He escaped death by a whisker

THOUSANDS of patriotic Zimbabweans contributed to the liberation war effort in different ways, some of which did not require them to operate guns. This included providing and cooking of food for the guerrilla fighters and carrying heavy and dangerous war supplies for very long distances, among others. In this continuation of Cde Hoyini Samuel Bhila’s gripping narration, our discussion focuses on his contribution through teaching young people at refugee camps. After being seriously injured in battle and being rendered incapable of active combat, Cde Bhila, whose Chimurenga name was Obey Dzingai, then dedicated his efforts to providing education at camps. He starts by telling our Senior Reporter TENDAI CHARA how he escaped death by a whisker.

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Q: We concluded our last discussion when an enemy helicopter had dropped a bomb near your position and how, after being seriously injured, you had given up on life as you waited for a death that never came. If you can proceed and tell us what happened next.

A: I lost consciousness as I lay on the ground bleeding. Fortunately, the Rhodesians did not come to finish me off.

When I finally woke up, it was late in the afternoon. I crawled and then slowly walked away from the scene.

I struggled to walk for a distance of about a kilometre before I sat down under a tree.

From my position, I could see the Rhodesian helicopters coming and going as they collected the bodies of my dead colleagues.

Some of the comrades who lay wounded at the scene were finished off by the enemy.

Sadly, many chimbwidos and mujibhas were caught in the cross fire and lost their lives.

I spent the whole day and the following night under that tree.

The blood was now dry, causing my clothes to stick to my body.

My whole body was in pain.

Early in the morning, I slowly walked towards the next homestead.

I would sit down after walking every 10 metres and it took me up to midday to reach the headman, Nyakatsaru’s, homestead.

The headman recognised me and he took me, together with another injured comrade, to a bushy area.

The following day, the headman contacted Cde Ndumenya, one of our comrades who was a medic, and he promptly attended to the two of us.

Stretcher beds were made out of logs and they were used to carry us deep into the bush from where we were treated.

Due to the severity of our injuries, it was decided that we be taken to Mozambique for treatment.

There was no other means of transporting us to the rear other than carrying us on the stretchers.

At this point, the masses did a wonderful job.

They would take turns to carry us.

Strong men from one village would carry us to the next village where others would carry us to the next village until we got to Mozambique.

During the day, we would be in hiding; we walked only at night.

It took us two weeks to complete the arduous journey.

Q: What were the extent of your injuries and what happened when you got to Mozambique?

A: The injuries were bad. Two of my fingers were to be amputated.

Luckily, they healed, but as you can see, they are now badly deformed.

I still have shrapnel which is stuck in my body up until this day.

For a long time, my left arm could not function at all.

When we got into Mozambique, transport was arranged and we were taken to Chimoio.

At Chimoio, the base where injured cadres were treated was called Parirenyatwa.

We had many bases at Chimoio, among them Chaminuka.

The medical department at Chimoio was then under Cde Ziso.

Dr Sydney Sekeramayi was there and so were many trained comrades who were medical officers.

Q: How long did it take you to recover and how were the conditions at Parirenyatwa?

A: I took me six months to recover. The conditions were not that good.

We made the most of what we had.

We relied heavily on looking after each other.

For instance, I told you earlier that my arm was injured for a long time and was not functioning.

So, whenever I wanted to bath I would ask a colleague to help me.

Helping each other united us.

The sick and injured would come and go, whilst those that needed serious operations like amputations were transferred to Chimoio Hospital.

Q: After recovery, what did you then do?

A: After recovering one would be assigned duties depending on their capabilities.

Those that were not trained in any field would receive training.

In my case, after recovery, I was told that we were supposed to establish a school.

There were so many young people who were coming to join the armed struggle.

So we established a school at Chindunduma.

When the young people came, we grouped them according to what level of education they would have attained when they were at home.

We enrolled from Grade One.

I was made a teacher because I had done teacher training at Mt Selinda and that is why I was posted to the education department.

Those who were trained as nurses before crossing into Mozambique would also do nursing.

When we started Chindunduma, our secretary for education was Cde Enerst Kadungure.

To run the school, we were relying on donations.

We started the school from scratch and were teaching with no curriculum and planning material. Nothing.

We could just go and teach basic things.

After a while, we then introduced a research department whose task was to come up with a curriculum.

We then constructed structures where we could do our planning.

Those who had done O-Levels were used as teachers.

A teacher training programme was then introduced and this was the programme that was later introduced into the education sector after the war had ended.

This programme was called Zintech.

Q: Who were some of the teachers that you worked with at Chindunduma?

A: We had Cde Ephraim Chitofu, he is still alive, Norman Dluli and Cde Ropa.

Cde Fay Chung later joined us.

She is the one who transformed the
education system at Chindunduma by introducing research and curriculum development.

Some of the teachers that we had were Brigadier Munemo, who was with the research department.

Cde Kudzai Njitimana, who later became the headmaster at Allan Wilson School in Harare, was also with us.

We had so many teachers and some of them did not go into the education sector after Independence.

Q: Do you remember any of the students that you taught at Chindunduma?

A: I taught many people. The problem is that I do not know the names that they are using now. But for interest’s sake we had people like Cde Sam Parirenyatwa. He was one of our students but he was an adult that time.

From our school, he went to pursue other courses in Denmark.

Some of the people that we taught are now prominent. Some are even commanders in the army.

Q: Tell us more about the curriculum that you developed in Mozambique.

A: The curriculum emphasised more on education with production.

Apart from theoretical lessons, we were sewing our own uniforms, producing our own food and making our own furniture.

We were doing practical subjects like metal work.

We were able to be self-sufficient.

We were, however, often distracted by military attacks.

Most of the time we were having our classes in the bush.

Besides Chindunduma, we had other bases in Mozambique where we were running schools.

Barely two days after leaving Chimoio for Chibawawa, where I was going to supervise some students, the Chimoio massacre took place.

 

 In our next instalment, which is our last discussion with Cde Dzingai, he recounts the agony of returning to a bombed Chimoio where his former pupils and colleagues had perished. He will chronicle how the education system that was developed in Mozambique during the war contributed to the development of the education system in post-Independence Zimbabwe.