By Chiedza Simbo.
(News Of The South) – Let me just say it is pretty impressive that the harsh tag #thisflag has gained so much momentum In Zimbabwe and the rest of the World where Zimbabweans live that even the almighty police and military officials in Zimbabwe have vowed a crackdown on all forms of social media campaigns.
As a person living in the diaspora I would want to respond to the statement by the police Commissioner that, “If the situation was greener in the Diaspora people would not be complaining”, and further that, “it is clear indication that it is tough”.
I would want to thank the Police Commissioner of Zimbabwe Augustine Chihuri for acknowledging our pain because he is right. It is painful being in the Diaspora. It is painful when you have to be forced to leave your country in search for bread. Please allow me to explain the pain to him. You were born in Zimbabwe, educated and raised there. You want to be in Zimbabwe. You might have a career in the Diaspora, eat good food, have a better lifestyle than that of the Commissioner but it will never be greener in the Diaspora. You grow up knowing the smell of chicken inn, the taste of ma “things”, the sound of Zimbabwean music, hearing the jokes made by the Kombi drivers, reading the street names, everything.
All that has a specific meaning but circumstances take everything away. You try to enjoy the surroundings in the new country, you try to adjust with the surroundings, you try to enjoy the food and to make friends but objectivity is taken, it always seems like home is best. Every day you work hard to have a life in Zimbabwe. You send money back home, you build a house there, buy cars there and take care of your relatives but it never gives you satisfaction. In the new country you lose the sense of community, you lose your position within the Zimbabwean community; you lose your status in your Zimbabwean society. You want that, everybody wants it. You do not know if you are contributing to the well-being of your people in Zimbabwe. You do not know if they appreciate the love you send through the phone, the little money and few clothes you send. You do not know if they know that you work in the diaspora to serve your country. You want them to know all that. You feel you left everything behind, you left your identity. You face different ways of thinking in the new country, different values.
You do not know what is wrong or right in this new country. You have to adjust your behaviour at work, in the community and even in the streets. As more years go by and Zimbabwe’s situation changes for the worse, everything continues to be important to you. You ask yourself, “who I am, where do I belong, who sees me in the streets and what do they think”. You have intrusive thoughts when you hear that someone has died back home, so many relatives die and you never get the opportunity to bury them. There are layers of reality you face every day which you would never face in your country of birth. You face the humiliation of racism, the humiliation of xenophobia, the sexism which goes with desperation. Everyday someone looks at you and all they see is black and foreign. They tell you, you cannot speak my language, you cannot speak English and it matters. You are looked at and judgments are made about you, often very unfair judgments. The bad governance in my country destroyed us forever Commissioner.
You try to deny it every day but for how long when all you face every day is anxiety, fear and distrust from others. Please police Commissioner do not judge us immediately, do not judge us to conclusion, we are in pain, we want to come back home. In addition to these invisible scars, physical pains follow. The body aches as you endure all these hardships. Your words and attacks are instruments of war police Commissioner, I know you know that. We understand that you have everything so you cannot feel this pain. If we had a choice, we would come back to Zimbabwe today. By stifling our voice on social media you want us to run out of platforms to express ourselves but please realise the pain your words are causing. Beyond the physical pains you may not see are invisible scars.
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