impression on me such that I conceived an idea of interviewing Richard for this great book. Read on and get inspiration from Richard’s story ...
Who is Richard?
Richard was born and bred in Domboshava, a village located about 30km north of Harare, in the province of Mashonaland East, in Zimbabwe in Africa.
Richard was born over 40 decades ago in a polygamist family which is the practice or custom of having more than one wife. When Richard’s mother was married to his father, she gave birth to himself and he was named Richard. Being born the only child without other blood siblings has always been a source of rejection and loneliness for Richard. He however finds solace in siblings in which he shares the same father or mother and these have even a source of great support.
Due to family and domestic violence,Richard’s mother ran away to the city of Harare (then called Salisbury) from her family home, leaving him strapped at the back of one of his half sisters. When Richard’s mother got to the city of Salisbury, she got a job and began working as a maid. Consequently, that resulted in the break-down of the marriage with his father. And because Richard was still young, he needed the attention and the care of the mother, his father took him to the city where he began staying with his mother who later on got remarried to another man with whom she had three children.
When Richard reached about age seven, his father claimed him back and he began staying with a step mother in his family of origin in Nyakudya village in Domboshawa under chief Chinhamora. He grew up without the physical presence of a mother and a father who though he was present in his life, he was always an absent father due to drunkenness and alcoholism leaving little Richard with little or no parental guidance.
Richard shared with me memories of neglect, sexual molestation and childhood denigration that included such remarks as, “Apa baba vakatambisa husiku hwavo apa naamai vako” meaning