Rise up to Eagle: Kombi Stories
English-ing in Zimbabwe
Kombi Stories Are Born
Some weeks back, I was driving behind a kombi. It has an apple logo, drawn by hand, and turned into a decal. It was a misshapen apple, facing the wrong direction and I thought to myself, ‘Only a child would have done that.’ Over the apple, like the dome of a sky was a crescent of words, ‘Have a safe journey.’ I had just finished helping with admissions for a wonderful school in Zimbabwe, doing amazing work, the USAP Community School. So the personal stories of Zimbabwe’s young-and-full-of-potential were bouncing around my head. As I looked at this Kombi I thought to myself, ‘Probably a little child drew and wrote this on a plain A5 paper for his kombi driver father. The father in turn, took it and turned it into a decal for his kombi.’ So I told the story to my precious passengers, about how the father was wished a safe journey by his little child. How he took it to heart and got it placed on his kombi as opposed to a soccer legend or something else. It was a sweet story and I was encouraged to take a picture. But I simply wasn’t interested in snapping a photo at the time, I wanted to create something for the moment, for the “us” who were present. Later that day we saw another kombi and I told another story about its decals, and we laughed. So I finally thought these stories could be fun, I do need a picture.
Then finally I saw the kombi in today’s featured image. “Rise up to Eagle” A part of me wanted to laugh at the seemingly erroneous construction of a phrase…the broken English. That part says, “That’s wrong” and takes pride in knowing the right English. Yet, here I am struggling often with my very own Shona language, more than once a week. And somehow that is acceptable, a symbol of fanciness even, a point of pride (I wrestle with this often, the desire to fit in and stand out simultaneously). Another part of me sees this, hears the analysis, and scoffs. This part wants to gently correct whoever wrote the words and show them the right words. It’s been a while since they wrote those words as shown by the faded image. It’s been a while driving around with the “wrong” words on the back of the kombi. It’s been a long while of embarrassing the driver. And yet still I find these sentiments too as not correct.
Making - my part of - The World A Better Place
It’s not that I am trying to be correct, but I am searching for that groove of being where I am making my part of the world better. As the president of my alma mater St. Johns told me as I was asking him about his time in the Vietnam war. He said, “The world is too big for one person to try and make better. The best you can strive for is to make your part of the world better.” He echoed the words I read in a book somewhere as I was helping a lady move into a new house in Santa Fe. We were packing the bookshelf and I decided to flip through a book that caught my eye and it said something like, “To think of changing the world, or making it better is to do violence to the world. It’s to take a huge, uneven, and beautiful thing and flatten its mountains, fill up its valleys, and stopper some of springs and lakes, so it’s mostly uniform and evened out. Then you can work with it as some kind of monolithic structure.” I remember those words as I try to make sense of how I feel about “Rise up to Eagle.” I want to have a posture towards this kombi, a posture that makes my part of there world, of Zimbabwe better.
Rise up to Eagle: The Story (As I imagine it)
So here is the story of the Rise up to Eagle kombi. The Kombi driver wanted to have his kombi written, “Rise up like an Engle” and have a big image of an Eagle to go with it. They had agreed with the owner of the kombi that when his months of service qualified him for a customized kombi that’s what they would do. The driver even found the image of the eagle through some WhatsApp friends. Everything was set, and on the day of the kombi being painted, the driver was given the day off with half a day’s pay. It was a chance to take a day off and allow the customization of the kombi to be done without rushing, the driver took it.
The Kombi owner sent his second in command to get the job done at their usual shop. But the shop was closed because the owner of the shop had to go to a funeral. And since most of the guys who worked there were his relatives, they had all gone and had to close shop. So the second had to call the boss to discuss options. They chose their second-best option for a paint and body shop, which wasn’t saying much because it would have been number 5 of their choice. Number 2, 3, and 4 options would have been doing it themselves. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the tools and paint, only the money. They had to try their second best option, and over there at the second option, the owner gave them a higher price quotation. The second in command called the boss, and the boss answered and the second communicated the higher price, and other details. As they were conversing, phone on speaker, the owner of the paint and body shop threw out that he could halve the price if they only did 3 words. This was cheaper than the first place, and also a reasonable price for the quality the boss and the second both expected. Without hesitation the boss on the phone agreed, shifting the conversation to “Haaa zvasara pedzeranai ikoko” (For the minor details and all that’s left about this kombi, sort it out over there) and then hanging up.
Money issues concluded, the owner of the shop left, and the second in command went to sit down and began watching videos on his WhatsApp. That’s when the painter came to ask for the three words to be placed on the kombi. The second scrawled to find the piece of paper, and looked at the phrase, “Rise up like an Eagle”. As he considered shortening to the 3 words “Rise up Eagle” the painter had looked at the paper too and saw the entire phrase “Rise up to Eagle.” It tickled his fancy and he felt sorry they had to shorten the phrase. The second in command finally answered, “Tryer ‘Rise up Eagle’” to which the painter replied without a beat, “Aiwa, let us do “Rise up to Eagle” Zviri short and zvinoreva an even more powerful message than the original. Becozi you won’t be like an eagle apa, but you will be becoming the Eagle yacho. Instead of acting like an adult, you will be becoming the adult wacho” The second in command felt inspired and asked, “Asi wakaita philosophy kani?” (Is it that you studied philosophy?) to which the painter replied, “I may be a humble painter and makanika (mechanic) zvangu, but I do to know some deeper things of the world of life.” To which they both chuckled, everyone impressed by themselves. The painter winked and said, “I know vanga vati 3 words, but I will do the “to” for free” And the painting job was done, money was saved, friendships were made, and the kombi driver was screwed…Rise up to Eagle” Oh, the painter was feeling generous and philosophical so he added the beer bottle and a few other details…————————😉- Rise like an Eagle 🦅- 😉
And that my friends is the story of many of Zimbabwe’s government projects. Like the walkway at the Samora Machel / Julius Nyerere intersection. The one with the famous statue. I believe - and I may be wrong - that it was meant to ease pedestrian safety, so no pedestrian had to cross the road and risk interactions with traffic. While at the same time holding the statue of a revered spirit medium of the nation…two birds one stone. But somewhere in there, the intersection “Rose up to Eagle” and (Route B) now you have to cross the road, climb the walkway up, walk across it, climb it down, then wait to cross the road. You can do the same route (Route A) and shorter if you ignore the raised walkway, making you wonder who designed it this way and how it came to be. People even saw the mock-ups and okayed them which makes me wonder. An expenditure without utility, which could have been invaluable for a busy intersection to have pedestrians not be part of the traffic. Now it’s prohibited for people to use the “without use” walkway. Partly because probably street kids (unhoused youth) had found a toilet, and a base out of the way because no one needed to use the walkway because it was without utility. I also think it’s partly because it’s clear that anyone using this walkway as a road, is not intending to walk across the intersection but something else because it’s too long and too much of an effort compared to alternative Route A. I am not criticizing per se, I am only having fun with what is in my part of the world, Zimbabwe.
Until next week dear fellow travelers, rise up to eagle 🦅, or to lion 🦁, or to bear 🐻 and hibernate a little, or simply continue as is, at ease, as they say in the military.