Interesting to read in the Mail and Guardian about “Colonial past haunts Britain again”, where 8800 files from 37 former colonies have been unearthed in Hanslope Park, and other UK National archive hideaways. More interesting might have been the ones they burned from 1961 on. At that time, a policy was put in place (it’s in the files) to burn and hide (destroy) some files from the former colonies, and to leave a select few (‘legacy’ files) to the new Independent countries.

Some of the hidden files have been found, and some of the information in them is quite damaging (that is why they were hidden), describing torture, murder, cover-ups and other ‘wrong’ activities by Her Majesty’s government.

Even regarding the standard rule of thumb, that you cannot judge the past, and activities from the past, by today’s standards of behaviour, we just know that some things are ‘wrong’, and would have been then. For example, the death of Captain Cook in Hawaii. Was he killed, or murdered? He certainly died, but was what he was doing wrong, or was what the islanders doing wrong, or was it all a big accident, a misunderstanding? Well, we cannot take Roman Dutch law in Zimbabwe today, or Royal Navy High seas doctrine now, or even USA law as currently practiced

All those basic matters aside though, the real point is that, 50 years after – over 50 years after – the activities took place, they are being revealed. And the perpetrators – who are guilty by standards in place at that time – are being found guilty and are paying.

How does that apply to today’s life? Simple. Don’t do anything wrong. You know what is wrong. It is inside you. It may also be currently written, but mostly it is known. “You know”. The only safe path is not to commit a crime or do anything ‘wrong’. A pardon (from the King/Queen/Head of State/Head of Government) will not help. Time will not wash it away. Your only defence is do what is right. And you know what is right, no one can tell you.

Okay, so this is nothing like the Kenyan political graffiti we shared recently. But if this wall in Highlands, Harare is anything to go by, Zimbabwean youth are warming up their spray cans and getting ready to express themselves.

Spotted this on a walk the other day. Given that Labradors tend to be about the friendliest dogs you can imagine, no wonder they had to clarify!

My newborn son has discovered his hands lately and he no longer enjoys being swaddled especially when he is awake. He is now able to lift his hands, stretch them out excitedly, and bring them together in union. The discovery of his hands as a toy results in him scratching his face leaving it with scars. Interestingly, the scars heal fast and the new skin comes out to cover as if nothing ever went wrong. I have been watching this and I found it interesting because I related it to a film by celebrated Zimbabwean director Rumbi Katedza titled, ‘The axe and the tree’.

In this film we see victims of political violence finding healing through a workshop facilitated by survivors of political violence from the Tree of Life Trust. Their healing process is based on viewing the life of tree. The healing process entails one spending time reviewing a tree’s trunk, branches, leaves and maybe fruits and relating it to their own life experiences. Thus through this process they find out that trees have been hurt too but they never give up, they continue providing us with leaves for manure, shade on a sunny day, firewood and fruit to eat even though humans are their enemies.

One of the participants had his home burnt by perpetrators of violence including an avocado tree that was in his yard. In a scene in the film where he revisited his old burnt home to show and explain what happened, he and the Tree of Life facilitator found new branches coming out of the burnt avocado tree. This showed that trees could heal themselves and so could we humans if we look at the life of a tree. I have learnt that my son’s scars heal themselves naturally without me having to put in any effort.

And this shows the possibility of victims of violence own ability to heal themselves through forgiveness.