Then one night while sleeping on the pavement where I sold my paintings, a young couple stopped next to me and started talking to me. They wanted to know where I came from and what I was doing on the street. I told them where I came from and that I sold paintings for a living, but that it was difficult to sell art on the street. The man told me that he was a musician and that his manager was also an arts dealer. This stranger, who didn’t know me, said he would introduce me to his manager. We prayed together there on the pavement and I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal saviour on that night.

The couple invited me to attend their church, which was a walking distance from shelter. From that Sunday, I started attending church regularly. I met so many people there and made many friends. There were many refugees from all over Africa. I aligned myself with them but continued staying in the shelter. Sometimes I had to move from shelter to shelter as I would arrive after curfew at times. Some shelter’s curfew would not allow me to attend prayer meetings and home group because I would have to sleep outside if I were late. One day my home group leader, who was engaged at the time, told me that I could move into his flat until he was married. The wedding date was only three or four months away but I would have to move out once he was married. I accepted his offer; I believed that I would have found my feet by then.

I had been so used to life at the shelter. You come in and grab a mattress, find a spot on the floor amongst others and sleep. The next day you had to take all your belongings with you. I’d been given my own keys for the apartment to come and go as I pleased for the period that I’d be staying there. This man was like a brother to me and encouraging me to study art, but I even though I refused to go study, he was patient with me.

I started smoking cigarettes. Even though I encouraged others to believe in Jesus Christ and follow Christian beliefs, I myself had not surrendered my life to Christ completely. I still drank and smoked dagga whenever I wanted. My home group friends and I would sometimes meet after home group. Our home group leader also tried to get me to consider studying further, but every time I would quote a line from Buju Banton’s reggae song titled, “I want to rule my destiny”. I believed that studying would institutionalise my love for painting, that’s why I refused to go study.

Time came when I had to find alternative accommodation. I couldn’t move in with the other guys I stayed with at the shelters. After having enjoyed the freedom of staying in a flat, I didn’t want to go back to curfews and shelters again. I left my paintings and equipment in the backroom of an arts supplier store. I had befriended the store’s manager who then allowed me to leave my stuff there. My home group leader and his fiancé had asked their guests to contribute money towards a painting that they wanted me to paint, instead of giving them gifts for the wedding.

He also said that if I got enough money, he would help me find an affordable apartment. I was ecstatic at the thought of having my own place. That afternoon as the sun set, I knew that I had to find a new hideout. I dreaded that time of the day as I watched people rushing to get to their homes. I had nowhere to rush to. It was very painful to know that I didn’t have anyone, not even a relative to confide in or to go to. No-one had the time to listen to my story; they had their own lives to live. I had to man up and live on the streets of a foreign country.

I then confided to a Mozambiquean artist who knew about my situation. He offered me a place to stay in a garage at one of his properties in Umlazi. I was so grateful for his offer and accepted it immediately. Soon after, I met a girl but I was still preoccupied with my work at the time. The wedding day came and I attended. I didn’t have a present for the newlyweds but I still enjoyed myself with the other members of our home group.

A couple of weeks later, I learned that the money contributed towards the painting for the newly married couple, was sixteen thousand rand. A share of that money went towards a flat that my home group leader found for me and I saved the rest. He advised me to get a flatmate so that I didn’t have to pay so much rent. I asked one of my Congolese friends to move in with me and split the rent because he also needed a place to stay.

Once I had my own place, I approached the girl that I had brushed off weeks earlier. We met at a garage in Umlazi for our first date. I’d been advised by church authorities to marry someone within the church, but I ignored them. A couple of months later, I asked her to marry me and she did. Once married, I started a new life with my wiefe. I now had someone to confide in, someone who I could talk to about my life and someone who would listen without judgement. She joined my church and a year later, we were blessed with a baby boy whom we named Asher, which is Hebrew for happy. I still continued with my drinking and smoking however, by this time I had stopped smoking dagga.

Two years later we were blessed with another son, we named him Takuma, which is Shona for risen. By this time I had been introduced to a church where they spoke about deliverance and exposing the devil’s work in people’s lives. I felt that we had awaken from a spiritual slumber hence the name our second son, Tamuka. We later moved from the city centre to the western suburbs of Durban.

I found people with a similar style of painting to mine there. I was always busy painting because my work sold very well. I sold it directly to the people at the local farmer’s market where I met more Zimbabwean crafters. By this time I had a car, but I would find myself too busy to go to church and spent less and less time at home with my family. I spent most of my time with friends going to local taverns, having braais and buying drinks for people I didn’t even know. Then I became irritated by my wife, I felt like she didn’t really understand me because we are from different cultures, she was Zulu and I was a Zimbo.

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