Habwela wrote…
Roses for Kambwili
A story is told of a white lady who lived in predominantly white suburbia. She very happy because she disliked others races. But one day the house next to hers fell vacant and lo and behold, much to her chagrin, a black family moved into the vacant house.
From the outset the white lady vowed to frustrate the black family until they should move out of her neighborhood. Her strategy and method to frustrate her black neighbours was simple but crude. She would throw human feaces into their yard every morning of every day without fail. And so she did this every day and it went on for many years to come.
One day the white lady became terribly ill. The lady of the black household decided to visit her neighbour to comfort her.
‘You didnt have to come’, said the Caucasian lady white like a paper at the sight of the neighbour she hated so much.
‘You are only human and need a shoulder just like the rest of us. And I have noticed no one has called on you in this your difficult time so I decided to come’, the black lady responded.
‘In fact I have even brought you a gift. Maybe it will make you feel better’, saying this she proceeded to produce a freshly cut bouquet of the most beautiful rose blooms the white lady had ever seen.
This gesture completely broke the white lady. ‘I have a confession to make. I was the one who threw feaces into your yard every day all these many years’, she revealed fighting back tears.
‘I know’, the black woman answered with a cute smile on her face while looking straight into her neighbour’s eyes.
‘But why did you put up with it?’ asked the white neighbour with a confused look on her face.
‘You see’, began the black lady seeming to look for the right words, ‘I could have decided to throw that dirt back at you with the same consistency and passion that you threw it into our yard. But instead I chose something different. I decided to plant a rose garden and use the dirt you threw at us as manure. In fact, this bouquet here is from the rose garden grown with the dirt you threw at us’.
So Mr Chishimba Kambwili, even as you throw dirt at us we will not throw it back at you but instead use it to grow a garden. One day you and your family, many generations hence, will seek the shade of the tree of that garden.