Tendai just stood there open mouthed, and the dimples that used to charm ladies became perfect streams for his tears.
Tendai Dombo was born in a family of three, one girl and two boys. His
father was a teacher based in the city of Bulawayo . Mr Dombo was a
caring, loving father and husband till the day he met Dorothy the woman
who hypnotized him and made him forget his family. His family was still
in Highfield, one of the oldest townships in Harare . Whereas he used
to send $500 to his family every month now he was just sending $150 or
nothing at all. This was really a shock to Amai Dombo. She was married
to her husband for nearly twenty years now but she never experienced
this heartbreaking scenario.
Lost husband for good
One
day she visited her husband in Bulawayo without informing him like
always. This is the day she came to realise that she had lost her
husband for good. She was forced to sleep on the floor while her
husband slept on her bed with his Dorothy. The following morning she
took the first bus back to Harare . She had heard stories of husbands
who abandon their families for mistresses but now it was not a story
anymore but reality. Mai Dombo was a hard working woman. Now she had no
choice but to work harder and support her family alone. She borrowed
money from her friends, bought vegetables, tomatoes and onions from the
market which she sold to earn a living. With this money she managed to
send all her kids to school. Simbarashe the first-born passed his
ordinary level but there was no money to send him further. Mai Dombo
gave him money to go to a driving school and he later got a driver's
license. Simbarashe got a job driving taxis from Mbare to Harare city
centre. He was a careless boy and his mother was worried about him. He
could not take his eyes away from women. It did not take long before he
impregnated one of his many girlfriends, fortunately, for the lady he
agreed to marry her. However, even though he was a ladies man he never
forgot his mother, brother and sister. He helped his mother with the
money for food and school fees.
Selling her body
Mr.
Dombo never felt sympathy for his wife. His dear Dorothy was always
there to give him solace. He gave her money to get emergency passport
and more cash to cross the border to South Africa and Botswana to buy
goods which she sold in Bulawayo. Dorothy was a clever woman with a
very cold heart. However this was one aspect that Mr. Dombo never
realized. For him Dorothy was pretty, caring and sexy as compared to
the mother of his three children — his wife who to him now appeared so
old and ugly.
Across the border Dorothy was selling her body
to truck drivers. She always traveled free. On the other hand poor
Dombo never suspected anything. He began to panic when he developed
pimples all over the face and his private parts.
Dombo had been
drinking and smoking since his teen ages but he never coughed like he
was doing now. His friends advised him to go to Mpilo hospital to be
tested for T.B. He did as his friends said and what he heard there was
really bad news, he was HIV positive. This was really a bitter pill to
swallow. As if this was not enough Dorothy his sweet darling deserted
him in his hour of need. This is how she repaid all what he did to her.
Poor Dombo thought of his wife since the day he abandoned her
and the children. He felt shame for what he did. He imagined how his
kids looked now and tears started to flow down his weary face. Even
though he ill-treated his family, he could not bear the thought of
dying far away from them. So with the help of his friend he took the
long, painful and shameful journey of his life, the trip back to Harare
to his wife.
Mai Dombo was angry with her husband for all these
years but she could not help it but only feel pity for the lifeless
body of the man who fathered her beautiful kids. Dombo spent two days
at his home and he was gone for good. He died from his illness.
It never rains
It
never rained but poured for Amai Dombo. Whilst she was still licking
the wounds of losing her husband she also lost her first-born
Simbarashe again to the same disease. Her only daughter dropped from
school. Her only hope now was the last-born Tendai.
Tendai was
obedient and hard working just like his mother. He passed his O'
levels and went on to study for a diploma in accounting. Unfortunately,
for the poor boy, his country was hard hit by economic crisis, which
saw companies scaling down operations or shutting shop completely.
With
unemployment hovering above 80 percent, Tendai decided to cross Limpopo
River to into South Africa in search of the proverbial greener
pastures. He took a haulage truck that dropped him at Beitbridge border
post. With no money to bribe immigration officers and police so they
could let him through the border, Tendai was left with only one option:
joining a group of other equally desperate young men who were plotting
to enter South Africa through illegal entry points or to jump the
border as it is more commonly known.
The group successfully
made it through the porous border and was soon in Musina town, the
South African town nearest to the border with Zimbabwe. Tendai's wish
was to go Johannesburg but he had no money hence he looked for a job in
Musina. He worked there making bricks until he was able to raise enough
money to pay for transport to Johannesburg.
Johannesburg
He
arrived in Johannesburg but he had nowhere to go. Luckily, he heard
some young men speaking in the Shona language spoken in Zimbabwe and he
introduced himself to them. Tendai narrated his story to the men who
were quick to tell him that other than the specific details of his
experience, his was story was one they had heard from many others
before.
Fortunately, the guys agreed to go with him. The young
man was expecting to see a well-furnished house but what he saw was a
room in a basement at a service station. Each person paid R5 to go
inside. Inside the room, there was a pile of blankets and cardboard
boxes. One of the guys joked that they were sleeping on the flow but at
least they can eat a full chicken something they cannot afford in their
own country.
Tendai realized that the grass was only greener
on the other side until you get there. Early in the morning, the guard
woke them up; they went into the toilet to wash their faces because
there was nowhere to bath. The guard was leaving hence he wanted them
out before the owners of the building could see them.
The rest
of the guys went out to perform to their daily chores of selling fruit
juice in the streets and dodging the police. Tendai went to the city to
look for a job. He met a Chinese guy who offered him a job for only
R130 a week, obviously taking advantage of his desperate situation.
Tendai
was not accustomed to spending days on end without washing his body, so
when he got his first pay he went to the township Alexandria north of
Johannesburg to look for a room to rent.
He secured a room for
a reasonable fee and for a while he enjoyed his stay in the township.
However, after two months word reached Tendai that foreigners were no
longer welcome in South Africa. But the thought of his mother and his
late brother's children who depended on the food and money he send
every month back to Zimbabwe made Tendai ignore suggestion he had to
leave South Africa.
One day as Tendai was coming from work he
saw a rowdy group of people singing and wielding big pangas and other
weapons as if they were out on a hunting party. Soon and to his great
disbelief, he realized that in fact he was the hunted animal. All
Tendai uttered was, Oh! my brother, my enemy — and he was gone.
Maxwell Perkins Kanemanyanga is a journalist based in SA.
Post published in: News