The impact of Mobile phones in the townships.

How fast mobile technology is changing! Recently we had the iPhone from Apple and even my Nokia N95 looks old. Now as Google is set to unveil the Gphone, I just thought of looking back at some stories I used to hear in the townships of Zimbabwe about cellphones (nhare mbozha).

Most of my felow Zimbabweans would remember the cell phone crazy that gripped the country around 1997 or there about. There was a lot of noise from NetOne, Econet and those annoying adverts from Telecel.

Remember the days of the BIG Nokia phone (chidhinha)! The one you needed a hand bag to carry around. My uncle had one of those. Unfortunately I couldn’t even afford that big phone at that time.
There was also another big and funny Motorolla handset, the one which once knocked out a thief in the Avenues Area in Harare. Of course it was a weapon as well as a mobile phone.
What about that orange cell phone (mango ruma wakadaro) from Telecel Zimbabwe. This was by far the most popular because it was very affordable. It was also an embarrasing mobile phone handset, one you would not show off to your friends.

Why people used to shout on top of their voices when talking on the mobiles, nobody had a clue. Some would even pretend to be talking on the phone only to be embarrased when the mobile phone start ringing.

There was also one Mr popular, he loved attention and most people I think know him. He used to move around with so many mobile phones. It was probably better or easier to use a carrier bag for all those phones.

There was also a story about this guy from Kenya, the one who used to drive nearly 400 killometres to a place where he would get mobile reception. Crazy stuff isn’t it!

Now to the mobile phone thieves, I will never forget one Kukura Kurerwa Bus driver. He managed to embarass himself because of his untrusworthiness. Instead of giving back a dropped mobile he decided to hide it in his jersey on the dashboard. The next thing the phone was ringing in his jersey.
As for the woman who stole a mobile phone in the Kombi, it’s embarassing even to explain what she did. The most embarassing thing is the place where she decided to hide the phone. I will leave it for you to guess.

Now for those people who want to be up to date with current events and show their appreciation of new technology by naming their kids after such events.
Thanks to mobile phones we now have names like Sim Card Chiluba; No Network Ndhlovu; Voicemail Banda; Samsung Lunga and Nokia Phiri only to name a few.

Sure mobile phones have had such an impact on ourlives. This was just a look on the lighter side. So, do you have any tales to tell on mobile phones. Your are free to add your views or mobile phone stories by leaving your comment.

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