win him over to Christ. Richard
began attending SU meetings
consistently and the more he
attended the more the Christian
message that was being preached at
SU began to make sense to him and
little by little he began to forget
about his artificial love for Fatima.
She became a dear sister in the
Lord.
Before Richard knew it, precisely on
a Saturday evening, on the 29th
November 1985, at a Scripture Union
camp meeting that was held at his
school - Parirehwa High School,
Richard gave his life to Jesus Christ
as his personal Lord and Saviour.
And guess who was speaking that
night, it was Nicholas Munhawa,
Fatima’s brother and Richard’s
Financial Accounting and English
teacher. brother who was my
English teacher. Richard remembers
that Saturday night he was seated
next to a friend who was now
introducing him to drugs and
alcohol and was battling with
suicidal thoughts due to life’s
struggles arising from his childhood
experiences which he was
documenting in a small note book in
which he wrote on its cover, “If you
find me dead, this is why I have
taken my life”
his life’s challenges and struggles
was due to his spirituality which he
defines as a search for meaning and
a personal connection to God.
How did Richard’s
connection with God begin
When he was in first year in high
school, apparently due to challenges
that he was going through, there was
this vacuum within him for love and
for attention. So, Richard recalls, he
did propose love to a lady that was
called Fatima, who was her class
mate. Fatima said “If you love me,
come to the Scripture Union (SU).”
And Richard asked “Is that all?”
Fatima said “Yes, if you come to the
Scripture Union, I am all yours.” The
following Wednesday, Richard went
to the SU where there was a
Christian meeting. Richard said, “I
went to the SU, not necessary to
worship God, but so I could win
Fatima’s heart”. He sat right in front,
and close to where Fatima was
seated so she could see him. And
sure, Fatima did see her, gave him a
big hug and smiled, a gesture which
made Richard to assume that Fatima
had accepted Richard’s proposal.
Little did Richard understand that
Fatima was using this as a bait to