

In Australia, the cost of living is high, especially for visitors. For example, a 500ml soft drink costs between A$4,50 and A$5.

But incomes are also high.

“But once you settle in and start working, the quality of life is good. If you become a resident you can access free medical care and education for kids. But at university you repay a fraction of what you will have been given later on,” he added.

Maboreke believes Zimbabwe’s education system is still the best.

“Having been a teacher back home, I appreciate the Zimbabwean education system. There are things people are taught here that do not make them good citizens. Of note is the concept of respect. When I was in university, I got a teaching job. Kids do not respect teachers. They would sit next to their girlfriends and do all sorts of things during lessons.

“If you rebuke a kid, they tell their parents who can sue you. I have a friend who was fired because the kids complained that he had a ‘funny’ accent. Our Zimbabwean accent is different from Australians’.”

Simba Matega, who has been in Australia for the past three years, concurs that home is best.

“We are homesick. We are like in the middle of nowhere. The life most live here is just me, myself and I. The only family I have is my Zambian wife who I recently married.”

Remembering the good times with his family in Harare’s Glen View, watching his favourite soccer team Caps United play, and simple things like working a maize field makes him miss home.

“Their parties here are quiet, if you make noise the police will come. It’s like a prison.”

He spends eight hours per day connected to the Internet chatting with friends and looking for the latest news from home.

But the money there is good. He now owns a trucking business — Simba Trucks — and things are looking up.

Shacking it up in New Zealand

A Zimbabwean father of two, Kudakwashe Tuwe (49), has lived in Wellington for 12 years now, working for the New Zealand Aids Foundation as national programme officer for all African communities in that country.

His wife is a teacher.

“It’s not easy staying in a foreign land,” he says, adding “I miss home a lot. But life here is better in terms of socio-economic issues and perspectives.”

The first days, though, were tough.

Arriving in New Zealand as a professional migrant in 2002, all he wanted was a secure future for his kids as Zimbabwe’s economy was starting to falter.

“I had to work very hard . . . back home I was a manager and now had to do low-level jobs like cleaning for some time,” he narrates.

After a year, he joined his current employer and “about nine years ago, I was fortunate and became a manager. I only got the job because I was an African and they wanted one”.

Before his family joined him, Tuwe found himself quite lonely.

The few Zimbabweans in Wellington formed an association, ZimDare. On weekends they meet and talk politics, social issues, economics and anything and everything.

“I remember I organised the first Zimbabwean Independence celebrations at my home in April 2003. Many Zimbabweans attended and it was a moment of fellowship with other brothers and sisters from home,” he recalls.

They would also attend African communities’ events like Miss Africa.

He estimates the number of Zimbabweans in New Zealand at between 6 000 and 10 000.

“Most have left for Australia. There has been a massive exodus of Zimbabweans in New Zealand to Australia because it has a bigger economy due to the mining boom in Perth. Most Zimbabweans with technical skills now work there,” he explains.

“It’s not easy settling in a foreign country. It is tough and takes a lot of tenacity and focus. You have to know why you are leaving your country of birth and what your goals are, what you want to come for. If someone wants to come for education, yes, because there are a lot of opportunities here.”

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