posted 11 hours ago
Everyone has a story to tell, and I have been made to believe I have to tell my story, so I will do this, the best way I can. I will start with some highlights on how I got to be working where I am now.
I am a peanut butter producer, which is an opportunity I discovered during the days that I was officially employed. I retired early so as to grow this project. I married my wife later than is usual, after I had retired. One of the reasons was that I had siblings that I needed to take care of, which stretched my resources a lot, and I also wanted to be careful in the partner I would choose. I did marry, but things did not work out in my marriage, and this was a really dark moment in my life. I moved from the capital city where I stayed to Gokwe, which is a rural place where I would get nuts for my business. I went there with my machinery, and I would collect nuts and process peanut butter, as well as offer shelling and roasting services. I was just stocking all the peanut butter I made, and no matter how much people would tell me to sell the peanut butter, I could not. Selling meant I had to get into town, something I was not ready to do. It was hard for me to go into any town, I felt like everyone could see how much of a failure I was. I found myself drinking a lot, and I didn't care about things anymore, including my appearance. I found myself questioning God a lot, and there was a time I woke up and went to a shop close to the room I rented. This particular time, my questions were very intense within my brain, and as I finished the question, "But why me God in my head?", a cripple I knew called out my name, she was at the shop doorway and her face had make-up on and she had a huge smile on her face. "I was called to do a computer course," she said with so much excitement. She usually had crutches to help her walk, but this time, she was dragging herself on the floor. This got me back to my right senses. How could I complain, and yet I was able bodied. I again remembered a blind man I had gone to work with when I was still employed. He had been present at some point when I was conversing with another workmate, and we were complaining about salaries and how life was not working in general. The blind guy was quiet throughout the conversation, and right at the end, he just said, "I wouldn't be in poverty if only I could see." These two incidences made me realise some of the things I had that were blessings. I had a daughter, and I did not want her to live in scarcity. She had gone with her mother, and was moving from one relative to the other, as her mother had moved to South Africa. I knew as her father I had to earn a living and play my part in her life. I still couldn't bring myself to travel into towns, but my thoughts were no longer as hopeless as before. One day a colleague of mine who always encouraged me to try and sell the peanut butter I was making came and told me he was driving me and my buckets to the growth point, for me to sell my product. He got me to the growth point and offloaded my 50 buckets and just left me there. A truck came asking where I wanted to go, and I told them I didn't know, I was ready to go anywhere. They wanted money, and they told me to get in the truck. They were going to Bulawayo, one of the big cities. I had heard people talking about selling peanut butter in the Bulawayo market, so I hopped in. As we traveled, the guys who had picked me up thought I was joking that I didn't have a destination planned. Along the way, they started talking about how they had dropped someone in Gweru in the past, who had peanut butter to sell. I told them that I wanted to be dropped off where they had left the person they were talking about. When they dropped me off, I made sure to look for a secure place for my buckets, and I slept in the streets. I connected with a peanut butter seller, and I gradually sold my peanut butter. There was not much competition in this area, and this is what led me to relocate and move to Gweru. I grew and got a small place for producing my peanut butter, things stabilised and I took in my daughter. Since then, I have not changed towns. My father told me about a cousin of ours who was in Gweru and I looked for her. We developed a good relationship, and now I am working with her daughter to try and grow my business into something that could be of benefit for not just me but for generations to come.
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