The deafening sound of silence, Henry Olonga speaks out
The heart rending story of a man who rose against the tides of time.
For one day they will rise again
Above the emptiness and shame
With dignity restored once more
As your oppression is here no more.
Henry Olonga was the first black cricketer to have played for Zimbabwe. There is something enigmatic about a cricketer who speaks up for his rights, who speaks up for his conscience, who takes that conscious step to rise against the oppressor knowing well,
that he too owes a responsibility to his homeland. Henry Olonga is that man, who chose to ignore the repercussions for standing up for what was right.
While Zimbabwe struggled in International cricket, things were brewing back home that were nothing less than alarming. Zimbabwe was slowly falling into the clutches of a dictator, who had made everyone believe in the temporal delusion that he, Mugabe, was
a hero, a true revolutionary.
Olonga for some time had allowed himself to believe in the fallacy that Mugabe was in fact a revolutionary. However, the oppressive regime faded those wistful fantasies before his eyes as he realized that his dear homeland was in trouble.
It was then, that he decided to speak out against the tyrant, in an interview given to an English journalist, where together with Andy Flower, they drafted a statement to be published in the Western Press.
"In all the circumstances we have decided that we will each wear a black armband for the duration of the World Cup. In doing so we are mourning the death of democracy in our beloved Zimbabwe. In doing so we are making a silent plea to those responsible to
stop the abuse of human rights in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045. In doing so we pray that our small action may help to restore sanity and dignity to our Nation”.
Had it been Andy Flower, who had protested alone, his appeal would have been rubbished as racism. However, this was different, these words were coming out of a black man, who refused to budge in the face of adversity. Death threats, started pouring in soon
after. Had it not been for the rains in Harare that knocked http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 out of the super sixes, Olonga would never have found the opportunity to leave Zimbabwe. He caught a flight to South Africa along with the rest of the team to never return to the country
that held so many memories for him.
Olonga proceeded to England from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757, where he started playing cricket. However, he soon discovered that his real passion was music. Unlike many others, who have inanities and delusional fantasies written in their autobiographies as marketing tools,
Olonga’s book is a candid account of his life as a Zimbabwean cricketer, which were studded with just a handful of achievements and nothing more. He does not let himself get carried away as he talks about his own career, acknowledging it himself that he was
no superstar.
Olonga’s self-deprecation is not without some thoughtful and honest insight while his opinion about his fellow peers does not ring hollow with a tang of malice. He talks about the traumatic incidents that plagued his childhood, from the bitter divorce of
his parents to the acrimonious relation with his father. He talks about the hostile relations between some black players and white team mates. However, he does not let his opinions cloud an objective account of what had really conspired.
While Olonga has been critical of the omnipotent figure of Mugabe in Zimbabwean lives, he also talks passively about the attitude of his team mates, who patronized the tyrant. The vivid details of his relations with his family and his father, along with
the events that unfolded in his beloved homeland make for a poignant read.
To sum the book up in the words of Martin Luther King Jr, “An individual has not started living until he can rise above the narrow confines of his individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity”. Henry Olonga managed to do just that.
The book is available in bookstores across the world.
Blood, Sweat and Treason: Henry Olonga - My Story
by Henry Olonga
Vision Sports Publishing
£14.49
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