Tribute to my late mother

Patricia Deena Rwodzi was born in 1940 in Hurungwe to Patrick Rwodzi snr and Elizabeth Kanyurira. My maternal grandmother was of the Mbano Matemai clan while my maternal grandfather belonged to Soko Mukanya of the Mbire Clan in Guruve in Mashonaland Central. They are known as Makorekore who later migrated to Hurungwe and later to settled under chief Chirau in Mashonaland West Province. The Western part of Zimbabwe. (Unfortunately I couldn’t get a picture of my mother) My mother was 4th born in a family of 5. She went to school up to standard 6. 2 Years ago I met Stanford Jowa at The Minister of state for Provincial Affairs Office in Chinhoyi, I introduced myself to him and he said"see this child,(Pointing at me) her mother was more beautiful than her, we cannot compare her with her mother.’ Stanford is the (Rwodzi) Family friend whom in our native custom is the “Sahwira ‘of the family. I am the granddaughter of the Rwodzi clan where my mother hails. My mother was a great achiever in her space of life. She never minded her external forces. Like any other ordinary family my father worked in Harare and bought a house in the high density suburb of Mabvuku, however my mother decided to help my father and went to build another homestead in the Chirau Communal area. My parents gave birth to 6 children, 5 girls and 1 son. This meant that most of the household chores were left for my mother since my father was always in town with my brother and sisters. Although my father helped my mother with various farming inputs, the determination that my mother had in her work motivated many in the community. I remember her buying, ploughs, cultivators, scortchcart, maize shelling machines from the farming projects she did. She ran a very successful poultry project which she supplied the nearby school teachers and the entire community. She was a household name in the entire community because of her resilience and hard work. My mother was a decision maker who never waited for anything in any case there was a solution to be immediately effected. She defied all odds and became the leader in her community. Despite not holding any ward or village post Patricia Rwodzi Zimbwani was a trendsetter. I was born on the 12th April 1976 at Mabvuku Community Clinic. When I was born I had 6 Fingers on both hands. My mother told me that people were scared and astonished with the development. According to my mother she said she knew she had to love me more and embrace me more. Another beautiful sister in charge came in the ward where my mother was, she smiled at my mother and told her that “don’t worry Mrs Zimbwani, we are going to remove those excess fingers. They put some twine around my two fingers and removed them. My mother looked at that sister and said, from now on my child will be called Angeline. I was named after sister Angeline who removed some excess fingers from me. I spent much of my child hood at our village in Chirau area. We had cattle and goats and I was responsible in looking after them from age of 6 to 10 years. I would go to school and come back to look after the cattle and goats. Despite all that I was very bright in school. My mother would make it a point to prepare chicken relish whenever I brought good grades home. I would shout ‘Mama I have come the first in class’ and she would come to embrace me singing a Methodist Hym ‘Hoyo Mushandiri washe’, A Shona praise and worship song. Mama was my number motivator. One day she told me that she could not wait for me grow up and stand in front of people wearing glasses. According to my mother wearing glasses was a sign of success and she would visualise me standing in front of people. I do not know what she meant but whatever the reason, her dream came true. I might not be wearing glasses more often but I have stood in front of people several times. I have impacted lives I have communicated with the great and the mighty. I remember coming out in class first consecutively and my mother gave me a cow as an appreciation for my doing well in school. This motivated me to do more and up to now I still want to prove to my mother that I can do more even though she died in 1992 when I was only 16. It was in 4th grade that my mother discussed with my father that I should be transferred to Harare. She did this because she thought there were some good facilities and that I should have time to study and excel more. I was later transferred to the City but my heart was always with my mother because she was my number one cheerleader. I remember in 1992 there was drought and livestorks died and there was hunger, our community was not spared either. Our homestead was by the roadside. My mother would prepare some traditional porridge (maheu) made of Millet in a 50 litre bucket and she would put the bucket by the roadside for the passers-by to drink as they continued with their journey. We used to have excess buckets of water because of thirsty travellers who would continuously come to ask to water after a long and tiresome journey. I got to know the totems of almost everyone in the community because she would greet them mentioning their totem. She never got tired of serving visitors. She would say’ Nyamuzihwa kwedu kuno” this translated to how are u Mr Nyamuziwa. “Shunguwasha mamuka sei” it meant Good morning Mr Shunguwasha. These are the totems of our community fellows’. It was through that, up to now I know people by their totems through my mother. The things I have done in my life I owe it to her though my father played a big impact in me in educating me and taking good care of me. I feel I should celebrate the greatness that was in the woman that carried me in her womb for 9 months. Whatever that is in me now came from her. I stayed with mother for only 16 years but those few years with her were good enough for her to impact my life. I have always told people that it’s not in years lived but it’s how the life was lived in the years. As I celebrate my birthday I reflect the greatness of this great woman in the life that God granted me in the mother earth. Happy birthday to me @angiemikiri