The Sunday Mail
Itai Mazire
Sunday Mail Reporter
The search for greener pastures during the colonial era led two middle-aged men from their native countries to the then Southern Rhodesia.
Mr Isaac Medias of Malawi, now 90 years old, arrived in Waterfalls, Harare in 1958 while Mr Mpingo Chisari (75) of Mbari, Mozambique headed to Sommerby Mine near Kadoma in 1971.
As fate would have it, the two ended up at a retirement home in Highfield, Harare.
Mr Kurwa Nyamuzuhwe, another 90-year-old who migrated back then from Mutoko to the then Salisbury (Harare) in search of employment also joined their ranks at the retirement home.
The three senior citizens might be from diverse backgrounds, but will celebrate Fathers’ Day today, along with the rest of the world.
Even though they do not have their own biological children, they reminisce about the numerous people they have helped and fathered during their long lives.
With nostalgia, the “three musketeers” long for the days when many looked up to them as true fathers.
“We are lonely here and do not have children to visit us. It is now water under the bridge, though I wish I had a child to look after me in my old age,” said Sekuru Chisari while chatting with The Sunday Mail.
Sekuru Chisari came to Southern Rhodesia at the invitation of his brother who worked at Sommerby Mine and immediately secured a job there.
“I had left my wife and a baby girl in Mbari. Unfortunately, I cannot remember their names. Once the war broke out in Mozambique, I received sad news that my family had been killed.
“I never remarried and though I had girlfriends, I never had any other child. I moved to Gokwe in the early 1980s and worked as a farm labourer for a black police officer. I, however, suffered kidney failure and eventually came to this home.”
Sekuru Medias also related his story.
“I was not employed after my wife gave birth. Colleagues in Lilongwe told me that one could easily get a job at a farm or as a gardener for a Rhodesian and so I left my family for Salisbury in late 1958.
“Initially, my objective was to get a job and work for at least three months, buy a bicycle and head back to Lilongwe where I would use it to start my vending business.
“The fish industry in Lilongwe was booming back then. However, Mann, the Rhodesian I worked for, paid me 2 pounds, 20 pence monthly. I learnt much later that my daughter had died from an unknown ailment. My wife died, too,” he said sadly.
As for Sekuru Nyamuzuhwe, he left his home in Mutoko in 1945 following his parents’ death and got employed by the Rhodesian Postal Services.
“I never had a girlfriend, but now as old as I am, I feel I could have married one of the girls I worked with. I always admire the young children who visit some of our colleagues here.”
Fortunately, the trio still has something to smile about.
Yesterday, youths from Christ Embassy church and Success Motivation Network celebrated Fathers’ Day with them, reminding them that they too are fathers.
