Zuze Moyo – A Solitary Man in the Dowa Valley
It is sometimes strange how your eyes will catch on a single person in a crowded place. Something about them gets your attention; perhaps their attractiveness, or perhaps their outgoing personality, or maybe it is simply because they are the only person directly in your line of vision.
None of these reasons fit on that morning when we entered the tiny village of Kasitu located deep in the Dowa Valley east of Lilongwe. Of all of the people that crossed my line of sight I found that my eyes had locked on Zuze Moyo. It was not for any of the reasons I have just mentioned, for he was not attractive, nor did he have an outgoing personality. Nor was he directly in my line of vision as I got out of the car and started walking toward the church building where the meeting was about to begin.
Zuze was stumblingly clawing his way through a high patch of weeds trying, it seemed, to get away from the line of travel of the people going to the building. His crippled features and his tattered clothes made him stand out from the other village people who lived nearby or from those who had come for the meetings. For a long moment I could not take my eyes off of him, then we passed and I was hesitate to look back. We greeted a number of the men and women near the door of the building and then started to enter. A single look back and again he was in my line of sight. He looked bewildered, confused, and alone. Perhaps he was mentally unbalanced, and unaware of the world in which he lived. Or perhaps he knew everything that was taking place and knew he was repulsive to those who eyes touched on his pitiful features.
For the next three hours the prayers, teaching, and singing consumed my mind and my view of the world around me. Then it was time to go across the road to a house where lunch would be served. I wondered if I would see Zuze again. Just as I stepped out of the building he again came directly in my line of vision. He was sitting in the path that lead to the road and on to the buildings on the other side. We had to pass directly beside him. I tried not to look as we approached. I did not want to embarrass him. His head and eyes seemed to sway with the fluid scene around him and still I could not tell if he was aware of his surroundings or if his world was one that none of us would ever comprehend or understand.
As we passed him on our way to the meal the pattern of a Bible story began to form in my mind.
“30 Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. 32 Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.” Luke 10:30-32
We crossed the road and shared a typical Malawi meal; village chicken, nsima, rice and greens. Everyone was in a good mood and the conversation was upbeat and positive. Yet, the scene across the road still dominated my thoughts. Who was Zuze? What was his real condition? Did he understand that everyone was ignoring him and looking the other way when they passed him?
Meal complete and time to go back over for the afternoon sessions. I wonder if he will still be there? As we stepped out of the small house my answer was right there in front of me. Zuze was sitting on the ground almost directly in front of us. Still he looked confused, as though he did not know how or why he had gotten there.
For the next two days I would watch for him. He was always there. And I always felt like we were playing out a continuation of the story of the man who had fallen among thieves. Zuze had not suffered that plight but perhaps his was worse. His would never improve. He was trapped for the rest of his life. No medicine would change his condition. No trip to the doctor would change his status. And too, I was afraid that there was not a Good Samaritan that would come by to help him. By the end of the day I sought and gained some information about him that helped to ease my mind … some.
I learned Zuze has been in this condition his entire life; crippled, confused and helpless. Now he lives with his aged mother. His siblings and his father have all gone from this life and the two
of them are somewhat alone. I learned that he fully knows and understands what is taking place around him and he sits along the path to beg for some good person to offer him some substance so he can eat. It was strange the next thing I learned; he likes to watch football (soccer). A crippled man watching his friends and neighbors run freely across a field playing a game in which he will never participate. What dreams go through his mind as perhaps he struggles to imagine himself racing along the field, friends and family cheering him on, then to cross the finish line and score the game winning goal for his home village. I learned he is 48 years old and I wondered if anyone ever recognizes his birthday. But the best news I learned in this story of pain and despair is the fact that the church is helping to support him and his mother. It brought to mind the best part of the story of the man who fell among thieves. Now I can complete the verses in my mind.
33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. 34 So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ 36 So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” 37 And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”