Excerpts from a book by Rudo Moyo
Mrs Gutu arrived at Makereni at the end of 1968 to take up classes with the blind children. Mrs Gutu started by teaching the children simple things. She took them for short walks around the school. She taught them to identify wind direction. This was simple because if the wind beat on the forehead of the children, this meant they were facing it and vice versa if it beat on the backs of their heads. Different leaves were plucked from different trees and smells identified. Likewise, fruits like oranges and mangoes including wild ones were brought to the children's nostrils for smelling. Sounds of birds were identified too. Rewards were given for correct identifications. People's voices were identified as well. Feet were trained to identify places. Shade or sunshine meant a lot to the children.
At the beginning of 1969 Mrs Gutu concentrated on teaching her children tactile abilities. They had to identify hands even if the person did not talk to them. She stealthily walked among them and gave them a handshake each, She also spoke with a stifled voice. Immediately they recognised her. More hands were brought and identifications were made. This greatly encouraged her and she started giving the children smaller objects for identification. Each time the locals including the parents of the children came to see anxiously what this lady was doing with a bunch of blind children. Having satisfied herself that time was now ripe, Mrs Gutu then brought what she called a “book” and showed it to her clients. It was a book because it had pages but the words were a miracle! There were dots all over the pages and the students were asked to feel them. It was as if rice had been sprinkled on the pages of this book and the grains stuck by glue!
“These are words”, she muttered. The dots were in singles, doubles trebles or in fours but different in shapes. This is what she wanted the children to identify. In this way the alphabet was learnt and syllables followed until words were made. Other teachers were hypnotised. Tatamba and his group were assimilated into the normal first grade that same year. This was a very good year for Tatamba who had no problem in grasping the concepts of learning. There was no reason for isolation. Mrs Gutu dealt with all problems pertaining to blindness. At the end of that year Tatamba did very well in his tests. He came position one and Elias a sighted boy second followed by Alisia a girl. The parents of both Elias and Alisia were not happy that a blind boy did better than their children. A serious altercation arose between them and the Tatambas. At home it was resolved that Elias was first position and Alisia second, the blind boy had no place in the world of the sighted.
The discovery of minerals in Belingwe led to the construction of a network of roads in the district. Iron was discovered at Buhwa Mountain , chromium at Inyala and emeralds at Sandawan. Asbestos was found at Vanguard near Mount Mberengwa and gold at Shauro near the district offices.
Many people were shifted from their original places but some tribes resisted and white men armed with rifles came and forcibly removed them. The Ngowa tribe of Mazvihwa near Shabani waged a guerrilla war with the miners at Buhwa. They destroyed camps of the miners and cut trees putting them across roads and digging holes in the roads that led to the mine. Colonial police on motor bikes and on horseback dealt with the situation ruthlessly. Some of the Ngowa men died in the struggle and others ended up in jail. White farmers like Yorks and Roderick set up shops at Mutuzukwe and Langeni respectively. Big Lorries were seen carrying goods to these shops.
Natives visited these shops and bought bread and sugar. Stories were told of a certain headman who bought packs and packs of sugar which he emptied into a village well so that the villagers would have sweet water. Bread was mostly enjoyed at Christmas. The capability of a family was measured by the number of loaves of bread they bought at Christmas.
The introduction of grinding mills at these shops made life easier. Previously flour was made through pounding grain using motor and pestle, or the usual grinding stone. The white businessmen bought grain from the local people. This encouraged production of crops like ground nuts and maize. A certain farmer Vhusa thought of an easy way of making money. He mixed his grain with gravel and indeed the scale rewarded him! Having succeeded once, he continued this practice and bragged at beer parties that he was good at cheating the white men. Other farmers tried it but very soon Vhusa was discovered.
Bit by bit civilisation crept into the area. It was during this period too that more and more schools and shopping centres mashroomed in the district. Poles which carried telephone wires followed roads. One old Mukambo on learning that people communicated through these wires, took a stone and knocking on one of the poles reported some boys who had assaulted his son. At a single knock the wires vibrated making some sound and old Mukambo said,
“I am between Don Bosco and Chegato,” He tapped again and more sound from the wires,
“Magistrate at Belingwe, my son has been assaulted by the Mukikiki boys.” He tapped again,
“Do you hear me? Please come and arrest them now. I will wait for you here.”
The old man then sat under a tree near the pole waiting for the Police Jeep. Some people later told him to go to Father Keller to make a telephone call.