I grew up in Zimbabwe, beloved Zimbabwe; eating grilled corn and scrumptious watermelons.I still have some scars on my legs from falling off mango tress and guava trees. On a normal day my lips would be red from drinking freezits or stealing home-made fudge sweets. However, I would like to express the great impression TV had on my childhood.
I grew up in the days when there was only one local television channel, ZTV. A second channel, Joy TV aired only in Harare, and being a Masvingo child, i thought that was pretty unfair. But anyway, I had my sufficient share of fun with just ZTV. Mondays! Having to go to school early meant no time for TV .By noon, I came back home all tired and dusty but still as bubbly as ever. Then my family and I would be eating some delicately cooked sadza and a portion of cold mouth-watering sour milk as we watched the midday news. 'They' watched really. Eight year olds couldn't care less whatever's happening to the world. My attention would be caught by the drama series at 1:30 after the news. Gringo or Paraffin were my favourite. I enjoyed laughing at all the hilarious moments with my family. And then there was a drama called 'And to my nephew Moses' that also aired at 1:30 for some time. Being an 8-year old I still had to correlate the English language spoken, with my developing vocabulary...so a lot of the conversations went over my heard. And then there was a time when the 1:30 drama became 'Rage of Innocence' (I'm not sure if it was at 1:30 or 7pm), a local drama about a woman struggling with a sexual abuse experience. Everything about that drama, from it's drab opening theme to it's plot scared the life out of me. Thank God for the cartoons that followed at 2pm.Every weekday afternoon at 2p.m there would be an interesting animated series, unless if it was Spartacus and the Sun or the Puzzle Place whose theme songs were the only interesting things about them. Blinky Bill was my Monday afternoon buddy.I would be sad to miss the rest of the cartoon as i had to rush for afternoon studies at school. Afternoon studies for primary school kids though? Well, it's that strict and effective system that played a great role to get me where I am today, which i'll explain in broader detail in another blog. After school i had time for 'pada' or 'maflawu' in the road with my friends. And then we would play 'Chitsvambe' before parting and rushing to our homes. Curfew was 6p.m and I had to make it to the house before my mother closed the doors and windows. I looked forward to Afro beat on Monday evenings. We were serenaded with wonderful music from all over Africa, with the likes of legends like Salif Keita.
Later in the evening came Studio 263, the local soapie which kept us glued to our TV sets as we had our dinner in the evenings. It could be sadza again (gosh), with the delectable mazondo or some lusciously-prepared meat stew, with green vegetables to complete the nutrition requirements. My bed time was around the time the Mai Chisamba show would be starting. The important issues of life discussed on the show were not too significant to me at the time, but I was intrigued by the way my family enjoyed the show. So, I'd rather interject in their laughing at stuff I didn't understand than go to bed. Afterwards, we'd sing a hymn and pray and then retire to bed.
Each new day was exciting; and with the different TV programs, I had a different show to look forward to. I liked the diversity; from Taina to Robocop to Kabanana the Zambian soapie whose catchy theme song I can still remember.Thursday evenings brightened up our homes with Ezomgido, the music show. I remember my mum ordering me to sit down after i attempted to imitate some dance moves.
My friends and I sat enthusiastically glued to the TV screen for Power Rangers on Friday afternoons. "I'm the pink ranger!" "No, I'm the pink ranger today, you were the pink ranger last week!" Oh, it was so much fun watching the shows together. The joyful shouts would disappear as soon as some gloomy show like Mbira Dzenharira started playing. We would then rush off to play 'nhodo', or 'fish-fish' (skipping rope) outside.
Weekends were glorious days for me.I would be super fired up for Paddy and Denver the last dinosaur on Saturday mornings.I don't think i woke up as early for school as for Paddy. Then afterwards, tiny me would be feeling fly in a 'pedal-pusher' and a 'one-arm' top, all ready and set for 'Young-Stars' (I've seriously searched all corners of you-tube for this show). It ignited the star in me. I literally thought Harare was the coolest city just because of Young Stars. I watched with bright innocent eyes and sang along with the kids on TV to the likes of 'handirege' by Roy and Royce. Mastering the fancy dance moves from the show meant I would be cool among my friends. I can apologise to my mum now for all the trouble I gave her to get me whatever clothes were trending on Young Stars.
Wrapping up the week with Sundays (Well,Sunday was my last day of the week for a long time) , we would have an interesting line-up. Sundays were the only days I enjoyed watching the evening news as there would be an interesting clip or the video of the week at the end of the news broadcast. Prime Gospel Show came shortly afterwards and i'd be up and jamming along to the likes of Fungisai, Amanda Sagonda, the Charambas etc.
In a way, TV brought us together as one big Zimbabwean family. I felt like I personally knew the TV people so well I remember being genuinely happy for a female music show presenter when her co-host announced her engagement or something...I was only a primary school kid!
Sisonke, Tiritose was more than a ZBC catch-phrase. And the resounding message of the melodious song that recurrently played as the 22nd of december drew near, is still engraved in my heart, and as i would like to believe, in the hearts of the rest of the Zimbabwean people as well :
"Let's preach unity, the gospel of peace, of human rights, of tranquility, oh yeah,"
SISONKE.
