EDITORIAL
Memories: The unforgettable
2011 WIN Writers’ End of Year Get Together held at the Book Café in Harare. The
photo shows (From L to R) writers Clever Kavenga, Mashingaidze Gomo and Lexta
Mafumhe Mutasa. One thing amazing with this photo is Tinashe Muchuri’s 'Chibarabada' manuscript in the hands of
Lexta Mutasa (far right). In 2011, Muchuri was still perfecting it and the
novel was published last year by Bhabhu Books. We value such temerity and
patience!
Welcome, welcome, you all to our
98th newsletter. It really has been a while since we published the
WIN Newsletter. However, we are glad it’s now here at last! One of our
principal values is to be gender-sensitive and we think we are driving smoothly
in ensuring that we keep to our values and through all our programmes also, to push
for a better, girl-child/woman friendly society. In this latest issue, you will
enjoy motivational, piercing and educational pieces by young female members of
WIN whom we believe will, by practice, diversify their writings into poetry,
short stories and novels. Meanwhile, we are, with your support, moving on,
fighting on, and dreaming on knowing very well we will get there, by His grace,
surely. We love you all, please, enjoy!
2016
ZIBF AROUND THE CORNER!
Some pupils at the 2014 ZIBF Children's Reading Tent
Theme: “Igniting Interest in Reading for
Sustainable Development”
Dates: 27 July 2016 – Open to Traders Only
28 July to 30 July 2016 – Open to Students and
the Public
Time: 10am – 5pm
Venue: HARARE GARDENS
For
more information, contact:
ZIBFA
Head Office, Tel: +263 4 702104/8 or 702 129
In his column ‘Bookshelf’ in The Herald, Beaven Tapureta reflects on
writer-based events at the ZIBF. Enjoy it Here.
A POET
IN LOVE –MADUWA’S WEDDING
(WIN
Online Correspondent)
Well
Done ‘African Kid’: The newly-weds Tendai Maduwa aka The African Kid and his
beloved wife Nobuhle Dube Maduwa
There is wide coverage of
our Zimdancehall musicians’ birthday bashes and wedding ceremonies in the local
media but a poet’s or writer’s birthday or wedding ceremony scarcely gets
noticed. Is it because poets or writers are private or shy individuals when it
comes to such events?
Tendai Maduwa has told a
different story, showing that poets, like any artist, marry! Although he is poetically
‘married’ to his language (his published poetry collection is titled Marry My Language), he has now gone
beyond words and decided to lead by example.
On May 28 this year,
Maduwa tied the knot with his beloved Nobuhle Dube Maduwa at Botanical Gardens
in Glen Forest. It was a blessed afternoon and hopefully, we will hear echoes
of it in poetry from the African Kid himself!
Poetry and music by
Maduwa’s friends who included Tinashe ‘Mutumwapavi’ Muchuri , Lexta Mafumhe
Mutasa, Sani Makhalima and Munyaradzi Nyamarebvu, were harmonies celebrating the
newly-weds.
Asked if he would have
performed at his own wedding had someone requested him, Maduwa said poetry is
his life but to perform in front of his in-laws would have been a challenging
task! However, he said his in-laws believe in his art as they once asked him to
perform when he visited them to pay his lobola
for his dear wife. Although he did not perform at the ‘lobola ceremony’, he
felt encouraged by their support.
Other writers/poets who came in support of their
fellow include writer Phillip Chidavaenzi, Stephen Chigorimbo, Charles Muzemba
(author), and Malinga Nqobile (who emceed in Ndebele while another person
emceed in Shona). The wedding was also graced by Culture Fund of Zimbabwe
Executive Director Farai Mupfunya, Member of Parliament for Mutoko South Ricky
Mawere, Director of Traffic Safety of Zimbabwe Proctor Utete and his marketing
manager Ernest Uchena.
Maduwa said that his wedding was a well programed ceremony
despite some little challenges at the start and that it is his great
achievement in life.
“The wedding was exciting. It is the greatest
achievement in my life. I also would like to thank fellow artists for the
comradeship that they showed me,” he said.
THE
YOUTH PERSPECTIVE
With
Mimi Machakaire
Internships -
They Are Harder Than They Look
Everyone who is challenged by any career
will start from the bottom and work their way up. No one starts at the top and
becomes successful in one day. What
matters is how you get to the top and what you do with your success in today’s
modern world.
