Final Call Editor James Muhammad interviews Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Environment and Tourism Tavaya L. Pande. Mr. Pande met the delegation upon their arrival at the airport in Harare. (Photo: Monica Morgan)

Several months ago, during the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s Peace Mission to the Middle East and Africa, the Nation of Islam leader promised Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe that he’d send a team of Black doctors and reporters from the United States to Zimbabwe on fact finding missions. The purpose of the mission would be to explore the exploding land resettlement controversy and the deadly impact AIDS has had on the people of the country.

It was during that same trip that Nation of Islam International Representative Akbar Muhammad told Mr. Nhema that "I’m coming back and I’m coming back like a ton of bricks."

"Tonight is a special night for us," Mr. Nhema told a crowd of guests during a special reception for the press delegation that interrupted his busy schedule as host of an international tourism and trade fair in the country.

"I have a gentleman here who promised me and that promise has been fulfilled," he said of Min. Muhammad.

Mr. Nhema said his meeting with Min. Muhammad at the time wasn’t the best of meetings. The minister of tourism said he had become somewhat disenchanted by promises made by visitors, particularly Black Americans, who don’t always follow through on the great discussions and agreements aimed to help this struggling nation.

"As you can see I’m overwhelmed by this occasion for I believe that this bridge we are building will last forever. You had to come here, you had to come and kiss the ground. This is yours, and yours to keep," he told the delegation.

Expressing that he was humbled by Mr. Nhema’s words, Min. Muhammad compared the return of Black Americans to Zimbabwe to the biblical parable of Joseph, who was sold into bondage by his brothers. While in bondage in a powerful land, Joseph learned a lot and emerged with the keys to the grainery, Min. Akbar explained.

Press delegation visit Heroes Acre Museum (Photo: Monica Morgan)

"When there was famine in the land of his brothers and sisters, he went home to offer what he had," Min. Muhammad said.

While in America, Blacks have been exposed to the learning of the greatest civilization in the world, he said. There’s no aspect of knowledge and technology that we have not been exposed to, he said.

"But we came to ourselves, and when there was famine in the home of our father and our brothers, we went home to offer what we had, and they would offer us what they had that we had missed for nearly 400 years. And that’s the cultural nuances of Africa, the feel of Africa, the warmth of Africa," he said.

Min. Muhammad acknowledged the presence in the country of Nation of Islam Minister of Health Abdul Alim Muhammad and Dr. Gregory Muhammad of Phoenix, Ariz., who are an advance team for a planned team of doctors who will visit to address health issues in Zimbabwe, particularly AIDS.

Min. Akbar Muhammad also announced that plans were being developed to bring a delegation of Black farmers from America to Zimbabwe to assist resettled Black farmers and establish international links for food distribution.

At the conclusion of the program, Min. Akbar Muhammad and Rev. Al Sampson of Chicago, who accompanied Min. Farrakhan on the Peace Mission visit, presented Mr. Nhema with a Bible translated by Black religious scholars with commentary from an Afro-centric perspective.