White Farmer not bitter about losing farm

“In fact we helped the very people who took our land” – Brian Oldrieve

Leeds(ZimEye)One of Zimbabwe’s decorated farmers who lost his own farm has stated that he is not bitter about having lost his farm lands during his country’s violent land reform program.

Brian Oldrieve who now spends time training upcoming black farmers and imparting to them his treasured farming skills, replied:

“Not at all.”

He stated that he recognises that the land belongs to God and not to any individual:

“I mean we had our farm taken and I suppose our normal livelihood… but we are not bitter at all because first of all we are Christians and we believe that God gives and He takes away. The land belongs to God and He will chose whoever he wants to be stewards of that…We submit to God’s wisdom and greater knowledge on that.”

Oldrieve added that land reform was bound to happen:

“We are not bitter at all because actually the transition had to happen; Sure it wasn’t done in a very good way, but it’s also helped us now to teach full time;and so from having a farm in Africa, now we farm Africa; we have been called to 28 countries in Africa to teach and to create a model within Zimbabwe. We are very grateful for this amazing opportunity to concentrate on what we do now. In fact we helped the very people who took our land,” he said.

Apart from the 28 African nations who are tapping into Oldrieve’s wealth of knowledge, the farmer revealed that he, together with his team of other banished farmers have been called to Austria (where he has lectured to PHD students), Australia where two potential centres have already been setup, India, USA, six calls to Haiti, one call from Trinidad, the United Kingdom (where two training centres are being setup), Mexico and the Ukraine, the latter two nations which are yet to be visited.

Oldrieve said his project ‘Foundations For Farming’ made strides having been accepted by Zimbabwe’s Ministry of Agriculture who are reported to have donated an Agritex centre for research and training development.

Dubbed ‘Zero Tillage’, the farmer’s farming innovation is a simple and yet highly cost-effective procedure that does not utilise tilling and the use of chemical components as in professional commercial agriculture. It however has the potential to produce 400% yields greater than the best commercial farmer can produce. Oldrieve said he learnt this method from studying Bible scriptures. After he gave up a lucrative tobacco farming enterprise in 1982, he was convinced that he had been farming a crop produce that was detrimental to people’s health.

Since Oldrieve began his ‘Foundations For Farming’ project, numerous testimonials of its success have been documented practically proving the effectiveness thereof. Many of the beneficiaries are unemployed rural dwellers who would not have afforded expensive implements such as fertilisers.

A visibly humble Oldrieve mentioned a passage in the Bible that ‘God uses the weak things of this world to confound the wisdom of the wise’.

Oldrieve was speaking to ZimEye at Leeds on Saturday during a Global Native function in the city centre. [Watch this space for Foundations For Farming testimonials.]

(ZimEye -United Kingdom, Zimbabwe)

ZIMBABWE – An unidentified man believed to be from Emganwini high-density suburb was forced to drink water from a toilet bowl after he was caught kissing a married woman by the woman’s husband in Bulawayo’s high-density suburb of Nkulumane.

The incident happened on 3 April at night at the matrimonial home of the woman. The husband, Mr Israel Banda, confirmed that he came home and found his wife (Mrs Cinderella Banda) of five years in the arms of a man, their lips locked in a French kiss.

Mr Banda revealed that he locked them up in the house and called neighbours to be witnesses to his wife’s infidelity. With the assistance of his neighbours, Mr Banda unlocked the door of his house, grabbed the man, stripped him naked and tied his hands and feet using ropes. They then dragged the man outside and brutally beat him.

One of the neighbours, Mr Andrew Matshazi, suggested that they make the man drink water from a toilet bowl. They dragged the man to the toilet and forced his head into the toilet bowl and told him to drink if he did not want to be beaten anymore. With the false promise of being spared the man gulped down the toilet water but failed to hold it down as he immediately vomited.

The wrathful Mr Banda and his neighbours were not done. They dragged the man outside again and took turns to urinate on his head and face. The man was let go after a community leader, who had been made aware of what was happening at Mr Banda’s house, rushed to the scene and told them that what they were doing was repugnant and beyond anything that any human should go through.

After the man was let go the neighbours wanted to turn to Mrs Banda who was cowering in a corner of the sitting room when her boyfriend was being tortured, but Mr Banda refused to have his wife beaten. He packed her bags and chased her away from his house. In an interview, Mr Banda, who has had two failed marriages, said he was done with women and was never going to marry again.

“Women you can’t live without them and you can’t live with them. I am not going to marry again, women and I don’t work. I don’t know whether I am the problem or not. Maybe it’s because I love too much. I don’t know, all I know is that I am not going to stay with a woman again,’’ said Mr Banda.

Mrs Banda, who is now staying at a friend’s house in Sizinda high-density suburb, refused to give her side of the story. She said: “I don’t want to talk about what happened, it’s in the past. Please leave me alone and mind your own business.’’

Mrs Banda also refused to divulge the name and contact details of her boyfriend. Mr Matshazi said they thoroughly beat the man to ensure that he would never have an affair with a married woman again in his lifetime.

“Wherever he is, if he has a girlfriend she is not married because he now knows the dangers of going out with married women. We really beat him up; in retrospect I believe that if we were not stopped we could have left him for dead,” he said.

Ananias and Sapphira

5 Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property. 2 With his wife’s full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles’ feet.

3 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your heart that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? 4 Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn’t the money at your disposal? What made you think of doing such a thing? You have not lied just to human beings but to God.”

5 When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6 Then some young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.

7 About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8 Peter asked her, “Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land?”

“Yes,” she said, “that is the price.”

9 Peter said to her, “How could you conspire to test the Spirit of the Lord? Listen! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also.”

10 At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband. 11 Great fear seized the whole church and all who heard about these events.

I AM STILL WAITING FOR THE BUSINESS CARDS FOR THE ADS TOMORROW……………….I WILL NOT BE TAKING ANY TOMORROW BECAUSE THEY WILL BE UP EARLY..THANK YOU…TONIGHT IS THE DEADLINE!

It is alleged that this young woman was killed when a gentleman she was in correspondence with gave her the sum of 5million Jamaican dollars in order to purchase a home along with furniture. After arriving in Jamaica it is said that the gentleman found out that neither the home or furniture was purchased. It is alleged that he went for a gun which he used to shot the unidentified woman in what appears to be her throat.