It’s common that internships are usually
the way people begin their careers. However it is also how internships are
portrayed in movies that give people the wrong perspective about what happens
while you’re an intern. Internships are not always about getting your superiors
coffee and doing chores around the office. Sometimes it is but it depends on
the career you’ve chosen and what they are expecting from you. For example, I’m
studying journalism and I was given a chance to do an internship in South
Africa for a short period of time. The work I’m doing is in relation to
journalism; writing articles for the company, transcribing interviews,
conducting interviews with my fellow colleagues and other small tasks.
Sometimes if we are lucky we even get to cover events and write about the
event. While the work is demanding every person has to gain the experience they
need to progress further in life. Therefore internships become an option of how
to start one’s career because they give you a foot in the door.
As an intern you are slowly gaining the
respect you deserve from your fellow co-workers. They are seeing how much
you’ve grown or how little you’ve grown since day one. Over time if you’ve
improved you get promoted to a higher level, if you don’t improve then
sometimes you can even get fired. Being an intern is the same as having any
other job, though you are at the bottom of the food chain and some interns
don’t even get paid, all the rules still apply. Most interns are enthusiastic
and ask for more work because they understand that they still have something to
prove to the company and want to show initiative. Then there are others who
slack off because they think that because they are interns, they are exempted
from the rules. That’s a very wrong mental attitude in any situation, the best
way to move up in life is to be humble and work hard.
Internships are a great foundation to
work with in any career and can help add on more to ones resume for future
use. They also help you get in contact
with people in the industry you’ve chosen so that if you don’t like where
you’re working at least you’ve met someone else who is doing something similar
and can keep you updated should something better come along.
So don’t look down on an intern because
they are the ones who have it harder than those who are already at the top and
are trying their best to build a better career for themselves. In the end
because of their patience, perseverance and resilience they will be rewarded.
NHETEMBO
Wandikanganwa Here?
Pawaindidana
inga ndaikupindura
Senhunzi
yabatwa padandemutande inga ndaikukatanura
Usina
usavi hwesadza ndaikupa ini rangu ndotemura
Ndini
shamwari yako iya wandikanganwa here
Ko nhasi zvaita sei zvowondisema sedoto
Muziso
rako ndatove rengenya redzoto
Danda
chairo rakafanira kuiswa muchoto
Hushamwari
hwedu waizipa huyaa nhasi zvowovava sengoto
Ndini
shamwari yako iya wandikanganwa here
Chinopfumba
kunobva chimwe inga wani chindiro
Mazuva
aya apfuura inga taifara tese pamadiro
Kusataura
newe sahwira kurovesa musoro wangu pachidziro
Kunodzimba
kune wangu moyo sembama yediro
Ndini
shamwari yako iya wandikanwa here
Unoda
ndiitesei kuti undindibudise mune rino jere
Kana
dziri hope hadzichabata ndinotorara ndigere
Kurikufunga
chandakatadza munedzangu njere
Paine
chandakaresva kwauri wadii wataura zvipere
Ndini
shamwari yako iya wandikanganwa here
Nyangwe tisiri veropa tisina kuyamwa rimwe chete zamu
Ndichiri yako hama hazvina maturo tivezerane makanu
Ndaneta kurwa newe ngatichikanda pasi masanhu
Tiite zvekare tsikanditsekewo zvataive munechazuro
chikamu
Ndini shamwari yako iya wandikanganwa here
Na Themba Zvidza
VOICE
OF THE GIRL CHILD
With
Mudikani
Gondora
“We are
walking, heading towards nowhere really," these are the actual astonishing
words three street girls told me. In my very own eyes were three wasted
generations, three destroyed mothers and who knows, probably they would have
been the three next world's most greatest. Yet the dreams are now down
the gutter. What captured my attention was a small bottle of glue which
is traditionally used to fix torn shoes and other industrial products. To my
amazement, the little tube/bottle was tucked inside one of the girls' old and
dirty sweat pants. In their hands, they held dirty and empty 250ml and 500ml
milk packets, inhaling glue from the packets.
All of
this is an attempt to escape the woes of reality. The life these kids live is
lawless for no one is there to pay attention, let alone guide them. They have
to hustle for glue and food daily. Don't they have homes? What drives
them to the streets?
These
kids have become social misfits in our society. They have become people
you do not want to hear about or even have around you. Yet our blurred inner
sight and foggy minds toward these kids is biased and is of hate. We have led
them into the streets, yet we shun them now. The distaste we have for
these kids will surely boomerang at us one day. The street kids’ predicament is
everyone’s responsibility because one day yours could be roaming the streets also.
The attitude we have for these children is an effective catalyst for the
downfall of every precious kid. The very same conditions that led these poor
kids into the streets can also visit your family.
