Writers International Network Zimbabwe: WIN Newsletter, Issue No 88

EDITORIAL

Our inspiration:The late great writer Yvonne VERA

We welcome you to our 88^th newsletter, hoping that you are all fine. WIN will continue to use ICT to advance its passion, hence our planned poetry magazine is slowly taking shape. It consists of poems being shared by members on the official WIN WhatsApp Group platform. We love you all and please enjoy.

MUCHURI IS MUNYORI’S SHONA EDITOR

Tinashe Muchuri (above), also known as Mutumwapavi in the poetry performance circles, is unstoppable. His blog, Mudara raTinashe Muchuri, is a place where you can cherish the beauty of our mother language. No doubt Muchuri is gifted. He has gone a step further from writing to editing. Recently, an online journal Munyori Literary Journal, took Muchuri on board as its editor for submissions in Shona language. What’s more, the ‘Chigaro’ poet has proved Shona is his forte a Shona poetry anthology he edited titled Dzinonyandura has been selected as an Advanced Level Shona literature (Section B) set-book. Those who wish to submit their Shona material for the Munyori Literary Journal can email editor@munyori.com.

Ndipo Powoti Ndikumirire

Na Tinashe Muchuri

Ndiri kutotizawo zviri kundimhanyisa
iwe woti ndikumirire
ndiwanikwe ndiri pano ndimire
asi hauna zviriyo shure kwako
zvakatakura zvinotyisa nokuvhundutsa
kana kuti hauna nzeve dzokunzwa mutsindo
wazvo zvinokutevera uchifamba
kana paya paunomhanya
pamwe gotsi rako rakasiyana nerangu
kunzwa kurema kweamira mugotsi
usandimise mhanya newe
usazowanikidzwa umire ndapfuura
unokara kuzotendeka matsimba
kana iro gwara randatora
usandimise siya ndimhanyeyo

(Taken from his blog Mudara raTinashe Muchuri and published here with permission)

A LOOK AT ‘MOMBE YAMAI’

With

Supa Mafuta (WIN Epworth Branch)

Mombe YaMai (Bhabhu Books) written by Chenjerai Mazambani is a 2015 National Arts Merit Awards nominated children’s book. The story is about a young boy Tanatswa who is very curious to know why one of their cows named Roora behaves the way it does. The story is set in the village and revolves around Roora which bears such a name because it was brought as part of the bride-price (roora). The author uses the cow to teach children about the behavior of a cow that is about to bring into the world a calf. Roora is always isolated when grazing, the reason why Tanatswa’s father tied a bell around its neck. The bell serves to easily track down Roora in the event that it gets lost.

Mazambani has a good command of the Shona language from which children will learn a great deal about cows and the traditional relationship between them and humans. The smooth flow of the story is supported by illustrations done by Kudakwashe Chuma. The story has a limited number of characters which in my opinion is appropriate for children. Mombe YaMai will play a great role in teaching children of today something about the traditional wisdom which was used long time ago by our elders to communicate with their beasts.

AM Tales - APRIL- MAY TALENT SEARCH

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YOUTH PERSPECTIVE

With

Mimi Machakaire

The Process of Finding a Job

Towards the end of high school we are pressured with the thought that at some point or another we have to find a job. Especially one that suits your qualifications for the position in life you would like to become. We go to counselors, teachers, parents and many more adult figures who can tell us what we’re good at depending on what our mind-set is.

The fortunate few who have figured out what they want are at times told they can’t do what they say they can do. For instance, let’s say a child would like to become a journalist and they go to their teacher with this information but the teacher tells them that they are not performing well in English and maybe they should try an alternative. That is very discouraging to say the least because those types of kids will have their mind set on that one thing and finding an alternative is not an option. They will go through every possible solution before admitting defeat. Once they have that goal in mind, the steps to achieving it will come and they know it won’t be easy but they are willing to take the risk.

For the ones who are still lost they will sadly make more mistakes along the way. They will go through school thinking “I have to find a job that makes money” instead of thinking “I want to find a job that will pay and make me happy.” They might even go to college wanting to study law knowing that they will eventually make money and with that they will spend more than half of their lives studying something that they’re not even passionate about, only to realize their true desire later on in life and become conscious of the fact that they wasted all that time (and school fees) studying the wrong thing. After which they will try their best at attempting to find the path that they were supposed to be walking on all this time.

For those lucky ones who know what they want to be and they are actually good at it, they are given higher expectations. They actually have the most pressure because sometimes the moment they slip some adult figures will wonder what happened and scold them for being “lazy” and that might make them lose their hope. Nonetheless that little moment of doubt will only be but a phase. They will find a way to get back up again and they will still work that much harder towards success.

Finding the perfect career is not that simple for all of us. People are different and from what I’ve seen most of the older generation can’t seem to accept that it takes a bit longer for some kids to understand who they are as an adult and what they would like to become. The process of finding a job that suits ones needs is a long and winding road that is covered in many pot holes. Knowing how to dodge those pot holes is another story but once we have finally discovered who we are it would have been well worth the wait. When we look back at the mission impossible task we thought we’d never reach one statement will always come to mind…….“I struggled but I did my hustle and here I am today.”

CONGRATS TO MEMORY CHIRERE

Magdalena Pfalgraf who is translating Memory Chirere's Shona collection into German

NAMA Award-winning Shona poetry collection Bhuku Risina Basa Nokuti Rakanyorwa Masikati will soon be available in German, says the author Memory Chirere on his blog. It will be called 'Ein unnützes Buch, es wurde tagsüber geschrieben'. Chirere also gave us a taste of the German version of one of his poems called 'Muna Leopold Takawira'. To celebrate this achievement of Shona language and Chirere's writing, we publish the poem in both German (taken from his blog) and Shona languages below (courtesy of Chirere).

Auf der Leopold Takawira Straße

Ich war auf der Leopold Takawira unterwegs,

auf der Suche nach einem Paar bezahlbarer Schuhe.

Da sah ich diesen riesigen Polizisten,

er führte einen mageren Jungen in Handschellen davon.

So ein kleiner Taschendieb, dachte ich.

Mir gefielen die roten Augen des Jungen nicht,

und auch nicht die langen Hosen,

die bis zu seinen Schuhen mit den schiefen Sohlen gingen.

Aber ich schaute mir trotzdem die Handschellen an, denn

„Ich hasse, was den blinden Impuls des Menschen stört.“

Und: