Understanding reality of Zimbabweans...long journey by bus

Usually when l am traveling a long journey by bus, l will be having my earphones on listening to music all the way without even talking with the person next to me. However, on my recent journey due to the current electricity shortage and load-shedding in the country, l had to travel with an off phone. This meant that l had no entertainment besides talking with the person next to me and the journey just made me realize quiet a number of things about the everyday reality that Zimbabweans face.

It was a 6 hours journey from Victoria Falls to Bulawayo, very long and tiresome with a bus which will be stopping in almost every main bus stop. The journey seemed longer with the continuous stops at every roadblock by the police of which there were quiet a number of them all the way up to Bulawayo; demanding to see the same things from the bus driver and conductors.

When l left Victoria Falls, l was seated next to this other young man who was carrying a file. I was wondering where he was going until we started talking. He was actually going to Hwange District Education Office to process his papers for temporary teaching. He told me that he was born and breed in Bulawayo and it was his first time to be on that side of the country. It’s sad that this young man was not a teacher by profession or desire but he had no other option as he was a degree holder who could not find a job in his field of study so the next best option he could get was temporary teaching. He told me that he had stayed at home for almost a year now after completing his degree yet he could not get a job.

This is actually the reality of many young Zimbabwean degree holders. People are struggling to get employment in the country. Universities are releasing many graduates who in the end of the day stay at home doing nothing or start their own vending to earn a living. However with vendors being chased out of the streets, they are left really jobless. Those who are lucky and get jobs end up in different areas from their field of study. That is the reality of Zimbabwean Youths.

The journey continued and when we got to Hwange that young man's journey ended and l was joined by yet another young woman who did not have a ring on her finger so l assume she was not married. We started talking and she told me that she was going to South Africa to buy clothes for re-sale this side. She told me that she travels to South Africa twice a month and although its not much, she still manages to sustain herself with the little profit she makes from her sales. She told me that she travels to South Africa overnight and return back home the following day. That is her way of living and she even showed me three other women who looked older than her, who survive through the same way. She cried foul of rand fall of value for it made business difficult for her.

As she was sharing her experience l thought to myself, here is yet another unemployed Zimbabwean who is struggling to make ends meet for herself and family. Buying clothes outside the country and selling them back home is her best way of survival. People are struggling to get employment in the country, the standard of living is not very low. Drastic measures are needed to turn this around for people to earn decent living for this is not right. #ThinkingOutLoud.......