Instead
of painting them black and acting blindly towards issues around them, refocus
and see deeper than just dirty stubborn kids.
At some point the kids had a family or at least a place to call ‘home’. However,
owing to poverty and its results, some negative developments came to be and
have contributed largely towards this mishap. Poverty and its attributes are
only but material factors. There are however other non-tangible factors that
largely contribute and these include love, trust and knowledge. There is no
involvement of riches to give these (love, trust and knowledge) to your
children or even the ones that are not yours. Most parents and guardians
stagger and fall by the wayside when it comes upholding those three
crucial factors.
I have
realized, and therefore concluded, that poverty is actually the least of the
reasons why we have the kids in our streets. Children require security.
This security is however breached and nullified when your supposed guardian
is the one that sexually abuses you and if you try to object or speak out no
one within your family believes you at all. They all favour the
breadwinning perpetrator, therefore running into the streets is the only option
your limited mind tells you to do. You seek solace in streets because you lack knowledge,
love and security. Why am i making you a street kid? I want you to try and
fit in their shoes and think outside your little box. Love is not just
infatuation and love should not only be professed. Love should be
practical and alive. It should make you love unconditionally and make you
love those that are unlovable. It should make you see imperfections and try to
work and improve them. Love is when you see the world differently by seeing
the good that's buried beneath social barriers and prejudices.
The same way they neglected them is not different from the way you treat
them and undoubtedly is the way you are going to treat your own precious children.
Pathetic as it sound yet carrying a lot of gravity, your children are on
their way. For every negative sentiment there is indeed a supporting
dramatic scene. Change the way you view these unfortunate kids today and
you may even save your own child from falling into the same net. Take time
to talk to these Harare streets children and you might make a difference
in their lives. If you break those self-centered walls of your heart and
allow it to explore, it will change a life. Maya Angelou said “People will
forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will
not forget how you made them feel." Change a life and make a heart
feel better.
I was disturbed to see wasted lives and shattered dreams. I was devastated by
their oblivion and i therefore questioned my knowledge if it was really
worth it. Was it helping another and was it for the betterment of humanity?
Was I just being overzealous of situations that could never be transformed? The
fact that everyone seemed to be minding their own business,
that’s purely nonsense! Was I invading a territory with no ownership upfront
yet still more dreaded? Were my ambitions threatening, threatening my very
being? Am I hastily losing my emotional grip or am I now seeing clearly the
pain they succumb? Maybe I’m being an emotions softie. Whatever I’m becoming
I love it and owe it to these three girls in the streets. They have opened my
eyes further and may theirs one day be opened. I however deeply desire yours be
opened first.
WRITING
COMPETITIONS
Zimbabwean author Brian Chikwava (center) enjoys the Wasafiri journal with colleagues
Wasafiri
New Writing Prize 2016
How to Enter
The Competition
is open to anyone who has not published a complete book in the category
entered. Submissions in one of the following categories are welcome: Poetry,
Fiction and Life Writing.
Simply fill in
the entry form and send it to us with your entry and fee of UK Sterling £6.00
if entering one category, £10.00 for two and £15.00 for three categories
(please see terms and conditions).
The closing date
is 5.00pm GMT on 15 July 2016. Entrants who are visually impaired or who are
prevented from typing through disability can enter their work on audio CD.
Prizes
£300 will be
awarded to the winner in each category and the work will be published in
Wasafiri.
Entry Form
For the terms and
conditions and more information, please visit above-mentioned Wasafiri website.
Message
from WIN-Zimbabwe
Please
note that Writers International Network Zimbabwe (WIN-Zim) has some entry forms
for those in Harare who want to enter the competition. WIN-Zim Contact:
winzimbabwe@gmail.com
GET
INSPIRED
With
Mercy Mutingwende
The
Power of Confidence
From the day I became a grown up child, I craved for
confidence but I could not find it. I looked for it in the skies, on this
earth, underneath rivers, on top of mountains, North and South, East and West
but I couldn’t find it because it was hidden inside of me.
The route which leads to success was already stored
inside me, the fire was within but not yet kindled. I never knew this small
sparkle can grow into a huge burning fire and that the little star can shine
brighter like diamonds in the sky. I never knew that this small sword of mine
can lead me to a victorious life until the day I decided to look within my
territory, my environment, my heart.
We possess a heart that carries heritages and virtues
within. This realization made me believe that the real world is not in things
but within us. We should learn not to despise small things.
