Life is a sacred and profoundly precious gift from God. It is every man’s duty to look after the body and soul in a dignified way prescribed by God. Thus, the need to stay away from life threatening vices such as prostitution, reckless driving, gluttony and excessive eating, drug abuse, alcoholism, carelessness and abominable sexual activities such as homosexuality and transgender cannot be overemphasized. Society must never take lightly criminal activities that disregard the sanctity of life. These include genocide, murder, suicide, kidnapping and abductions, human trafficking and drug trafficking. Instead, society must collectively muster all its might to prevent these things from happening and to punish perpetrators of such heinous offences. Individually, we must work tirelessly to preserve the valuable gift of life. Our bodies will always respond positively to healthy exercises, a balanced diet, good hygiene, friendship and prayer. I consider life to be an unparalleled treasure which must never be taken for granted. No matter how hard things maybe, as long as you have your life and if you don’t give up, you can find opportunities to fulfill your dreams. However, if you lose your life that will be the end of everything. With your death, the tonnes of potential that you have, will never be realised. It is against this background that I want to share with you the health challenges that I went through.
Our human body is susceptible to many kinds of diseases and becoming sick presents numerous physical, emotional, social and financial challenges. I released my third album which had the hit song Marijata in 1998. I had collaborated with many renowned artists such as Ray Phiri, Louis Mhlanga, Sam Mataure, Kuda Matimba, Chiwoniso Maraire, Prudence Kathomeni Mbofana, Kelly Rusike and Kenny Neshamba on the project. I decided to shoot a video for the album. We did the first episode of our music video at ZANU (PF) Concert Hall. I made a decision to shoot the second chapter at Arcturus Mine and the third at Caribbea Bay, Lake Kariba. I drove to Arcturus Mine on a fact-finding mission. I was impressed by the terrain of Arcturus Mine and I immediately applied for permission from the mine executive to use their premises. With the permission granted, we did some thorough rehearsals before travelling to Arcturus Mine. I did my rehearsals with a dance group called Mhembero which was led by Irene Chigamba who was based in Highfield.
We travelled to Arcturus Mine with a big group of dancers. We all enjoyed the shooting of the video. On our way back to Harare, I started feeling dizzy. When I had failed to recover from the dizziness by the next morning, I consulted our family doctor. After checking my temperature and weight, he recommended that I should go to either Harare Hospital or Parirenyatwa Hospital for admission because my body temperature had risen too high – up to 39 degrees Celsius. I was weak and had lost appetite. My partner, Mrs. Tomoko Takahashi, drove me to the Avenues Clinic. The doctor-in-charge told me that I should be admitted immediately because of my high temperature. It was a very difficult time for Mrs. Takahashi. She made all the payments for me to be admitted at the Clinic. The Avenues Clinic is an institution where one can only be accepted as a patient if their monetary demands have been fulfilled. By then the illness was becoming bigger by the day.
My body seemed to be on fire; I couldn’t even wear a shirt. Mrs. Takahashi would come and persuade me to eat food. I had lost appetite and I was beginning to lose weight. Doctors came to diagnose the causes of my illness. They told me they were failing to establish why my body temperature has risen so high. Avenues Clinic doctors then decided to cure me with medication for tuberculosis which Mrs. Takahashi vehemently refused. Taking a cocktail of 16 tablets 2 times per day was something else. The sister- in-charge on duty was very kind to me. She told Mrs. Takahashi to never agree to let me take TB tablets if the doctors had not established that I was suffering from TB. Mrs. Takahashi fought with the doctors in charge of my medical treatment. Since she was working at the Embassy of Japan, she consulted the embassy doctor called Dr Shibuya who agreed to visit me at the Avenues Clinic. He asked for permission from the doctor-in-charge, if he could check on me. Dr Shibuya started visiting me 3 to 4 times per week. He said it was not proper for the learned doctors at the Avenues Clinic to prescribe medication which had nothing to do with my high body temperature.
Dr Shibuya started doing his own tests and investigations. He came up with medication which he brought from the embassy clinic. He said the high level of temperature was a big problem on its own and had to be lowered down to normal even as the diagnosis continued. Mrs. Takahashi did not stop with Dr Shibuya. She had an African friend who had an office on the ground floor of the Embassy at Karigamombe Centre. The woman was Mrs. Akelele who ran a travel agency on the same building as the Embassy of Japan. She was very popular with the embassy. It so happened that when Mrs. Takahashi was buying air tickets for embassy staff, she started telling Mrs. Akelele how worried she was about my health. Mrs. Akelele told Mrs. Takahashi that her husband was a medical doctor and she offered to assist. Without wasting any time, Mrs. Akelele introduced Mrs. Takahashi to Dr Akelele. Dr Akelele then came to the Avenues Clinic in the company of Mrs. Takahashi. He asked his fellow doctors for permission to check on me. Dr Akelele and Dr Shibuya later joined hands to form a formidable team that worked tirelessly to find the correct medication for my illness.
