1/12 : Today is #AfricaDay2020 . Today is a day to reflect on how we relate with each other as Africans. Being Zimbabwean, the country I relate to the most is South Africa, for mainly economic reasons. I am sure this is also the case for many of my fellow Zimbabweans.

2/12 : I have heard many people say South Africans are lazy and uneducated. My personal interactions with South Africans has not provided me with evidence of the laziness or lack of education of South Africans.

3/12 : A lot of people say this of South Africans and I can't just dismiss their views and lived experiences. There is no single story or single truth to our complex and varied existence. My first journey to South Africa was in 2008 and I was staying with my brother in Daveyton

4/12 : There was an internet cafe in Daveyton and this is where I spend most of my time. I became friends with the owner; a young man called Sthe. A very hard working young man. He worked with a guy who fixed cellphones inside the same internet cafe.

5/12 : They printed T-shirts written Made in Daveyton. The T-shirts had an image of either a peugeot 504 or 404 (my knowledge of cars is suspect). This was my first interaction with South Africans; hardworking and enterprising. With time I became part of their business.

6/12 : When I returned to Zimbabwe some months down the line, Sthe would do a lot of legwork for me as I was trying to break into the SA theatre space. When I traveled to South Africa my knee was badly injured. I received treatment at Tambo Memorial hospital in Boksburg

7/12 : I can't comment on the general health care system in SA as Tambo Memorial hospital in Boksburg is the only facility I have ever been to. I was treated exceptionally well at that hospital. Saw two different doctors and got a knee brace and a walking stick.

8/12 : I have been to South Africa ten or so more times after that first visit where on arrival at a taxi rank around midnight in Johannesburg the kombi driver asked me to buy him a beer at a nearby pub. He couldn't live his vehicle unattended and he gave me R10.

9/12 : I didn't know what a dumpy was. I also remember the strange experience of being frisked for weapons by the pub entrance. My dumpy experience reminds me of when a neighbour in Daveyton asked me to buy her raja. What is raja, I asked.

10/12 : Just tell them you want raja, she said. I later realised she meant curry powder. Are those the small things that make Zimbabweans conclude South Africans are not educated? But we have our own Coke, Colgate... moments?

11/12 : My other interactions with South Africans has been under residency (University of Cape Town) and workshops & seminars. And I have not come across evidence South Africans are lazy or uneducated. I will not dismiss my countrymen's assertions, but I need to be convinced

12/12 : Are we failing to factor in context? A Zim teacher doing manual labour in South Africa will certainly conclude that his/her fellow labourers are not educated...
When my knee was damaged I was treated with kindness and care - tomorrow I will tell you how I damaged my knee