Innocent Mutetwa: "For a little while longer"
Rememberance by Eve Gatawa, Collegemate at St. Lawrence University
I told him, the school was in a remote place, a little village called Canton, in rural upstate New York; not quite close to NYC. He expected the worst, but when he arrived he immediately explained that I was a little too prudent in my description. He said he thought of cow boys and only one or two cars on campus. What he saw was amazing; in his words, this place was ‘paradise. He had fallen in love with the place. I was happy for him.
I was not to meet him for another semester, I was studying abroad and he had just begun his freshman year at our school, St. Lawrence University. When I got back to campus in the spring, I finally met him, Innocent Mutetwa. I congratulated him on surviving his first winter. He said it was cold but not too bad. St. Lawrence is a "big hockey school" as they say here. He, more excited than I was, invited me to the SLU hockey game the next day. He was a big fan of our Skating Saints as evidenced by his knowledge of the current record of the team.
When the spring semester begun, I would see him around often, in between classes, on his way to work, shooting pool with his friend at the student center. He would visit me while working at the library just to seek my advice on something or simply to tell me what was going on in his life. He never called me by my name but would almost always call me "Homegirl". "Homegirl, zvirisei Homegirl?", he often hollered when we ran into each other. I didn't hear from him for a while and thought nothing of it. The next I heard about him, he was in hospital. I knew he’d be alright and he did get better and resumed classes.
I was setting up a show at the gallery over spring break and I invited him to work with me. That's when I got to know him better. We talked about our family backgrounds and even wowed at the fact that we were now at college abroad. I'd realize his passion for philosophy, how the great thinkers inspired him and of course his religious following and undivided devotion to Manchester United. He would teach me tennis, (he had the patience to ) and we would play for an hour each day during spring break; except of course for the day when Manchester United was had a game!
When school was back in session we would only play one day a week until he went back to the hospital again. When he was discharged, he was going back home to Zimbabwe. I told him going back was good for him, he’d get rest and he’d be back at school in good health for to me, though naïve, people go back to their homes and their families to get better. Almost a year since his passing, Innocent is still fresh in my memories and his imprints in my life are inerasable. This is only but a vain wish but if only he could have been with us for a little while longer, then … who knows?