During that difficult time, I was unable to talk, eat or walk. I could feel as though I was breathing fire from my nose and mouth. I got to a level when during the day I could see a pile of cardboard boxes which were about to fall on me. On the left and right side of these boxes, I could see four men wearing khaki trousers and khaki shirts standing in a line. The cardboard were boxes besides my bed and I could see them tilting towards me about to fall on me. I was definitely not dreaming because I was not asleep.
After the two doctor’s hard work, I started feeling better with the medication they had prescribed for me. The doctors at the Avenues would just come and ask how I was feeling during their daily visits. The Avenues Clinic doctors did not show me the love that I was shown by Dr Akelele and Dr Shibuya. Those two doctors, each time they visited me, would check my temperature, my heart beat, inside my mouth and would assure me that it was going to be okay.
I had many friends who knew that I was seriously sick. These included the Zimbabwe Union of Music personnel whom I was very close to at the time, and Sam Mataure, whom I considered to be a great friend, at the time. Sam stayed at a house only a few metres from the Avenues Clinic. Surprisingly, very few of my friends visited me in my greatest hour of need. However, I am still very grateful to Kelly Rusike who regularly visited me with his wife and daughter, Courtney. It is a great cure when people show you love by visiting you when you are sick. The late J.J. Chavhunduka, Zimbabwe’s renowned music promoter at that time, told me after I had fully recovered that if Mrs. Takahashi had not been there to assist, I could have died. I also discovered how fragile life is. God is the sole owner of life. Even if family and friends are there for you, when God’s time comes you go. That is why we must celebrate life when we still have it, and use our time to positively impact the lives of others, knowing that “night is coming” when we will not be able to work. If I am to choose between life and wealth, I would choose life.
Three years after I recovered from the aforesaid nightmare, in 2021, I nearly lost my life from Covid19. I had hired a 36-tonne truck to carry bricks, cement and three-quarter stones to Chikupo Village in Murehwa, where we were going to build a mausoleum for the late legend musician, Tinei Chikupo. The driver of the truck did not tell us that he was sick from the deadly Covid 19. I sat in front next to the driver as we drove to Murehwa. We arrived at Chikupo Village and we were welcome by many villagers of the area. Most of the time they wished to come and greet us because on all occasions we would buy a lot of food and drinks for all those who would be assisting us to build the mausoleum. Although we had hired a qualified builder to do the work, we enlisted the assistance of the locals. The village head, Mr. Chikupo had advised us to buy a few beers for the locals so that they would help and expedite the completion of the work. Since most of the local boys were used to drinking the toxic tototo, I bought six bottles of Vodka and six bottles of Chateau brand and some soft drinks to dilute the strong stuff. I was surprised to realise that the men were not interested in diluting the strong beer. We also bought soft drinks and groceries for the women who cooked for all those who attended. However, that fateful day was the day I contracted Covid19.
On our way to Harare, I felt so tired and dizzy that when I arrived at Jenaguru Arts Centre, I went straight to bed. I could not sleep properly. I was sweating, my head was aching and I was sneezing. The next day I was seriously sick and I realised from the symptoms that it was Covid19. That time, my partner Mrs. Takahashi was stuck in Japan because of Covid19 travel restrictions. I could feel as if small things were moving inside my feet. I could not breathe properly. It became worse by the day. I spent most of my time indoors. I did not want to go to hospital because of past experiences. I still had very bad memories about how sick patients were treated at all local hospitals. I thought I would rather die in my house, than go to the local hospital. I hired a taxi to drive to a local institution, Medical Air Rescue Services (MARS) which was conducting tests for COVID-19. I tested positive for the corona virus.
Mrs. Takahashi was on the driving seat once again. She spoke to her friend who stays in Uganda to send me medication which had become popular with Ugandan people. The medication was sent but it was impounded by ZIMRA at Robert Mugabe International Airport and the medicine never reached me.
Covid19 was a very bad disease. I could not pin point any particular area on my body; the whole body was aching and in serious pain. I felt excruciating pain even when someone touched my hair. Mrs. Takahashi and most members of Jenaguru Fan Club contributed towards my treatment. I survived the pandemic through the grace. God gave me another chance to live and spread the gospel of love, peace and happiness.
If I could not receive first class medical assistance at the famous Avenues Clinic in 1998, what else could we expect from our neglected public hospitals such as Sally Mugabe, Parirenyatwa, Mpilo, United Bulawayo Hospitals and the provincial hospitals. Zimbabwean hospitals are currently gateways to the cemetery. It’s acutely dangerous to fall sick in Zimbabwe. We are losing so many lives to curable diseases.
The Rhodesian government, though notorious for its racial discrimination policies, at least made sure that health institutions functioned properly. The hospitals and clinics had enough medicines and were adequately staffed with well-paid qualified medical personnel. The government recognized the importance of health to the attainment of other development goals of the country. Is it not common knowledge that healthy citizens are more productive than unhealthy citizens? Irresponsible people at the helm of our government, through their gross dereliction of the duty to provide citizens with their basic right to health, are dragging our country many centuries backwards. In many areas of life Zimbabweans are being driven back to the dark ages.