UK based Zim businessman battled suicide, lost everything twice but is now back on his feet
By Maynard Manyowa
At first glance, Devonshire Green does not look like a place you would find a story, let alone one with a strong if not immortal Zimbabwean connection. The park, a hundred odd meters away from Sheffield’s Council City Hall, in South Yorkshire has everything British but precious little to do with Africa.
It has a skate park, something quite alien to the Southern African country, and not in a bad way either. In the world of track, Zimbabwe is probably more BMX than skateboard, much like some countries are more Ice Hockey than Cricket!
Yet, the park carries an inspirational story of ‘rock bottom to top’ that mimics a pendulum in reverse. The story, incredibly, involves a motivated Zimbabwean migrant who landed in England when Princess Diana was still alive, and has been knocked down twice, both times to the brink of death, yet somehow, found his way back.
Gambinga Gambinga, 43, does not immediately strike you, or anybody for that matter, as a man with a story. Somewhere north of 6ft tall, the Rastafarian has bright white eyes, long braided locks, and charcoal like skin.
But, Gambinga Gambinga and Devonshire Green have a colourful, yet simultaneously worrying history. Gambinga, a creative designer and businessman landed in England in 1997, but immediately fell into some problems. A first generation migrant, and also a first born, he battled black tax, guilt, and eventually mental illness.