Cry, Jestina
Cowards.
They came before the break of day,
Creeping towards your home in the shadows of the night.
What could have made men hardened by liberation so scared,
A cruel dictator so terrified,
Of a single woman?
Twelve plain clothes men clutching their guns to surprise you
Barefoot and in your nightgown.
You are one brave voice,
One courageous witness,
One of many,
Yet you alone were thrust into the unmarked car that day.
You stand as a giant to injustice,
In this moral wilderness.
And so they came to drag you by your hair,
Before the eyes of your son.
Cowards.
Every day I ask my friends,
Your comrades in the battlefield that has become Zimbabwe,
Who strove, side by side with you, to bring some light to this darkness,
If there is any word,
Any sign,
Any hope.
They answer me slowly,
As if their words struggle to surface from under the burden of sorrow on their shoulders,
No word,
No sign,
Yet hope.
I have never had the privilege of meeting you Jestina,
But one day,
In the future we fight for,
I pray to have the chance to meet you in the streets of Harare,
Standing tall,
Surrounded by freedom.
That day I’ll shake your hand,
Weary but steady from recording the testimony of this repression.
And I will thank you for your inspiration.
Until that day,
For you and this beautiful nation,
I cry.
Jestina Mukoko är en mänskliga rättigheter-aktivist i Zimbabwe som blev bortförd den 3 December 2008, och som nyligen blev släppt. Innan hon blev bortförd höll hon på att undersöka hur den zimbabwiska regeringen använde matbristen för att få folk att bli medlemmar i ZANU-PF.
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