WIN Newsletter, Issue No 98

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 98^th 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

Email: events@zibf.org.zw or zibfa@yahoo.com

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

Entry form is also available as a downloadable PDF or Word Doc that can be accessed from www.wasafiri.org/wasafiri-new-writing-prize.asp and can be emailed to wasafiriprize@open.ac.uk

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.

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