If you were having coffee with me, I would welcome you to my corner of the internet where you can have your beverage of choice as long as its coffee that’s as dark as the past week has been.
Amidst all the regular drama there is a milk shortage and supermarkets are limiting the amount of milk you can buy. An article in a local media publication NewZWire highlighted on how part of the milk shortage was due to:
i) Above normal rainfall affecting cows milk production
ii) Import regulations and Covid restrictions limiting powdered milk imports
iii) Rising price of stockfeed making milk production unprofitable.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that I prefer my coffee or tea with no milk, it tastes like cow to me we can blame that on my Mission Boarding School experience where the milk came straight from the cow…. But the milk shortage is not what made this weekend dark, it was Death, the untimely visitor, as if death is ever timely.
The New York Daily News carried the headline The Prince and The Rapper and ran articles on the death of Prince Philip (99) and Rapper DMX (50).
Personally I never knew about Prince Philip besides that he was married to the queen and that they both are great-great grand children of Queen Victoria… hmmmmm so they were like related? Anyway, putting it kindly, Prince Philip had some strong and old fashioned views of the world, my culture taught me to not speak ill of the dead: Afa Anaka loosely meaning in death we become saints.
A rare photo of Prince Philip and the queen casting their sights on new colonies
If I was in charge of laying out the Newspaper I would have put it as The Prince and The King. DMX was definitely royalty in the world of rap, at least for us who were listening to Dark Man X in our teens.
I could rap along to all of DMX’s lyrics and the title of this post is loosely inspired by a string of lyrical rap from the late Earl Simmons. I recall an incident during mass back at mission school when we were asked to pray and a DMX fan recited The Prayer an interlude skit from DMX’s 1998 album Its Dark And Hell Is Hot.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that there was another death this weekend that struck me even closer than the first two, that of Dr Sindi. Dr Sindi died after a two months hospitalization battling COVID..
For her birthday well-wishers had started a fund to #GiftSindiLife to help pay of the astronomical medical bills of continued hospitalization. I kept hoping she would snap right out of it and was anticipating to read all about her experiences in her trademark Twitter threads where she made everyone feel welcome.
I was even waiting for an opportune moment to invite her for a blog feature…
I remember being astonished to learn that though she was a South African doctor, she was of Zimbabwean descent after she had responded to a tweet in Shona I had discovered that she was born in Zimbabwe and had attended local primary and high school before going on to study medicine in Pretoria. She was one person who lived life loud and if the tribute posts that are pouring in are anything to go by, she touched the lives of many many many people. The Duchess of Healing now rests.
If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that speaking of COVID, the cases in the country have been going up with boarding schools on course to be the next hot spots. The surge is being attributed to school authorities and parents who defied the Presidential order not to travel over the Easter break; Government is stepping up its survellaince.
Meanwhile Vaccination continues and as of Saturday the 10th of April, 178 237 people had received their first jab while another 27 968 had received their second shot. My mum sent a message that she was reading to go get her jab… she seemed mildly surprised that none of her children had expressed reservations or said don’t go…
Whats been happening in your part of the world? You will have to speak up, I have The Ruff Ryders Anthem on repeat on high volume…
~B
Becoming The Muse 
Soon you might not be able to have coffee, there is a world wide shortage of that.
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What… there’s a shortage??? But how, or why?
It’s the Panasonic isn’t it😅
~B
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droughts in South America affected the crops
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Dr Sindi really really hurt but her legacy, man that’s one to admit. This morning AKA’s fiancé also passed. This weekend has just been dark.
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Her legacy had me thinking what people would say when I am gone would they miss me😅
Dr Sindi was life!!!!
Oh yeah I read about Nellie like OMG
~B
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We will
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I felt sad that Dr. Sindi did not win the battle over Covid-19. I so much wanted her to win. She was a lovely soul. Only realised now that she was the beloved daughter of His Worship the Mayor Muchadei Masunda. All along I used to the think that she was of SA descent. What a great loss!
Mhsrip
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Death is such a thief… And life, well it goes on.
I discovered the bit about the Mayor in a tribute article yesterday as well
~B
Thank you
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What a very sad week. I’m so sorry about Dr Sindi losing her battle with Covid. From what you describe she was larger than Life and will be greatly missed. May she watch over everyone from up above and be an Angel for us all! 😇
The other’s are sad for very different reasons, I see the irony in it all.
YES!! The answer is yes, I can’t speak for everyone but yes I would miss you and this wonderful blog as I learn about your passions, history and other things zimbabweian (hope I’m saying that correctly!) Stay strong, we must look forward not back and try to smile. Even through the milk shortages.
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Ah yes, Dr Sindi was definitely larger than life, yet remained very down to Earth, while standing firm for what she believed in. She wanted to be a Minister of Health just to show them how the Health department should be run.
I read somewhere that her family will in due time be setting up a Foundation in her honour to help keep running all the things she had plans for.
We live in a world full of irony 😅
As always I appreciate and thank you for your kind words.
Here’s to a great week and to cows and their milk🤣🤣
Do horses have milk??? Random question🤔
~B
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Here’s to a better week!! You are welcome 🤗 And to cows and more milk. Yes, horses do have milk and nurse their young much like cows. They don’t have enough to share though like cows. Lol 🤣
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Oh there goes my grand plan to end the milk shortage🤣
~B
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Bahaha!!
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Oh and good news her family will set up a foundation in her honour for her wonderful plans! ❤️
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We are here but for a season.
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Beaton, this is sad stuff indeed. I don’t follow any nations royalty because I don’t understand the and the brits are normally such sane people – right?
Rap has always be thug poetry in my ear and some of the crudest things I’ve heard in the way of music has been rap, so with me rap has a bad rap.
But milk, man, we gotta have milk for all kinds of stuff.
About your honored doctor, she sounds like a saint and it is so sad that the world lost her at all, let alone to covid. . .
RIP honored woman, may we continue to recall and learn from all you taught.
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Another great article, thanks. Really love how you redidwrite the newspaper art.
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Excellent post, Beaton! RIP, dear Dr Sindi.🥀
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This line “A rare photo of Prince Philip and the queen casting their sights on new colonies” killed me, I had to comment before I even finished reading 😂😅
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🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
irris warris
~B
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Dr Sindi’s death still hurts to this day. May she continue to rest in peace
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Some people touch lives on huge level
~B
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