How to say goodbye like a Zimbabwean
I was at the airport (Harare International) again on Sunday, seeing someone off. The place was packed as is usual when there is an Air Zimbabwe flight to London. Unlike other airports around the world, the Harare terminal is never full of travellers per se. When it does fill up it’s with relatives who have come to say good bye to their loved ones.
Whole families of up to twenty people come to see one person off. Some are grand mothers who have travelled hundreds of kilometres to Harare just to come to the airport to say goodbye. Some are mothers and fathers who have sold a car or a house to pay for school fees and for a plane ticket and have come to bid farewell to a beloved son or daughter who is going to study in the UK or further afield- in Australia or the USA.
Some are husbands or wives who have had to make the terribly difficult decision to live separately so that one of them can go off and earn some Pounds for the family.
It’s tears, ululation and loud cheers all round.
From my observations here’s how to say good bye like a Zimbabwean:
- Never do it alone. That’s very unZimbabwean. Invite every relative you can. Grand mothers, Aunts, Uncles, prodigal sons. All are welcome.
- Bring nzungu (peanuts) wrapped in bits of newspaper, maputi, madora (Mopani worms) and other Zimbabwean delicacies for your loved one to take with them and then help them stuff it all into their already over burdened suitcase.
- Bring all the pounds you have been saving up to hand over to the person who is travelling, and as you hand the money over say: “Iyi ndeye coke (this is for a coke).”
- Weep loudly.
- One or two rounds of hugs for everyone.
- Wave energetically as the person disappears into the departure lounge.
- Go round to the observation deck and wait for your beloved to walk out to the plane then have everyone scream and ululate as loudly as possible. If there are several large families this often becomes a “who-can-cheer-the-loudest?” contest.
- Wait for the plane to take off and wave again, hollering at the top of your lungs, as it taxis down the runway and disappears off into the clouds.
- Go back home and wait a month or so before the dividends of all your hard work start to arrive- Pounds or US dollars via Western Union or Money Gram.
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hahaha..classic one. typical of Zimbabweans
Lets document our moments of madness with smiles and happy faces! I have walked that lap into the plane and seen and heard screams. I almost got to get out of the walkway by a side door to scream back but some woman screamed me back in. It is what really makes me love being Zimbabwean. Can’t change me! Mipururu and little jigs make my day!
Reminds me of the chicken bus ‘culture’ were you find the moment someone gets on a long distance bus out comes the lunchbox with the obligatory mupunga and chicken!
Heh, heh. So true.
It always HAS to be rice AND chicken. These are some of the subtle things that define us I suppose.
Indeed FJ these are some of the quirky things that define us as Zimbaz. At weddings you also get the obligatory zvipo time when often it turns out to be a duel/ contest between various parties and individuals. I checked out a wedding sometime back when the emcee called out for mari yakawomeswa!! And pips competed in bringing out the hard notes…..mind you Gidiot would have enjoyed that wedding