Zimbabwe is an exciting country to watch, albeit from a distance. People come from nowhere to make news headlines on things that do not really matter.
Develop me: Tapiwa Gomo
Just a week or so ago, Zimbabwe People First leader, Joice Mujuru fired her close allies for betrayal before revealing later that those she fired wanted her to be the “queen bee”, whose honey they wished to sample.
Where are our gender activists to defend our female politicians?
Now the “queen bee” narrative became the central theme in Buhera, where the First Lady Grade Mugabe took it to another detailed level.
I shall not say more. Even when we thought the Olinda-Stunner show was over, she had other ideas. Unscripted as it may be, she has drawn a huge following to her live Facebook videos.
Enough of the drama queens, let us focus on the challenges faced by our left-handed counterparts.
Left-handed people make up approximately 10% of the world’s population.
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They are generally viewed differently, but very few attempts have been made to address challenges they face in a right-handed world.
It is not scientifically known why some people are left-handed, but some studies suggest that genes are responsible for about 25% of the cases, even though it is not considered to be a trait that runs in the family.
Other studies suggest that left-handedness is more common in twins.
Human kind has evolved and civilised from viewing left-handedness as a sign of bad things, to our times, where they are embraced and sometimes seen as smarter, have a higher intelligence quotient (IQ) and are more creative than right-handed people.
Whether imagined or proven, these attributes, in most cases, fail to productively materialise because this world is generally made for right-handed people, with limited or no care for the left-handed people.
In fact, in many cases, left-handed people are forced to change to right hand at early stages of their lives.
For those who manage to escape family and social pressure to switch from left to right, life in this right-handed world is not easy, but tiring and painful.
Something as simple as writing, is one of the challenges they have learnt to live with.
Where right-handed people drag the pen behind from left to the right of the page, for left handers, it is the opposite.
The left hand pushes the pen to the right, messing up their left hand in the process and page, as the left hand trails through the wet ink, sometimes making the writing illegible.
Writing on a new page in a binder is another nightmare. They have to lift their hands considerable higher to navigate the binder until they are half-way through the line and that is very uncomfortable.
And this may affect school performance for children.
Only cell phones and computers have been able to help left-handed people navigate these challenges.
Even so, not all technology has made it easy for the left-handers.
Most left-handed children face challenges when using the remote controls and joysticks for games as they too, are made for right-hand people.
Left-handers clicks are opposite, a right-click is a left-click and a left-click is a right-click. Some children learn to accommodate that at an early stage.
There are several other tools that just make their life miserable.
Opening or closing a zip or tying shoe laces are not as easy as right-handed people imagine.
Using simple tools like scissors or sickle is a nightmare, as these tools are designed for right-handed people.
Take for instance, a scissors is made in such a way that blades push slightly and tightly together for a sharper and straight cut of an object.
When the same is applied by left-handers, the blades actually open up instead of tightening, creating a gap and making the whole cutting exercise difficult and messy.
Banks, post offices and most service institutions are designed for right-handed people.
When you walk into the counter or sit at that consultant’s desk, the entire set up is such that the table and the pens on chains are on the right.
Left-handers have to excuse themselves and find a convenient place to fill in and sign papers.
The feeling of being different is even more horrible when they go for dinner with right-handed people.
Where everyone is using their right hand with their left hands rested, left-handers will be elbowing the right-handed sitting on their left-side as they try to eat.
There are so many other tools that they struggle with. For instance, guitars are a big challenge, unless they have learnt to use both hands.
Golf clubs, hockey sticks, baseball and cricket gloves, several other equipment make it either difficult or impossible for left-handed people to participate.
However, left-handed people have an advantage over the right-handed when it comes to one-on-one sports like tennis and boxing as right-handers are not naturally trained to effectively anticipate attacks from the left.
Tapiwa Gomo is a development consultant based in Pretoria, South Africa
