Independence day. History Lost?
What's the real story? We talked to a friend of ours who had a first hand BTS (behind the scenes) account on the transition from Rhodesia to Zimbabwe. We're talking about seeing all the dirty and clean laundry folded for the media outlets. Folded none the less and for the public... it looked okay.
His account is completely different to the pieces of history that are generically spread across school classrooms and different archives.
There's a story that we're all a part here, of but so much of it is hidden. Locked away - and the question is will we ever really be able to get the entire context of our past? We have war heroes and survivors (on both sides) who's life stories are expiring. These veterans and victims hold the history books in their hearts and minds and once they're lost... you can't get them back. Sure, there might be white papers and event accounts on floppy disks stashed away somewhere but what about film? What about properly documenting the good, the bad and the ugly so that we don't repeat it.
The saying goes - that if history is not learned, we're doomed to repeat it.
So what's the best way to learn history? No one wants to repeat the Zimbabwe story, the economic crash, the suspicion and the division.
We might have independence, but do we have freedom from the questionable gaps in our history? Telling the stories will help us get there. Let's not have a shaky foundation for the next generation to stand on.