A Pastor friend once expressed his misgivings at the behaviour of some of the people he had gone to minister to in one of Zimbabwe’s posh suburbs.
After describing the beauty , serenity and grandeur of Heaven to the wealthy congregants and their children some of them asked him whether the Heaven he talked so vehemently about had posh cars, mansions and all the flashy things they are so used to here on earth and if these were not there then he was wasting his time because as far as they were concerned they weren’t interested in his Heaven as it fell far too short of their expectations.
I asked my Pastor friend why he hadn’t told his congregants the harsh Realities of being wealthy or famous. Being very wealthy, famous or a celeb does not stop one from experiencing life’s problems. There are incurable diseases, deaths, misunderstandings, promiscuity, divorces and all kinds of misfortunes in wealth. Actually fame, wealth and mischief are very close friends. Celebrity life styles are full of mischief because they possess the resources with which to do mischief.
There is something so humbling about HIV/AIDS, it has no discrimination and affects people from all walks of life the religious, non religious, the rich, the poor, the famous the least known in equal measure. It is like a roaring lion devouring every living thing big and small in it’s path. HIV’s first victims were the famous, celebrities and the working class who had money to make merry before it came down to the ordinary folk. One doesn’t have to be a rocket scientist to say that most of our late celebrities died of AIDS and are still dying of AIDs so many years later when everyone else is saying AIDs is a tired story and no longer Worth talking or writing about.
Fame, money and a big name makes one feel so important, untouchable and so most celebrities are so proud and arrogant that quite a lot are HIV+ but don’t want their HIV statuses known even by medical personnel and this they do to their own peril. Some even try to bribe medical people to fake their HIV+ results
to give them a false sense of hope and security.
This country has lost and continues to unnecessarily loose a lot of very young and talented artists and sportsmen to AIDs and mostly due to pride and arrogance. Quite a number of these Zimbabwean celebrities are so superstitious to the point of attributing their HIV related illnesses to witchcraft purportedly from their competitors or their jealousy friends and relatives. Instead of calling a spade a spade, get tested and embark on ART when found positive. Most go to prophets and witch doctors where they die under very miserable, deplorable and unhealthy conditions after paying lots of money .We have heard of many heart wrenching stories of how some of our celebrities have died being shuttled from one witch doctor to another undergoing unimaginable and unheard of types of treatments.
An HIV+ celeb once requested to be added to our WhatsApp group ” ” HIV Same Status” after hearing me on radio in 2021. After I had added him to our group he asked us to remove the “HIV” from the group name ?” I told him that the group was for people with HIV and there was no way we could remove the HIV and still have that group as an HIV people’s group and the next moment he had left the group. He died recently after a very long and cruel illness and your guess is as good as mine as to the cause of his death.
Many celebrities who are living with HIV don’t want their status known neither do they adhere to ART. Many suffer in silence and present a brave face in public when in actual fact they’re burning from inside. A wealthy or famous celebrity like all people with money, fame and power is very difficult to give advice to especially that which has to do with their health. People just watch and let them be even if they notice that they are wasting away health wise. Many ordinary people have done body viewing of many of these dead celebrities and the poor feel very happy and brag each time they come from burying a celeb.
Many wealthy, famous celebs live on the edge dicing with death most of the time while engaging in risky sexual behaviours all the time. Some very rich people and celebrities are so wasteful when it comes to money and most have died very lonely and poor leaving their families and relatives up to their eyeballs in debt. Girlfriends and fans of these celebrities and other rich people will never notice that their heroes have gone broke and hence will always continue tormenting and demanding monetary favours all the time leading to more problems for their hero. Most famous celebrities have died in hospitals alone with no one even their best friends or girlfriends visiting them in their last moments of great need.
My humble and most sincere advice to our wealthy celebs out there is please read this article to the end and absorb everything in it for it is a wake up call for you especially. Remember that illnesses are real ,death is real and hence these two must be treated with great respect because you will come face to face with them one day and that’s when you will realize
that you are just a mere mortal like everyone else. Be very humble in all your dealings with everyone and always pray to God for guidance and wisdom. Never forget your parents siblings and extended family relatives and friends when your fortunes are still good because they will be there for you in your last moments of great need and pain. Pray ceaselessly to God or your Ancestors depending on your inclinations and always listen to good advice and shun bootlickers like the blood suckers that they are. Never ever forget that you are a mere mortal just like everyone else and can face any of those calamities faced by ordinary folks and must learn to behave yourself always.
Meanwhile relatives and families of errant Celebs should not be blamed or misjudged when they refuse to assist in times of ill health or death mostly from AIDs because they are simply teaching other Celebs like them a good and very important lesson. Many relatives of celebrities always complain that they never enjoyed or got anything from their famous celebrity relatives during their hey days. Stories abound of parents who never got anything from their celebrity children except their corpses and medical bills for good measure. When a celebrity dies poor and of AIDS no one wants to be associated with them, infact no one wants to be close to a sick broke former celeb and this should be a wake up call to everyone myself included.
Piason Maringwa
+263774322043
