One day on a routine journey back to Gavle from Hudiksvall – these are two towns in Northern Sweden – on the train there were two guys talking with loud voices and in high spirits. I moved closer to where they were sitting. I wanted to listen in on their conversation and the fact that they were shouting made it more lucrative for me to actually want to eavesdrop on their conversation.
Man he is great, one of them said. Great? No he is brilliant. Mushekwi is a good man. Africa has got talent. I realised at that moment that they were talking about Nyasha Mushekwi, star of the moment in Swedish football. Nyasha is the season's top goal scorer in Sweden and I see him all over on Facebook, tagged by fans of his team Djugardens FC.
The moment they mentioned Nyasha Mushekwi's name, even though I had never met him I decided to join in the conversation and make sure they acknowledged that he is Zimbabwean. I smiled at them and one of them fell into my trap and invited me to join their conversation. I quickly recapped their story for them by reminding them; oh you are talking about Nyasha Mushekwi, he is Zimbabwean and I come from Zimbabwe too.
He is ours too
I wanted to claim to Zimbabwean pride. I wanted them to acknowledge that before he is African he is Zimbabwean first. But they laughed at me and said, you are wrong sister here in Europe he cannot be Zimbabwean, that is too small for him, he is African.
We are from Nigeria but he is ours too. Then at that moment it dawned on me, yes of course he belonged to Africa as a whole. He is Africa's pride. In that moment, me and the Nigerian brothers we were bound together in our love for Nyasha, in our pride for Africa.
Mushekwi is in top form here in Sweden, he struck again last night against Malmo FF continuing with his fine streak. And then I remembered my conversation with the Nigerian brothers. Of course Nyasha belongs to Africa. He is the African pride.
After this encounter I went home and sent Nyasha an email and told him briefly about my encounter with the Nigerian guys and the bond that we had shared because of him. I also requested that I would go and meet with him and write for his fans about the human side of him. I am sure his fans would love that.
The humble man that he is he answered politely and said that ''would be nice''.
Post published in: Football