The Audacity to Dream: Stories from an African Immigrant

Everyone has a real-life story to tell if people had the patience to listen. A tale that if shared, is not only entertaining but also capable of healing the story-teller, and inspiring the listener by widening and transforming her/his worldview. Thanks to globalization and the increasing intercultural sensitivity the world is experiencing, our stories are no longer drawn from only one culture-our culture, but also from other cultures of the world. The audacity to Dream contains real life, entertaining, and transformative stories, not only of heroic and victorious deeds but also of unimaginable struggles of a poor African boy to acquire an education and human dignity. Stories in which both good and bad, kind and evil, generous and selfish, poor and rich, sacred and profane, people are encountered. These stories started in the 1970s, in Zimbabwe, Africa, and found their consummation in 2012, in Texas, USA. Life is a journey. There are three types of people that every one of us is likely to meet on our life pilgrimage. You meet people who encourage, assist, respect, and bless you. Those are the people who see some rays of the sun in your struggles when all that you can see is darkness. You are also likely to meet people who discourage, demean, and curse you. The third group of people that you are likely to meet consists of persons who are indifferent, and might not want to know about you. In my struggle for dignity, I met all the above-mentioned groups of people.These stories are real-life narratives extracted from my life experiences. Some of them have never been shared with anyone else. Why do I feel that I should share them now? I share them because they may inspire someone. I tell them because story-telling is therapeutic. I narrate them because old age is creeping on me, and I don't want them to be a burden on my journey to the land of the ancestors. They are stories of the dreams that brought me here, to the complicated and confusing crossroads of San Antonio, Texas, where almost every driver behaves like a Zimbabwean kombi driver. Those who know a thing or two about Zimbabwe's kombi drivers wouldn't take this as a compliment. Here, in San Antonio, where we eat tacos for breakfast, lunch, and super, and still feel we want some more.I hope that my story won't only entertain people, but also inspire them to transcend their social challenges and fight to improve their lives. My story is worthy-reading because it's unique. It's different from some of the stories that people have read because it's my personal story. My story isn't an epic of heroism and unprecedented accomplishments, but, nonetheless, a unique story worth telling, and from which other people can learn something. You may not enjoy reading my story, but I still insist that you try it. You may not obtain a significant lesson from it, but I again ask that you read it. My story may not inspire you, and I forgive you for that. I know that you aren't me, but that's not a good reason to ignore it. You know why I insist? So that you get the courage to tell your own story that I think is more inspiring than mine. You don't need to become a politician, celebrity, hero, or saint to be able to tell your story because every story is worth listening to, and learning from.