Confidence is the fire that needs to be kindled now
and again. It is the way to success, an enjoyable life. Without it we have no
hope and without hope we have no life! Be confident with everything you do,
could be writing that novel, that short story or collection of poems. Believe
in yourself, in your gift and trust God in your decisions and choices.
At times it takes many years for someone to be hero or
what he/she wants to be but truth is, never throw away your confidence.
Confidence keeps your dream alive and makes you stronger each day.
Where there is no confidence there is pain, sorrow,
failure and defeat which invite wickedness and stupidity. Without confidence
you will always be a loser, you will always bow down to others, you will become
history instead of being a mystery. Cast not away your confidence.
Confidence is the weapon that makes your enemies
tremble. Faith in yourself brings provision out of your vision and makes you a
real person. Without it you are like a house without a foundation, a house
which can be brought down to dust or easily destroyed.
Victory is not in the sword but in that which is
within you, the real world inside of you. To reveal your greatness to the
world, have confidence. Yes, it lives right inside you!
FRESH FROM THE
COOKING POT
(WIN Online
Correspondent)
In any troubled situation young people are
at risk of being influenced into all sorts of immoral behaviour. Culture is
distorted, education forgotten, and the actual attitude needed for success is
eroded.
Given this background, it is worthwhile
for writers (and concerned parties) to address these societal evils in a manner
that can be easily consumed by young people. Those following the column
‘Bookshelf’ which comes out every Wednesday in local daily The Herald will remember the columnist observing that books that mainly
give advice to young people (and adults) are being published at a frequency not
witnessed before.
Recent publications in this genre
targeting the youths are The Source:
Wisdom for Young People (2016, New Heritage Press) by Stella Chegovo and Virtues
of the Boy Child (2016, Forteworx Press) by social worker CJ Milton. Both
books are Christian and seem to be interlinked.
The Source, edited by another prolific
writer and Pastor Phillip Kundeni Chidavaenzi, has metaphorical appendages
which make its message sink deeply in the reader’s mind.
To urge youths to stick to the Word of
God, Chegovo uses an example of a bream which cannot exist out of water in as
much the same way a Christian cannot exist without the Word. She pities hypocritical youths who engage in
evil activities and yet come Sunday, they are the ushers and youth leaders.
“The majority of today’s young believers
are like fish out of water because their souls are dead to Christ as they spend
a lot of time in worldly pursuits,” writes the author.
Chegovo also talks about the invisible,
evil, spiritual backbones which were “planted in us before we were born and at
the time of our birth as well as when we were growing up.” To break these
backbones which lead to failure, the author provides powerful prayer points to
follow.
Teenage girls are advised to value their
bodies and pursue their dreams whilst they are young. In the chapter about
‘Biology’, the author expresses concern at early marriages. Youths, despite
their bodily changes, should not lose the spiritual guidance which comes from
the Bible, particularly from the stories of Abraham and Sarah, Zachariah and
Elizabeth as well as Hannah who waited for God’s time.
As hinted before, where there is
hardship, teenagers are devil’s easy targets and hence the networks which the
youths create around them with the hope of making their lives easy also
contribute to their downfall. The author highlights various issues in other
chapters such as the covenant which one should enter into with God, need for control
when expending one’s money and/or life, need for laying out a strong foundation
(GOD), grooming, how and where to get proper advice about prosperity, and the God’s power which guides everything.
Milton’s book Virtues of a Boy Child is like a sequel to his other book Virtues of a Girl Child which he
published in the past. As a social worker, Milton’s experience with young
people has led him to understand why the youths need advice, and need it
desperately!
He observes that “one of the problems in
today’s society is bad behaviour amongst men who perhaps have not been taught
of good morals in their childhood or have succumbed to peer-pressure in an
effort to appear cool or become popular”.
Chapters that make up Milton’s latest
booklet deal with issues such as ‘Self-Control’, ‘Obedience’, ‘Truthfulness’,
‘Case of Ananias and Sapphira’, ‘Self Respect’ and ‘Respect for Others’,
‘Wisdom’, ‘Virginity’ and the ‘Case of Amnon’.
In this era of advanced technology, boys
(as well as girls) are exposed to pornographic material either on the internet
or in some movies. Such exposure, according to Milton, leads to shameful habits
such as masturbation impact heavily on the boy’s future.
However, the author provides ways in
which boys can evade such temptations in the section about ‘Wisdom’. He says
boys need to have a discerning mind so that they “distinguish good from bad and
follow what is good”.
The two books are good for parents and
teachers because they can read and impart the knowledge to their teenage
children.
THANK YOU FOR READING OUR NEWSLETTER
