If life is a game, then my people in Zimbabwe are playing this Game of Life on Expert Mode. Last weekend on Saturday, I had just got done smashing some legs at the Gym when I decided to have a post workout meal at a small mom & pops restaurant. I was seated by myself as usual…
I’m quite the loner & I’m always by myself now that I think about it. Anyways I was eating a mountain of rice & literally 1 piece of chicken.. a drumstick which is the standard portion out here at these small eating places and this meal costs $1 USD **(keep in mind all the prices I give from here on out shall be in USD). which is weird because out here you can buy 4 good sized pieces of chicken cuts for a $1 at any local vendor,(which there are many to be found by the side of the road) which is the reason why I prefer cooking my meals at home for the most part but I had a protein shake before I left the gym, I just needed the carbs from the rice so it’s all good.
So I was seated outside the premises where there are lots of trees and fresh air eating my meal. There happened to be an Old lady who worked there (If I had to guess I suppose she must have been in her late 60s) her job was strictly sweeping up the leaves from the seating areas outside. There was nobody else and I was alone, & when she came close to me she decided to strike up a conversation with me while she was sweeping. At first I was annoyed because I’m just trying to have my Meal in peace & leave.. but although I’m a loner, I do enjoy a good conversation every now & then, so I decided to engage with her.
We started off with some small talk about how nice the weather currently was, & how nice it was to not have had experienced any electricity blackouts for quite some time, months infact… which prior to this was a common occurance in the past going for 8 hours without electricity during the day. At some point she ended up talking about her job and she mentioned that she wasn’t going to sweep a certain area of the premises due to the fact that she wasn’t paid enough to do so. Without me asking, she proceeded to tell me that she gets paid $50 per month & so it wasn’t worth it for her. I damn near almost choked on my chicken bone when I heard that.. because she mentioned she works an 8 hour shift daily…
To put it into perspective.. for a good time on a Friday night out at the bar with you and your friend $20-$30 is enough, but if you have date then you need at least $100 or more depending on what kind of fancy drinks your date prefers, add on top of that fuel, and meals etc… So I’m sitting there thinking to myself, wow… this poor Old lady is earning less money per month than most people spend in one night at the bar… I eventually left without ever finding out how she spends that money, but I suspect she doesn’t pay any rent, most likely she uses it to buy her monthly groceries but still, it’s crazy because if that is the case, then that means she probably doesn’t have anyone else living with her because if she did then that is certainly far from enough, taking into consideration transportation costs to her workplace etc…
I went home & thought about her circumstance, I would like to think that perhaps she has relatives that live outside the country that occasionally send her money, or perhaps she has a pension/ retirement funds & that she does the job simply to occupy her time. Then again.. what if she doesn’t? what if she truly has to spend an entire month surviving on $50?… Truly a sad thought, but not an unreasonable situation.
Just the other day while I was seated again alone at a park a guy in his mid 20s approached me selling literally a pack of about 120 to 150 large nails asking me to buy all the nails for a dollar so he can buy a $1 meal for the day, a meal of that same mountain of rice & 1 piece of chicken. He was a construction worker down on his luck who hadn’t had a contract job in a while & the little savings he had were all used up.
Most people in the Western world have no idea about how some people are living in Africa & how it all began & that’s okay, I have no ill-will towards them for this at all. However, It’s easy to judge & condemn when you don’t have the full picture “Africans are lazy good for nothing unintelligent people” etc .. we have all heard the narratives, but I’m here to shed the light. However, Not all is doom & gloom my country is very beautiful & I love it so much, there are beautiful things, places & moments to be had out here. I shall speak upon them & explain furthermore in future entries…
There are levels to this Game of Life out here, Some are wealthy beyond comprehension, playing the game of Life on Easy Mode. There was a time when there was a Medium Mode, but that is slowly fading away as the majority of the people out here are now playing this game of Life on Expert Mode..
Thanks for reading, Stay Tuned for more…
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