×
NewsDay

AMH is an independent media house free from political ties or outside influence. We have four newspapers: The Zimbabwe Independent, a business weekly published every Friday, The Standard, a weekly published every Sunday, and Southern and NewsDay, our daily newspapers. Each has an online edition.

Surviving life’s harsh conditions

News
“IT is not whether you get knocked down, it is whether you get up,” once articulated Vince Lombard.

“IT is not whether you get knocked down, it is whether you get up,” once articulated Vince Lombard.

BY STEVE NYAMBE

Life is filled with situations that aim to drown your vision and this could stop you from achieving your dream.

In most cases, very few people will lift you up, while most will be there to drag you down.

That’s what life is. It is a continuous battle. It is a rigorous fight.

Life is like a race taking place in a grand arena that is filled with spectators and participants.

Many times, it is the spectators, who tend to say a lot, while at the same time contributing nothing to the game.

And that’s what spectators do.

They have a lot to say and little to give.

The game of life

Life is not a stroll in a blooming park.

Life can delight and demoralise you at the same time.

Life will throw disturbing hiccups on your journey to success.

There will be hindrances and disturbances.

If you were to ask the biblical David, he would have defined it as a war, as he was a true-life warrior.

On the other hand, if Job was to be asked, he would have summarised it as a game that calls for a full bag of endurance.

Life is a different game to different people.

In some cases, it is like blowing wind.

Remember the wind does not blow in one direction.

It changes.

No matter how terrible things may be, you have the capacity to overcome. You can turn around your life.

The miracle of Andes

In late 1972, the world witnessed a miracle, which is now known as the Andes flight disaster or simply the miracle of Andes.

Uruguayan air force flight 571, which was carrying 45 people including a rugby union team, friends and their families, crashed in the remote Andes in the early spring on October 13, 1972.

Twenty-seven people survived the crash, but eight were killed by an avalanche that swept over the wreckage.

Sometimes, when disaster hits, it may cause you to feel and assume that there is no way out.

It might appear like all doors have been closed and windows have been shuttered.

However, never forget that when one door closes, another opens.

When it opens, it opens wide.

“There hath no temptation taken you, but such as common to man; but God is faithful, He will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that ye may be able to bear,” as apostle Paul once taught the Corinthians.

That teaching is still valid today.

The rescue day

Exactly 72 days after this horrific accident, the survivors were rescued on December 23, 1972.

Their situation was pathetic, but they survived the harsh conditions.

The survivors

These survivors had to live on little food, with no source of heat at 11 800 feet altitude.

Faced with starvation and radio news reports that the search for them had been abandoned, the survivors had to feed on the bodies of dead passengers.

Among the survivors, who dared not to give up, was Nando Parrado, who soldiered on and sought help with another passenger until they got it.

They were assisted by a Chilean, Sergio Catalan, who gave them food and alerted the authorities of the existence of the survivors.