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Zimbabwean Rastafarian’s untold life of environmental livity.
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Zimbabwean Rastafarian’s untold life of environmental livity …Rastafarians seek to pursue natural ‘livity’, that is, an independent life style that is in harmony with the natural world. This Rastafari ‘livity’ is acted out in various ways but the objective is to lead a way of life characterised by a sense of natural, organic purity, as well as cultural authenticity. Livity is a word used by Rastafarians to refer to the energy or life force that flows through all living things.
Rastafarians during an ‘iron sharpens iron’, session at their Shrine where ideas are shared among the congregants.
True Rastafarians are vegetarians • Shame Mudzengerere part of the Mutare Rastafarian community said that true Rastafarians are vegetarians. “We live off what grows from the soil. We grow our own fruit and vegetables and we do not eat meat or smoke tobacco (cigarettes). We eat according to Genesis 1 verse 29 in the bible. We take herbs for nourishment and medical treatment. We jealously guard trees and feel the pain when we see trees being cut or our environment being depleted,” said Mudzengerere. • “Even when one of our own gets sick we first try herbs for curing before resorting to medical doctors. We are however not extremists like Apostolic sects that refute western medicine. We take it only when and if necessary,” added Mudzengerere.
Calendar events • Every year Rastafarians celebrate Black History month in February. • The Bob Marley commemorations in May. • Africa Day on May 25. • The birth of Emperor Haile Sellasie on July 23. • The coronation day of Emperor Haile Sellasie on November 2. • Kwanza Day (first fruits celebration) in December. • Nativity Day, which is the day they believe Jesus was born, their own version of Christmas. Instead of celebrating Christmas on December 25, Rastafarians believe 25 December is actually the day when King Herod killed all male children in an attempt to kill Christ and avoid the prophesy.
Issues to be addressed • WHEN we hear about Rastafarians, the first thought is people with dreadlocks known to live a carefree life often associated with ‘peculiar’ smoking of marijuana. There is however more to the Rastafarian culture. It is actually a way of life that has over the years received little acknowledgement but in our modern day of the climate change catastrophe, the Rastafarian way of life deserves to be mainstreamed as environmental experts continue to explore ways of promoting sustainable use of the environment. • Climate change is a critical challenge that the world is facing today. The impact of climate change has resulted in a global climactic disasters on the environment and humanity. Following initiatives by the South African based multi faith non-profit making organisation, Southern African Faith Communities Environment Institute (Safcei), which has been running the Faith Leaders Environmental Advocacy training (FLEAT) programme in Southern Africa by providing learning resources to conduct local eco-projects for faith based organisations, this new paradigm of incorporating religion will be focal for the Rastafari faith that meticulously believes in the preservation and reclamation of the environment.
Issues to be addressed • Although the Environmental Management Agency has over the years identified deforestation, drought and desertification, soil erosion, veld fires, water pollution, loss of biodiversity, water hyacinth invasion on lakes and dams, air pollution, poor waste management as well as land degradation as some of the environmental challenges facing Zimbabwe, lack of forceful political by-in as well as clear and decisive government leadership have effectively rendered the agency ineffective.
Issues to be addressed • Rastafari ecological ethics play a complementary role to the national and global action in the preservation of the environment through their religious green practices. Shame Mudzengerere of the MutareRastafarai community said their faith is centred on reclamation and preservation of the environment. • He said humanity has for centuries been polluting the land, air and water through deforestation, use of excessive fertilisers, pesticides, chemicals and industrial waste spillage, release of active chemical wastes, among others, but that has to be put to an end, of which as Rastafarians he believes they can teach people how to live in harmony with the environment and live in a sustainable way of life through their livity concept.
Solutions • During the phase one Zimbabwe FLEAT programme held in July last year (2018) religion was highlighted as one of the key players to resolve the global environmental crisis, given that 90 percent of people in the world are part of a religious group. • “Our way of life is directly opposed to the artificial lifestyles espoused through western consumerism. This is expressed through our vegetarian diet, hairstyle, and sense of community with emphasis on simplicity,” said Mudzengerere. • For Rastafarians, living naturally implies producing one’s own food or eating a diet consisting of organic and vegetarian foods as well as upholding the sacredness of the earth by refusing to pollute and commercialise it. In their diet, Rastas advocate taking holistic and unprocessed foods such that some fruits and vegetables are eaten raw in order to attain maximum nourishment.
Solutions • The Rastafarians say they require good land to practice their organic farming that does not pollute the land, crops and people through the over use of chemicals and fertilizers. They are suspicious of the fruits and vegetables they buy from the supermarkets as they may not be organic products. Some prefer to eat ganja as vegetables or drink it as tea but in general, it is smoked communally through the chalice as a ritual action. Attaining such a piece of land has been difficult but they have been improvising and knocking on many doors to fulfill their vision of establishing a Rastafarian village. • The Mutare Rastafarians have also been practicing reusing and recycling from scrape material to reduce pollution of the environment. Some of the artefacts being made are toy cars from used cans of soft drinks and beers. Some make ends meet from making carved wood artefacts, reed mats and reed baskets which they sell. They however make it a point to replant every tree they cut in the spirit of replenishment and posterity of nature that would have put food on their tables.
Solutions • This way of life by Rastafarians is in-line with the global campaigns being encouraged of the three Rs: to Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. The utilisation of recycled resources to produce works of art and earn a living is a creative and innovative paradigm of thinking and acting. • In Mutare their place of worship (shrine) is on top of Murahwa Hill in the high density suburb of Chikanga. It is also located at this same site that the Rastafarian community intend to live as a community (the Rastafarian village). They are in negotiations with the Mutare city councillors to be given that land. “We first approached the then Mayor TatendaNhamarare in 2016 about the piece of land where our shrine is. Last year we pursued on the matter again and he advised us to write a letter to the new Town Clerk for the land,” said Mudzengerere. To them getting that piece of land will enable them to preserve nature and their culture. • “We just want to restore the area and live there in our own village. When we get visitors they can come live there and experience our culture. We will also plant fruit trees so we can have fruit for ourselves and sell the excess in town. The place is very habitable, electricity lines run through the piece of land and water tanks that supply the city of Mutare is nearby, so we can actually support religious tourism that Government has been driving for and have our own Rastafarian village near our shrine. This will also allow people to learn more about our culture and beliefs,” said Mudzengerere.
Open land in Chikanga in Mutare where deforestation has taken its toll. The Mutare Rastafarians want to practice land reclamation and put a citrus fruits orchard.
Deforestation in Murahwa Hill in Mutare. The Mutare Rastafarians want to acquire this land to establish a Rastafarian village protecting the land from such deforestation.
Reed baskets being made by Lloyd Kachikawo part of the Mutare Rastafarian community.
Car toys from used soft drinks and beer cans part of their recycling initiatives.
Land reclamation. Rastafarians practicing good organic farming on idle land reclaimed after deforestation.
A vegetable garden on undeveloped land that has been an idle infill residential stand in Chikanga where RasTsinga earns his living from.
Way forward Issues addressed: • Cutting of trees, burning of bushes, streambank cultivation/ poor farming methods, gully reclamation, afforestation programmes. Challenges: • Lack of support from relevant authorities (EMA,Local authorities) to effect land reclamation practices and enforce the environmental laws. • Lack of resources to undertake environmental campaigns with impact. • Lack of affordable energy sources for locals that resort to cutting of firewood.
