–– Joe Shoko

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In the Southern African country of Zimbabwe, Harare lies as a rapidly growing capital city that is bursting at the seams. Many years ago the population was officially estimated at 2 million. A few more censuses have been taken since then, but it is hard to come up with the true figure as the Government of the land is inadequately resourced to effectively carry out a successful census of the people of Harare, not to mention Zimbabwe! The population is something to behold, especially on Sundays. Yes, that’s correct, on Sundays! 

Normally, weekdays in big cities are characterised by the hooting of cars and the calling out of touts who are either selling oranges and apples or directing the masses to their ‘ride home’. The CBD sounds like a symphony of migrating bees, there isn’t much space to maneuver and everyone is in a rush to get somewhere. Sadly, this too is the status quo of Harare on a Sunday. When the rest of us are coming from gathering with the Lord’s people, the CBD is busier than ever. I could be accused of making sweeping statements or judging wrongly, but based on what has been happening on the ground, the hoards of Hararians are not coming from church, but are trading! In other words, for many people, the best day to go for any sort of shopping is a Sunday. 

I suggest two possible contributing factors for this: