Becoming The Muse

Coffee with Chine Nguwo

If you were having coffee with me, I would be happy to have you visit my tangle of words. The water is boiling and the tea is ready to serve, arent you glad we no longer have to hunt for our sustenance?

"Does a hunt that has no violence feed anyone?"

— ~B 🇿🇼 (@Beatonm5) February 21, 2024

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that our culture evolved from a history of hunting which is why our proverbs are peppered with hunting metaphors, for example; Sango rinopa aneta which loosely translates to mean that the forest gives the tired… Sometimes hunting expeditions weren’t immediately successful and to keep morale high they were told the forest only yielded results to those who persevered. The proverb is meant to instil a sense of perseverance, that determination pays off.

Life however, has never been fair. One of the most pernicious ideas ever foisted upon a people is the notion that life ought to be fair. Our forefathers understood this delicate balance as conveyed by another hunting proverb; murombo haarove chine nguwo.

Murombo haarove chine nguwo; the literal translation for this proverb is that a poor man never hunts and kills anything whose skins are large enough to be made into clothing which is a cautionary statement about how a poor person can never rise above their station.

Back in the hunter-gatherer era, hunting was not only for sustenance but provided clothing in the form of animal skins. The wealthy folk could be seen clad in the elegant furs of big game, royalty wore the skin of predators such as the lion and leopard. Maybe it was because of resource distribution were the wealthy would have packs of hunting dogs, superior weapons and hunting parties to help capture the big game. The poor hunter with their mangy dog and knobkerrie would be very lucky if they managed to catch a rabbit whose pelt was barely enough to stitch into a loin cloth.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that you can probably imagine that many a poor hunter, probably got dispossessed of their catch by the wealthy, how could they claim to have brought down big game, with their meagre resources. So even when they got a break it would be snuffed away… murombo haarove chine nguwo…

In many ways, the proverb is similar to the story of Icarus in Greek Mythology who flew too close to the sun, but not as a warning against ambition, but that one could never escape their shackles… While the forest gives the one who has persisted, the poor are fated to come back with the smallest catch.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that, the proverb is used to illustrate how despite one’s efforts, when life gives you a bad set of cards nothing you can do can change that and even what seems like victory can so easily turn into ashes… That perfect cup of tea in an enamel mug that burns your lips or imagine you buy a car for a ride sharing taxi business and it crashes soon after…

With time, the proverb has also evolved to colloquially convey that the are some battles you can never win, especially against an opponent as formidable as Chinenguwo. Chinenguwo has become a euphemism for tyranny, capitalism and other forms of oppression that keep a good person down.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that after the Royal tea the other week, Kensington Palace have had to bring out the Princess to make an announcement of the cancer she is battling. Suddenly anyone who made any sort of outlandish conspiracy theories now seems like the bad guy and probably feeling guilty for making someone battling cancer have to publicise their health challenges before they are ready to face the world, I know I am feeling guilty for laughing at somethings that now seem offensive in hindsight.

Anyone who makes any further questions or insinuations about the situation is suddenly branded a terrible individual and the pitch-forks come out… One can no longer say the situation could have been handled better or that there’s holes in the story without seeming insensitive–  hopefully the world moves on and God Save The Princess.

If you were having coffee with me, I would tell you that Zimbabwe Miners’ Federation president Henrietta Rushwaya was arrested on allegations involving an undisclosed mining transaction – she has also previously been implicated in the Gold Mafia Scandal and in November last year, she was fined US$5 000 after being convicted of attempting to smuggle 6kg of gold worth over US$333 000 to Dubai in her hand luggage…. Maybe someone should warn her about flying too close to the sun – I mean gold.

Whats happening in your neck of the woods?

~B