Christmas: Time of counting blessings

CHRISTMAS Day, which we celebrate tomorrow, is traditionally for Christians, a sign of the central blessing of their religion and time marking a critical renewal and a rebirth.

In Zimbabwe, this is matched by the arrival of the rains, which, while late this year, have now come, and that sudden change in the whole environment, when the world goes from dusty brown to bright green in a very short period.

While we who live here are used to that, the sudden transformation of the country in a matter of days is something that has fascinated visitors ever since they started flocking in when the rains commenced.

At the same time, the arrival of the rains is when we plant our crops. Hence, this time is the traditional point in the year when families can take a deep breath and relax slightly after the hard work of the land preparation and the planting.

So, for all sorts of reasons, cultural and religious, Christmas is a time when families gather and celebrate, and when we can step back near the end of the year, count our blessings and look more positively into the future from a solid base.

And this year, we have many blessings, starting with the arrival of the rains, even if they turn out to be a bit on the light side, thanks to El Niño. Those baking weeks of November and the first half of December were difficult to endure, with many losing hope that they would be able to grow anything and cattle dying from lack of pasture and water.

At least there is now hope, and that is what marks Christmas.

As climate change continues to bite, this means, of course, that we need to spend more money on building additional dams, putting in more irrigation, buying more of the needed efficient equipment so the limited stored water can irrigate more hectares, drilling more boreholes so people and their livestock have assured supplies.

All this was in the recent national budget, which was passed by Parliament just before the Christmas break. Besides the major central Government drilling programme, several rural district councils have now bought their own rigs, so the water schemes are expanding fast.

In other words, as we celebrate the arrival of the rains, we are also acting sensibly and carefully.

There are other blessings for us to reflect on. The last general elections in August were easily the most peaceful we have ever seen in Zimbabwe, with, for all practical purposes, zero violence. While there was a reasonable police presence, the main reason was not that, but rather the fact that we are all growing up and maturing.

Elections are important, but they are not unusual or special. They happen all the time and when they do, we simply stroll over to the nearest polling station and vote, and then go home to await the results. This is how people in mature democracies are supposed to act, and we have now joined them, so another blessing.

Traditionally, as we approach the festive season, prices rise. This year they did not, unless there was a very good reason such as more expensive raw materials.

At the retail level, the growth of that sector has brought in an intensely competitive environment with a vast number of businesses, large and small, looking for the consumer dollar.

At the manufacturing and import end, where there are far fewer involved, the Government has been effective in making it clear that it is gazing over everyone’s shoulder and that deceit will simply not be tolerated. The build-up of the farming sector and the sorting out of industry and other parts mean that this year there were no shortages, real or artificial, so the markets worked and the consumers won.

Even the damage of sanctions is being overcome as we unite as Zimbabweans to figure out other solutions and work hard to implement these, instead of just wringing our hands.

Once again, Zimbabwe is on the move forward simply because we are following the correct economic models and, most importantly, because Zimbabweans are working hard and creatively to build that economy.

When sanctions go, we need to keep those gains of self-respect and selfhelp and not return to an era where we expected others to bail us out.

This is something we can add to our understanding of Christmas, a small family facing a lot of hurdles, but overcoming them one by one so they could rejoice in a new birth, a new era, a time of great joy.

Sometimes, with all the drinking and feasting, we forget this and yet when you think about it, that is the core of Christmas, the time of hope, the time of joy, the time of counting blessings.