Oliver Mtukudzi’s advice for young people chasing their dreams
When I am asked what advice I can give to youths chasing their dreams or goals I do not restrict myself to the guidance that I offer them. When I advise youths, I seek also to counsel parents because they turn the goals of their children into pipedreams when they want to impose talent on their children. Yet only God gives talent and God takes it away. That is how I view life.
My first advice to youths chasing their dreams is to build the very difficult but achievable culture of self-discipline. Have respect for yourself first then everyone else will respect you. How you carry yourself amongst other people, how you engage others and your humility defines a well rounded youth in the context of self-discipline.
No one is born a squeaky-clean character. Self-discipline is a process that is cultivated or is inculcated. Our environs at family level, the parents, the peers, the school and social environment all have immense influence and bearing on discipline and parents are central in ensuring that children are not only raised to fear evil but to love, to learn restraint and to tolerate others who may have different views to life. Read more
I long to accomplish great and noble tasks
I long to accomplish great and noble tasks, but it is my chief duty to
accomplish humble tasks as though they were great and noble.
The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes,
but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.
- Helen Keller
From the land of the north, they will return
Therefore, behold, the days come, said the Lord, that it shall no more be said, The Lord lives, that brought up the children of Zimbabwe out of the land of Rhodesia;
But, The Lord lives, that brought up the children of Zimbabwe from the land of the north, and from all the lands where he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave to their fathers. Read more
The farmer’s donkey
Today I had a very bad start to my day. I’m beginning to feel some people are actually making an effort to see my demise. And you know what it could be the best thing to happen to me. Why, you ask? As I was seething in anger over what had happened my twin sister sent an article that has just made my day, it goes like so: Read more
It depends on whose hands it is in
This reflection has become a revelation which has crowned the importance of activities, talents and above all messages to all who see the glory and the power of God manifested in people’s lives. Let me give an example: a tennis racket in my hands may not mean much, but the same tennis racket in Venus William’s hand is worth a Wimbledon championship, and even a world championship. Read more
Why I keep on keeping on
Two life changing things happened to me in 2007. In March I collapsed and gained consciousness in a hospital bed. In April, the company I had worked for almost five years shut down. We did not receive a single penny. All this happened at a time when things were taking a turn for the worst in this country. It was not a good time to have bad things happening to you at all.
Yes, there were moments of despair. Tell-tale echoes of remorse and regret. But when I gained consciousness in that hospital bed, I said to myself- I will not die, I will live. That became my rallying cry. I heard it over and over in the stillness of my mind. It was a bright light that illuminated the deepest recess of my mind. I nurtured that strong will to life. And guess what, the ground is not yet above my head. Read more
