From rags to riches
I do God’s work, He does mine!
WITHOUT bluntly admitting he is filthy rich, Seventh Day Adventist Elder Gumisai Dengure brought down the roof in Mutare when he revealed the secret of God-driven business to fellow ASI members attending an ASI big Sabbath.
Elder Gumisai Dengure a Harare business man of huge substance in his own right demonstrated not only Churchillian rhetoric or perfect oratory-Mark Antony style, but also profound knowledge and understanding that everything we are, we have and do must have God’s purpose in it.
The rich haulage-transportation business mogul with a fleet of haulage trucks that cross borders throughout Africa revealed his business-success secret to ASI Chapter members on 14 April 2018 in a presentation that many including this reporter will not forget for a long time to come.
Elder Dengure first graphically made it clear that he was born into an extremely economically disadvantaged family. Where a journalist would struggle with being politically correct in a bid to find language that does not speak or smell of offence and disrespect, the smartly and richly dressed from top to bottom Adventist elder succinctly or graphically said he was born a pauper; poor to the bone and does not forget how he and his siblings under one blanket often fought friendly matches for survival during winters.
“One day I almost died from walking. I walked from, he must have said from Kuwadzana in Harare, to Chitungwiza and back in one day because I could not afford a few coins to enjoy a commuter-omnibus ride. I got back home on an empty stomach-very hungry, tired to the marrow and just wanted to ‘die’ quietly. Munoti makambofamba netsoka... hamuna imi! Bvunzai ini kuti kufamba netsoka kudii...kana usina kobiri zvaro muhomwe.”
People laughed and wondered but the sad and profound message was loud and clear, “I came a long way off...I came from the trenches with nothing but stinking poverty!”
“Ladies and gentlemen, if you want to be poor, play alone. I had enough of that life. Some of you please themselves with the popular verse which says, ‘Blessed are the poor...’ You forget it does not end there. I continues to say ‘...in spirit.’ Inini hangu handidi urombo. Poverty is not a certificate to salvation.
What elder Dengure said to ASI members on the day must be heard by many Zimbabweans, SDA members or not, ASI members or not. Why? Because He is a wonderful speaker who does not only speak from his mouth and brain but from God’s sense of divine wisdom and humour. He burns with evangelical fire!
ASI is an association of Seventh Day Adventist business persons and professionals.
In Mutare it funds several church activities and projects like the Prisons Outreach and Reintegration Association (PORA), Special Needs Ministry, Church Building for rural God-loving people and of course the ‘titanic’ radio programme, The Bible Speaks, on Diamond FM Radio broadcast every Thursday between 9 and 9:30 pm.