"Saving Zimbabwe" - Bob Scott talks to me

David R. Katerere

http://katerere.blogspot.com

 

I first met Bob Scott in South Africa in 2009 when he was feeling his way back to Africa after a 20 – year hiatus imposed by the events in narrates in his book, Saving Zimbabwe. Anne Bishop instructed me to meet him, and what Anne says I will do; she to be obeyed! But I had another motive, a more selfish one – to understand about the little-known massacre of Elim Pentecostal Church missionaries in the late 1970’s at the height of the war in then-Rhodesia. These missionaries, mainly Scottish had had a long association with the Katerere area; they brought enlightenment to the marginalized, impoverished and despised Hwesa tribe, building a school – Emmanuel School – and the only hospital in that area in the far –flung corner of Zimbabwe, tucked into the armpit of Mozambique. Sometime in 1977, the school had to be closed and relocated to Eagles in Mutare because of the threat by the marauding guerillas, on the one hand, and the Rhodesian soldiers on the other hand. And it was just outside then - Umtali that they were attacked and 12 killed while the pupils were forced to sing.

So it was this which drove me to want to meet Bob. Short and middle-aged with a strong voice, he struck me with his enthusiasm for Zimbabwe despite the telling of a tragedy. And it was not the Eagle School massacre. This was an even less-known story of the murder of 15 missionaries at the height of the insurgence in post-independence Zimbabwe. And like everything else that happened in Matabeleland at that stage, it remains unsolved. As for the Eagle School massacre, I have recently met one of the students present that night, and there is another story of Zimbabwe’s bloody past to be told, I think.

In his telling of the story, Bob is unemotional belying the pain that es must still feel to this day; and hence the story is a kind of catharsis for him. But he betrays no bitterness, in fact, the opposite, an even greater love and care for the country which has killed so many before his friends and many more in the period after that – black and white.

In March 2010 after the publication of the Africa edition of Saving Zimbabwe I talked to Bob in the US. Here are excerpts.

David Katerere – Why saving Zimbabwe?

Bob Scott - It’s a good question. The story behind the book is that when I came home from Zimbabwe for the last time in 1987 after burying my friends, it was a tragedy of unparalled proportions and I didn’t know what to do with the story. When I tried to tell the story no-one seemed to care about it and I carried it in my soul for 20 years.In 2007 I began to get the feeling inside that it was a story that had to be told. It took me a few months to get the courage to start writing. For one I didn’t want to face the pain of a very difficult part of my life and I was nervous because I had never written a book before and didn’t know if I had the skills set for it.

And then as I begun to ponder I began to realize that about 30 years ago when Robert Mugabe came to power there was a sense of euphoria and such hope for what Zimbabwe would become. Now 30 years later millions of Zimbabweans have left the country and there is a sense of despair and there is disillusionment about what happened to the dream. So I started to think that maybe the story of the Community of Reconciliation though 20 years old, was pertinent to what has happened to the country, and may have some answers and may challenge people to re-think some things; that’s why I sat down and started to write.

DK - Does Zimbabwe need saving? From what?

BS - Well, I think as I really talk about in the book, it could have been entitled Saving Africa, for that matter it Saving the World. The point of the book is that humanity seems to be plagued by a terminal illness called self-centerness. 2000 years ago the writer James in the Bible said, “Where you have selfish ambition and greed you will have every evil thing”. It seems that looking back over history, those words are painfully true. I think what Zimbabwe needs to be saved from are the forces within our souls as human beings – the same things that make us to lie, cheat, steal, racism, murder, greed all those things that take over the human soul. So when I look at Zimbabwe’s story and why did the dream turn into a nightmare, you can talk economics and political things, but for me the equation goes deeper. The answer to the question is what’s in the soul of mankind; in other words, what’s driving things?

I write about in the book there is no more noble organization than the UN. If you read the tenets of the UN it has such a noble vision to save the world and yet they have had one failure after another. Why is that? They have some of the smartest people in the world with some of the most brilliant ideas and lots of money. But why is there continual failure? It all goes back to one issue – corruption (of the soul).

DK – So in your book Zimbabwe and mankind are being saved by whom and how?

In my case I believe that the teachings of Jesus have a lot to offer in terms of challenging the Zimbabwean people in terms of motive. One of the things I find fascinating about Jesus’ life is that as he lived he was always challenging people’s motives – why were they doing what they were doing. He gave help to the Roman centurion and healed his servant, why? At that time the Roman centurion was regarded as the equivalent of the Gestapo (Hitler’s military police), an occupier.

He tells the story of a good Samaritan, in Jewish culture there was no such thing as a good Samaritan , all Samaritans were evil. Jewish people hated the Samaritans. Why was Jesus healing on Sunday? Because he wanted to expose the motives of the people in power who got angry and said that he was breaking the rules. The poor people then saw the leaders exposed and they saw that they didn’t care about them but about enforcing the rules and maintaining power. I think Jesus spent most of his time on earth trying to get to the heart of things. Over and over again he talked that you can clean the outside but it’s what’s on the inside that matters.

                                          

DK  - We have Christian leaders in Africa, or at least they profess that...?

