A walk for life

For the more than 65 men and women who lined up on the tarmac of the Harare-Bulawayo road on  November 27 2010 it was to be both a memorable and historical event.
It was early on a Saturday morning (5am to be precise), when we left Gweru on foot, for the Sunshine City. Early morning time is usually quiet, cool and dark with the occasional break of silence from the haulage trucks. Dark clouds were hanging from the skies and it looked like it would start raining even before we made our first step. As I lined up to take my position on the tarmac, the rain was not my only worry, I also thought about the 280km distance. It appeared insurmountable and hard to do. If there was time in life when endurance was more important, it was now. I made a silent prayer, “Lord please, may the rain stop from falling only for the duration of this walk, as we need the rain this summer, lots of it”.
Had I made the right decision to be part of this historical walk, I asked myself? I looked into the face of the guy standing next to me, he looked strong and comforting. It was then that I thought about the old Chinese proverb, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a step.”
This was about two things, the success of the walk itself and the message intended for all Zimbabweans. The message that trees are life; we must cut down fewer trees than we plant. My mind was made; I was not going to miss my first step towards the 280 km journey. “If it was 8 o’clock in the morning,” I thought, “maybe, a dozen people or two would have come to cheer us off and raise our spirits”. But this was 5am and we had to cheer own ourselves.  My mind kept wandering bringing to the fore, two great names from generations past, Captain Robert Scott and Commander Neil Armstrong. Both had had mixed fortunes on their walks to discovery. One went on an expedition and never came back alive. The other walked straight back into history books. Closer home the name of Nelson Mandela and his long walk to freedom also came to my mind. Life is about endurance and Captain Scott gave me the perfect quote that kept me focused; “The real thing that has stopped us is the awful weather, but I do not regret this journey, that has shown that, men can endure hardship and help one another”. Captain Robert Falcon Scott, the Royal Navy Officer and explorer led an expedition of five men to the South Pole between the years 1910 and 1913.
After reaching their destination and on their way back Scott and his team succumbed to exhaustion, starvation and extreme cold.
Standing next to me were men and women on a sponsored walk from Gweru to Harare, the first group in modern times to line up and take to the road for the environment. Since Charl-ene Hewitt and Julie Edwards commonly called the Rhino girls cycled from Edinburgh Scotland to Zim-babwe covering a distance of more than 10 000 miles in the ‘90s Zimbabwe has had no such commitment from environmentalists than the 500 million tree marchers.
The Rhino girls’ cause was the survival of the endangered Black Rhino. The cause of the 500 million tree marchers was their concern for the environment, with particular focus on de-forestation and a-forestation.
Many men and women have risked life and limb for a cause they believed in. Others succeeded and lived to see the results of their labour, while others were not so lucky.
As Friends of the Environment, the walk from Gweru to Harare, characterised by pain and more pain over a seven-day period will be rewarding when Zimbabweans respond and cut less trees than they plant.
While Captain Scott’s could be called “the walk for discovery” as was Commander Armstrong’s, the 500 million tree walk could be called the “walk for life”. It is about helping change people’s perception of trees, forests and the environment at large. It is a walk aimed at bringing awareness to the importance of trees. Indeed, trees are important to the ecological balance of nature. They help stop soil erosion and process carbon dioxide to oxygen, help shield us from the sun’s ultra violet rays and over and above that; they shield our planet from global warming. The journey was and will be marked with the planting of 4 500 trees at the eight different stops along the way.
A day before we started the actual walk (Friday November 26) 1000 trees were planted in Gweru. Day two saw us planting 500 trees at Connemara the open prison and had our first lunch of the expedition in the bush. We arrived in Kwekwe and planted another 500 trees.
Extra-Large and Noel Zembe defied the odds when they took to the stage to belt out the gathered crowd’s favourite tunes after a long walk in the sun. It was memorable and historical, walking and singing for trees. With the day’s conservation work done, we headed for the army barracks where we were given shelter, thanks to the leadership of the Zimbabwe National Army. We were treated to warm, salt infused footbaths as soon as we got there. For the majority of walkers the experience of sleeping in army barracks was overwhelming. For me it was re-living my childhood dreams, for my chosen career growing up was to become a soldier.
Surprisingly, the barracks are typical models of environmentally friendly designs that do not disturb nature. They were built with minimal clearing of land and for us became a supremely comfortable home-away-from-home. The absence of televisions, radios and iPod docking stations we were told was deliberate. Without man-made sounds, we began to tune into natural ones. We became accustomed to the sounds of weaver-birds, calls of honeyeaters, fairy wrens and kookaburras. Occasional drumming and thunders of oncoming heavy down pours in keeping with the summer season before us was the order of the day.
I thought Day Two  would be different. In our group of marchers were a number of people who had not been part of the preparatory training sessions. I was worried most of them would have serious problems walking. I was amazed to see all of them line up to take their places. They will walk for just 10 or so km, I thought. Another surprise was in store. They all walked the 40km without much trouble. In two days we had done 100km, unbelievable! Mon-day we did Battlefields to Kadoma. Tuesday — Kadoma to Chegutu, yesterday — Chegutu to Selous, today — Selous to Norton and tomorrow will be the big one — Norton to Harare.

– Phillip Mataranyika is the chief executive officer of Nyaradzo Funeral Assurance Company and can be contacted on: mav mat67@hotmail.com