Doing what you can

Well last night wasn't my normal Friday night - I was sat in a church listening to a black former Zimbabwean international cricketer sign Nessum Dorma. I've just thoroughly enjoyed An Evening with Henry Olonga.

I saw Henry Olonga play in the 1999 Cricket World Cup - always an erratic bowler his first spell had been pretty poor. He then came on, took 3 wickets in an over, bowling India out and handing Zim the victory. At the 2003 World Cup he and Andy Flower wore black armbands to highlight the situation in Zim - at great personal cost to them both.

Now based in the UK I'd heard Henry speak and sing a few years ago. Funny, articulate and passionate I was impressed with how he came across - and even more surprised with the beauty of his singing voice. Now pursing a musical career, he continues to raise awareness about the situation in Zim.

Last evening - organised by the charity Tearfund who are doing a lot of work in the country - beautifully mixed song, humour and cricket as well as continuing to highlight the problems in Zim. With several ex-pats in the audience (there is a large SA & Zim community in SW London) some moments were very poignant - during one song the woman next to me was weeping - but there was also humour. At one point Henry's comment to the Zims in the audience "do you remember growing up when we used to laugh at Zambia" brought some chuckles (trust me, if you're African it is one of those funny truisms) as did the joke about the name of Idi Amin's boat? Idi-yacht.

As Henry said, he didn't feel he could contribute much to solving the situation in Zim back in 2003 when he and Andy Flower made their stance - but he did what he could. A thought for us all.