BS – We must distinguish between spirituality and religion. Jesus said again and again that don’t listen to what people say, watch what they do because that’s what defines who they are. Words are cheap – people throw words around like they are worth nothing. So even Christians need to be saved – saved from their own selfishness, greed and self-centredness. 

DK - Who were the Community of Reconciliation

BS - The Community of Reconciliation (CR) was interesting. It actually came out of a church home group which was meeting in Bulawayo. A number of the people in the house group had become Christians after the war of independence. Two or three of them had actually fought in the war. After becoming Christians and reading the scriptures they began to realize that “if the teachings of Jesus are really the truth and the truth can set you free, and in order to be more Christ-like, there are some things we need to do to change our lives. The first things we need to do is to build a bridge to our African brothers and sisters and heal the rift that the war had caused”. So they came together and talked for months and they realized that if they were going to make an impact and potentially save Zimbabwe they would have to do something drastic. So they sold everything they had and put things into a trust and they bought a farm next to the Mbizingwe communal area. The land had been abused, over-grazed, there was a drought and there was also the insurrection and Ndebele people being killed in the counter-insurgence. They went right into the middle of this and vowed to work hard to build a community were everyone is equal. So that’s how the community started and they were actually living in tents.

DK – In the book you talk about the Road Ahead and Road Behind. That goes to how Zim can be saved.

BS - One of the things I was intrigued about when I went to the CR is that they didn’t try to start a church which is the typical mentality in the Christian community – that if you want to make a difference, go and start a church. In the case of the CR they realized that if we are going to have a church it should come out a way of life. So they went out to become servants - building dams, reclaiming the land it was all done with the idea in mind to empower the poor.

One of the things I talk about in the book in terms of the road ahead is that everything emanates from the soul – why are you doing what you are doing. In the US, for instance, we have a culture which is self-centred - all about me, how does it benefit me; so we have become the most narcissistic culture in the world, self-centred and that’s one of the things where greed can really take over the soul of a man and consume you.

DK - How long had they been running when you encountered them?

BS - They had been going for 2 years when I encountered them in 1984 and at that stage they had about 5000 acres of land and when  I got there we helped them with funding to buy another farm which was much closer to Mbizingwe and they named that property Olive Tree. They planted an olive tree there because it’s leaves are the symbol of peace. .

The African brothers and sisters began to move and live on the farm together (with the founders) and that was the beginning of real integration – blacks and whites living and working together side by side. The last time I saw them was in 1986.  

DK - What are your first thoughts when you hear about the massacre?

BS - To be honest with you as I wrote in the book it was an emotional collision because the day I received the news was Thanksgiving holiday here in the US – a big family holiday. So here I was with family and everyone around me and I was experiencing the joy of family life – music and laughter and children playing everywhere.

Then I get a phone call to let me know that my 15 friends had been killed the night before! It was so surrealistic; it was one of those moments in life where what you hear is so outside anything you are prepared to hear.

I went into shock. It took me a little while to grasp the enormity of what happened.

DK – But you still had the strength to go back – were you not afraid to go back?

BS - Oh yes, I was but it didn’t matter. There are just somethings you just have to fight through. It was important for me to get back there and find out what happened and be with the family members and my African friends. It was one of those moments in time where black and white because the community was so integrated that everybody who was associated with it felt the loss, it didn’t matter whether you were black or white.

There wasn’t a victory for one side or the other; everyone was in pain.

DK – Were any members of the African community killed?

No. The one person who came closest to being killed was Stephen. He was one of the elders in the community and they tried to force him to kill everybody but he refused to do it. He thought they were going to kill him because he refused. My friend Thabani and I will travel to Zimbabwe and I am looking forward to seeing him. He is a lot older now.

He is alive and we will be seeing him at Mbizingwe and we look forward to seeing him

DK - How do you planning to achieve Saving Zimbabwe without getting embroiled in the politics there?

Because again I see politics and economics and many of those things as surface issues. I know that hard for a lot people to understand because they are concerned about what party, which ideology, is going to win – that’s what the fight is about right now.

But for me it’s about the motives – it’s about getting our hearts right, our priorities right. Jesus said something interesting that “there is no greater love than to lay your life for your friend.” God wants to release that love in Zimbabwe.

As far as the politics, because I am not a Zimbabwean and I don’t live over there, so I don’t have the right to speak into the situation. There are people there right now who are much more qualified than I am. For me the root of the issue is pride, arrogance, selfishness, lust – the things that plague the human soul. If you deal with these the rest will naturally take care of itself. If it has a good root it will bear good fruit.

That the contribution I can bring Zimbabwe, and I have a story which exemplifies that, that’s the Community of Reconciliation and that’s what they did.

DK - So do you see the Community being re-ignited? Is this the road ahead that you  talk about?

Well, the place is in ruins and the government came and took the land away. In terms of practical restoration of the original community that is not possible. On the other hand many Zimbabweans who have read the American version of the book have written to me and say they have been challenged and are keen to carry on the ideas, ideals and vision of the community.

I would be careful to say re-igniting that particular community but the ideals, the heart and soul, the vision of it, I would love to see.

Part II – we discuss reconciliation and how national healing can be done differently in Zimbabwe and learn from Rwanda.

http://www.savingzimbabwe.com/

**********************************************************************