My passion is traveling the planet attempting to engage in common, everyday life , but now I find myself hidden behind walls, walls topped by razor wire and electrodes.
Walls are erected to keep out perceived evils. So far, I've found none. What I have found each day as I leave my world of isolation and walk to school are smiling children, friendly domestic workers sharing a cheerful mangwanani (Good morning), bicyclists waving to me.
The passersby don't appear to be a threat. They don't seem to want to do me harm.
Yes, crime has risen in recent years in Zimbabwe due to a lack of employment and decades of hopelessness brought on by global structures that oppress many to benefit few. Are the unemployed my enemy? Are they the reason I need to live behind concrete and steel?
My colleagues and I have been placed in multi-bedroom fortresses, which devour natural resources. Walls don't build relationships. Walls are a physical and symbolic impediment telling the community to stay away. A wall says I want to protect my status, to maintain a lifestyle reminiscent of Zimbabwe's colonial past.
Each night I walk back from work – again receiving the well-wishes of pedestrians – step through my gate, and return to my world of isolation, shut away from the very culture I moved here to experience.
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