BLAST FROM THE PAST with Lawrence The Penpusher Moyo.

Zikomo munkomboni. Our family lives were humble. We ate from two plates. One with sadza and
the other with relish. We washed our hands in a dish or mugomo and then sat around the plates to
have our meal leaving the water dark brown with dirt.
Mother leaned backward a bit with her hand resting on the ground while she put her piece of meat
on the back of her hand. Our parents would send us ku "mabhodo" with a few cents to buy malusu,
makafisa, mapwapwa, mathumbu and beef. Beasts were slaughtered kwaNyongoloza.
There was a single bathing towel for the whole family. We called it a "Bhavu Thawulu". We took
turns to use bhavuthawulu and more often the soap was lifebuoy or chinkondwa. However
chinkondwa was mostly used for laundry.
Our parents tried their best to make their houses look presentable. Picture frames helped in making
houses look smart. The photos were black and white. Water was kept cold in a "josaka" or mugomo
wrapped by a cooling material.
We slept on the floor and there was always a mini war among siblings as to who was supposed to
prepare bedding at night before sleeping or should I call it flooring because there was no bed to talk
about. So that means we were not going to bed but going to floor. The war raged on the following
morning when there was need to wrap up the blankets. This was known as "Kuyanzula"
The worst case scenario was when we were told to sleep in the kitchen during the hot season while
the big black stove emitted scorching heat that tortured us. Being subjected to the "cooker" during
the hot season was tantamount to being roasted by Satan in hell. Zikomo munkomboni.