Poverty: Grassroots cry

With the economic and political crisis becoming near permanent over the past decade and half, and everything that should never happen to a country happening to be independent Zimbabwe especially the economic downturn of the millennium decade, leaving the ordinary citizens wondering if this is the milk and honey that those who were liberating them promised. Zimbabwean people especially those in rural areas, the "GRASSROOTS" have nothing to celebrate as the fruits of independence rather they have gallons and gallons of tears that run through their cheeks everyday and this is a sad situation since what they thought was to bring bread and butter on the tables has forgotten them, leaving them with a lot of questions which the government cannot answer. Some used to live on hand to mouth but now they are left with none since what used to do in life, no longer exist and those in the rural areas do not even have the common basic needs which they need to live on a daily basis and they live under the poverty datum line.

Many people are filled with regrets of their loved ones which they lost while fighting for independence of our lovely Zimbabwe which now is no longer lovely cause everyone is questioning it and what they thought was going to change their lives has brought them to their knees. From the breadbasket to a begging basket, a sudden turnover has made some doubt if they are going to manage till year end. POVERTY, HUNGER, DROUGHT are the common talk for everyone, things which are not supposed to be normal exist, load sheading, sewage, water cuts is now normal to everyone things that never existed become normal. Who is suffering? The ordinary citizens which are now victims of illegal activities because they trying to get a living. Some are even involved in extreme cases like poaching taking for instances game parks surrounded by communities. To some areas illegal mining is now the common activity and children are no longer going to school because they looking for means of survival. Where did we go wrong? Why can't Zimbabwe, a country endowed with so many and so much, natural resources pull herself up by her own bootstraps? Is it because of corruption or should I say greedy politicians and the well-connected who owns the means of production or the government itself? Many people are suffering and do not have access to their resources.

 Remember people who are suffering the majority are the grassroots and those who have access are the ones living high with everything at their disposal. When people look up to them they look up, as if there is something there in ignorance of those below them. Surely Zimbabwe doesn't deserve to be in this hellhole. We deserve to be up there with the movers and shakers in this fast globalizing world, should we cry tears of blood to be heard, many people are now quiet not because they want to but they do not have the energy to do so. Now many people are indulging in illegal activities so to gain a living.

Is this the Zimbabwe we dreamt of, or we are living in a different planet? The Zimbabwe with so many resources suffering this much, with many living in in arable areas with climatic conditions favoring drought, with some empty granaries because they do not have inputs. Hunger, drought are the very same disasters they face year after year with high mortality rates and population increase since they have children as their source of labor. Taking a look at some areas in our very own Zimbabwe like Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe (UMP) they survive on gold panning along Mazowe river and they have got nothing better to do, education they do not even see the importance of it and some are engaged in poaching in the neighboring Game Park, Umfurudzi which by this you can note the tense situations most people are in.
 
Many are crying for the moon in Zimbabwe but there seem like there is no light there are so many impossibilities but faith has made people survive with a little hope. The common basic needs they should have are lacking with some without anything to sustain them, some even in the cities do not have anything and some live on hand to mouth. Taking a look at the policies they praise, which they think are going to be a miracle for them, and these target a few well up people forsaking the grassroots, "what about us they ask , because vatikanganwa, asi tisu takarwira nyika", meaning "they forgot about us but we are the ones who liberated this country."  Political scientist and renowned academic in a preface to the memoirs of the late nationalist Edgar Tekere, "A Lifetime of Struggle" that the leadership has become increasingly paranoid and remote from the people. It is in such circumstances that the African nationalist dream and vision of an (economic) meritocracy and (political) democracy has become nightmare of despair for the majority of the people. These has threatened the lives of many in the rural areas since poverty is their cry and many people are dying each and every day. Their cry no one hears, and they say we developing forgetting the targeted groups, so then, who are we targeting? What are we targeting? If we ask who is to blame, they start pointing fingers at each forgetting we one, then one can wonder when and how the game of blaming each other and giving excuses for the crisis that Zimbabweans are finding themselves into will come to an end. Though they continue doing what they doing solutions are not given, time is moving, we dying both in cities and rural areas. Our cry is the same but what should do is at least know that we all Zimbabweans both the rich and poor and a helping hand is what others need to sustain in our lovely Zimbabwe.

Diana Bamala is an undergraduate at Midlands State University studying towards a Bachelor of Arts in Development Studies (Hons) Degree. For comments and feedback, please feel free to reach her at dianabamala1@gmail.com