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When did you last have a medical examination? Or perhaps you have a plan.
If so, when do you plan to do so?

When was the last time you took time to visit and spend quality time with your mother, aunt, your sister or your uncle?
Just to pay a visit, not because there is someone sick, there is a death in the family or you need assistance?
If you are a believer, when was the last time you went before God not because you are in a crisis – but just to seek out a relationship with him?

As a citizen of this beautiful country, when was the last time, if at all that you have, honestly adhered to the laws of this country?
When last did you stop to think and help fellow Zimbabweans that are underprivileged?

When did you through your own initiative and anonymously too help others without the motivation of personal gain, physically or otherwise?
Last year I had the privilege of playing host to a member of our family living abroad.

After being notified of the impending visit I went out well out of my way to prepare for my guest.
I really wanted to make my guest feel comfortable during her stay.
I therefore took some days off just to clean not only the guest bedroom but the whole house.

Since it was around winter time I also bought some blankets and other accessories that would make my guest comfortable.
As I went through these motions I was reminded of the good old days growing up in my mother’s house. A chicken (huku) would find its way to the pot and become part of the evening meal whenever a visitor from afar came along and stayed overnight. It was a way of honouring visitors.

During the period of stay by the visitor, if it is reasonable, the style of life is adjusted.
If there is strife, there would be peace and struggles are covered up. Isn’t it that we say, “hatishamuri hapwa pese pese” (we don’t reveal what is hidden to people).

Allow me to generalise and say that Africans are very hospitable people.
In the traditional context visitors enjoy first class treatment in accordance with that family’s standards.

People would even borrow just to make visitors feel at home.
The Shona people coined the adage, “Mweni haapedzi dura” (a visitor does not impoverish the hosts. These days, however, with the growth of individualism, and also the high cost of living, there is some deviance here and there but, overall, people try to present the best picture to the visitor.

As I laboured in preparation for my guest I felt in sync with my culture.
My thoughts took me further and I questioned how my culture has influenced me to be reactive rather than proactive.
What I have observed is that if an appeal is made and people see the object of appeal they become so emotional and they help.

The tendency is to be reactive rather than proactive.
I really wonder how this has now become a by-product of our culture.

If it is so, how has this impacted on the way we do things? According to Professor Ali Mazrui (1980), culture “conditions motivation”, that is, it governs or conditions action.
When we talk of culture we refer to the sum total of a people’s way of life.
This includes their language, norms, and values as well as the way they perceive things, think, feel and behave.

I have heard people say the general perception or thinking in Africa is “If it isn’t broken, why fix it?”
What I have observed is that if an appeal is made and people see the object of appeal they become so emotional and they help.

How has this also impacted on the way we do things even the issues of national and personal development?
Reaction means we only respond and do something when there is a problem.
We would rather repair something rather than maintain it before it is broken.

We only seek medical attention when the problem is serious and sometimes beyond help.
We tend to ignore all signs and symptoms due to fear or wish it will disappear.

We even let relationships deteriorate and only seek help when it is probably too late, including relationships between spouses, siblings, friends or at the work place.
The tendency is to run around in despair seeking assistance when something bad happens.
Yet we could save ourselves the pain if we had done all these little things to preserve or uphold the relationship.

There is an English adage that says “A stitch in time saves nine”.
If we are proactive we could save ourselves a lot of work, money and pain because we are able to arrest a problem before it occurs. I wonder whether our indigenous languages have the word for maintenance.

What is the word or phrase that really makes us conscious of the need of maintaining, preserving and protecting that which is ours?
I always ask myself this question when I see the general state of some buildings, roads, houses and gardens crying out for some tender loving care, and the number of people hurting.
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