I Will Always Write Back

Martin Ganda is born in 1983 as one of the “born frees” (19), the generation that is born following the liberation of Zimbabwe from British colonial powers. While his English name is “Martin,” his Shona name is Tatenda, which means “thank you.” He grows up in Chisamba Singles, a housing development in Mutare where he, along with his mother, father, and four siblings (Nation, Simba, George, and Lois) share a room with one other family.

Despite their humble background, Martin’s family is able to send him to school for some time before they are impacted by Zimbabwe’s economic decline. Martin’s impetus to do well in school and create a better life for himself is largely attributed to his mother’s influence. Having grown up even poorer than they are in Chisamba Singles, Martin’s mother was forced to quit school at an early age to tend to her family. She now impresses upon him that “[s]chool is [his] only hope” (15). This message deeply resonates through with Martin as he struggles to access an education for himself in the face of numerous financial obstacles. His mother’s influence is so deep that even after he successfully completes his education in the US, he still remarks, “My dream to come to America was never for me alone” (387). Even after he finds success for himself in the US, he has a deep sense of loyalty to his family in Zimbabwe. He earns enough money to buy a house for his family and makes sure that his mother has a real mattress to sleep on. He feels a persistent love and duty toward her because of all the sacrifices she has made for the family.

Through his mother’s influence, Martin becomes a hardworking and exceptionally bright student. When Martin returns to school after Caitlin’s family pays for the rest of his semester, he pursues O-level exams across nine subject areas, scoring an A for every subject, which makes him the top-scoring student of his entire school. To achieve this, Martin sneaks into a nearby college library to study late into the night. In his pursuit of educational excellence, he also shows himself to be a brave and ambitious individual. When he learns of the opportunity to attend the Marist Brothers school, he travels all the way to an unfamiliar town for the chance to speak with the school’s headmaster. Without any guarantee of a full scholarship to the expensive school, he pursues the opportunity to study at the private boarding school anyway out of the slim possibility that something fortuitous will work out in his favor. With such perseverance, he eventually manages to earn a full scholarship at the school, an opportunity that would not have taken place had he not taken the risk to enroll.