The annual OK Grand Challenge is Zimbabwe's answer to Epsom: think excited crowds and oversized flowery hats for the ladies (Dorcas Zireva , wife of OK boss Willard, to made it into the Sunday Mail this year in her large pink creation) Shoppers at the OK chain win points for a couple of months before the race in June (in Mutare in May, I watched a whole village -- literally -- being brought to do their shopping at OK to get a chance of winning). They can bet on the day: shoppers also collect loyalty points towards a draw for a car -- a locally-assembled BT50 Mazda truck -- and a house. This year's event got huge coverage: on the day, roads were closed leading to the Borrowdale race-course and special buses were laid on.
The winner of the Mazda draw was a 28-year old man named Gift. His is a real rags-to-riches story. His surname is Madhumbu, which in Shona means rags. A person who dresses in madhumbu, explained the local Sunday Mail, is "a very poor person who in most cases is the laughing stock of his community." His life had taken the route mapped out by his name: he was a struggling motor mechanic who'd never amassed enough money to buy a car. He'd entered the OK Grand Challenge "many times" before but never won a thing.
Madhumbu was stunned when he heard he'd won.
"I was living a life of rags," he said. "But now it is a thing of the past."
No comments:
Post a Comment