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Henry Olonga - Blood, Sweat and Treason: My Story

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Blood, Sweat and Treason: My Story
Author:
Henry Olonga
Publisher:
Vision Sports Publishing
Genre:
Books / Religion
Year:
2010
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Sports book meets real-life thriller in this sensational autobiography of Zimbabwes first ever-black cricketer. Blood, Sweat And Treason tells the story of Olongas childhood against a backdrop of revolution, independence and a country that gradually spiralled out of control. He talks of his growing realisation that Mugabe headed up a murderous regime and how he sacrificed his comfortable position as an international sportsman to try to make a difference. Now living in exile In England, branded a traitor in his homeland and stripped of his Zimbabwean citizenship, Olonga tells his extraordinary story in detail for the first time. Not just the famous protest but his early cricketing career in a rapidly changing Zimbabwe, the terrifying experience when he was car-jacked in Harare and his two year dispute with his Zimbabwe team-mates after a row about racism in the dressing room. He reveals all about his lesser known singing career he has topped the charts in Zimbabwe and recently recorded an album in the UK his love for drama, art and photography, his career with the famous Lashings World XI cricket team and the faith that has kept him strong through all this. Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year 2010.

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BLOOD, SWEATAND TREASONMY STORYHENRY OLONGA

Published by Vision Sports Publishing in 2010

Vision Sports Publishing

19-23 High Street

Kingston upon Thames

Surrey

KT1 1LL

www.visionsp.co.uk

Epub ISBN 978-1907637-03-2

Book ISBN 978-1905326-81-5

Henry Olonga and Derek Clements

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise, without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP record for this book is available from the British library

Editor: Jim Drewett

Design: Neal Cobourne

Copy editing: Ian Turner

Cover photography: Getty Images

Back cover photography: Reuters

Typeset by Palimpsest Book Production Limited, Falkirk, Stirlingshire

To all the peace-loving Zimbabweans who yearn for a better life.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

M y first thanks go to my God as I have been sustained in great times of trouble.

My thanks go to my wife, Tara, who has had to endured living with a man with so much baggage. Your support is invaluable and thank you for your patience, love and understanding.

Thanks especially go to my parents who made amazing sacrifices to enrich my life and the lives of my brothers and sisters, to my siblings and innumerable relatives scattered across the globe who have been a tremendous support through my lifes ups and downs and to the numerous friends, old and new, that I have made over this brief lifetime thank you for being there. You are all too numerous to mention, especially those on Facebook. Thank you, particularly to those that have been kind enough to forgive me for the times when I have needed grace.

Thanks to all in the Zimbabwe cricket fraternity who continued to take a chance on me even after my disastrous start. Although things ended up somewhat acrimoniously I will always be grateful that so many people gave of their time and resources for my development.

Thanks to the teammates who I played with over the years with whom I had tremendous success and also shared bitter disappointment. As we all came to know, professional sport can be exceedingly cruel but also tremendously rewarding and I am grateful that many of you were willing to share both sides of the coin with me. We bled, sweat and cried with each other, and it was great.

Thanks also must go to all my teachers in the various schools I attended for they have truly shaped me into the man I am. Thanks also to all the former schoolmates who, to this day, I still keep in touch with. I will soldier on in the words of Plumtree Schools motto, Ad definitum finem (To a definite end).

Thankyou to everyone who has ever shown me any form of kindness whether it be accommodation, a kind word, sharing a meal or buying me an air ticket. I will always remember and endeavour to pass it along.

I would also like to thank the many people who have made this book a possibility. The publishers VSP for taking a chance on me and Derek Clements who worked tirelessly to help me tell my story. There are so many other nameless and faceless individuals to whom I am indebted and if I fail to mention any person or group of people please accept this general thankyou.

Finally to the many passionate and patriotic Zimbabweans out there, thankyou for your love and support and I pray that one day, when the dust has cleared, all Zimbabweans irrespective of colour, creed or tribe will truly be able to call this land Our Zimbabwe. This book is dedicated to anyone who loves the fabulous country that made me who I am.

Thank you the reader for picking this book up, God bless you and I hope you enjoy the story of my life.

Henry Olonga, June 2010

FOREWORD

BY HENRY BLOFELD

I n the grasping age in which we live where money and naked power are everything, it is rare to come across a man who is driven by principle alone and even in the most unenviable of circumstances of life and death. This is why it is such a joy for me to be asked to write a foreword to Henry Olongas autobiography. It must and should be stated in the baldest terms that Henry is a black man who was born and reared under Robert Mugabes murderous and despicable regime in Zimbabwe and had the guts to stand up and be counted in his opposition to all that goes on in that country.

He was a young man with great talents. The most obvious were an ability to play cricket and to bowl fast which is not given to that many and a singing voice which, when you catch a snatch or two, will have you wondering whether it is Luciano Pavarotti or Placido Domingo who is lurking round the next corner. Even in Mugabes Zimbabwe, the world was at Henry Olongas feet.

As a young man he was playing cricket for Zimbabwe with a cricketing future which beckoned with impressive certainty. But Olonga was unable to stomach the atrocities which were being carried out on a daily basis by Mugabes henchman in his own beloved country. Many of his fellow countrymen disapproved, but were content to stand by and watch. Not Olonga. In 2003 he showed his hand when in Zimbabwes first World Cup match, against Namibia, he took the field wearing a black armband in protest at the murders, the pillaging, the raping, the stealing of property which was going on all around him and all the other atrocities. He stood admirably with Andy Flower who would later become Englands highly successful cricket coach.

This was a shot across the bows for Mugabe and Olonga was forced to leave the country within a few weeks and was almost certainly lucky to escape with his life. The stakes were that high. With a little bit of help from his friends he found his way to England.

My own involvement with Olonga began shortly afterwards when he joined the Test Match Special commentary team for the series against Zimbabwe. I immediately found out that Olonga was not only a man of great and unchanging principle, but also a man with a splendid sense of humour and does anything do more to help you through moments of severe personal crisis more than a sense of humour? huge common sense, a beguiling and attractive way with words and a great knowledge of the game of cricket. He was that rare thing: a balanced human being,

His progress since then has been remarkable. He would be the first to admit that he has been helped considerably by David Folb who had the genius to found the Lashings World XI which plays cricket all round the country and also in other parts of the world where former and some current Test cricketers are unlikely ever to be seen. Olonga has been important to Folb too, not least in his magnificent singing of Nessun Dorma and other songs during the lunch interval or protracted breaks for rain.

This is a book which must be read. It tells an extraordinary story about one mans beliefs and how he has acted upon them in a way which should be an inspiration to all of us.

We must not forget, too, the huge help and inspiration that Henry himself has been given by his beautiful Australian wife, Tara. Theirs has truly been a team effort.

Henry Blofeld, June 2010

Me as a five-year-old in Nairobi Dad relaxing in the garden in Bulawayo - photo 1

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