The women besides the driver

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU

Jess Watson cruised to the ramp of the 2012 Toyota Challenge Rally together with his co-driver, wife Sasha in a first couple victory in 32-years.

Sasha one of the women participants in this year’s showcase was pleased to have been the woman besides the victorious man, Jess, to champion the three-day competition in a time of 2 hours 40 minutes 17 seconds.

“Initially that (being in motorsport) was not my choice, it was my husband’s and I decided to follow in his footsteps to support him. I have rallied with him twice so far and each time I have enjoyed it,”said Sasha.

“The race was tight at the beginning and I am happy that we managed to win, it was just unfortunate to have other good drivers pulling out after the challenges they faced.”

Bronwyn Ebrahim, wife to Ronald Parsell, was also one of the female co-drivers navigating their partners in the Challenge Rally, last weekend.

Women are generally known to have a gentle tough to almost everything they do, with most of them being critical of male drivers speeding on the road. But Sasha and Bronwyn declared they loved speed.

“I am pretty much of a adrenaline junkie by nature, I have always been. So I have always felt very safe with him (Jess).” said Sasha Watson.

Bronwyn added, “I have always loved speed, during my childhood I was the fastest on my bike and so now I want to be the fastest in the cars. I remember when I did my first motor rally experience in 2006 it was out of this world and I kept telling the driver “faster!!”

“I love our partnership (with Parsell) because he hardly ever doubts me because if the turn is right round the corner you can go maximum speed and tell him it’s about time to turn so he trusts my call, which is a good thing.”

Parsell and his 39-year-old wife, Bronwyn, who is a mother of seven, finished the competition on position six.

Mguni fights stigma to rise to the top

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU
A bad asthma attack during her childhood each time
she tried to run, like the other kids of her age, could have took charge of her life and discouraged her to be the sportsperson she wished to be growing up in
Harare’s high-density suburb of Highfield.
But neither did asthma nor eczema pulled her down
from being the person she wanted to be in life, a self motivated chief executive of the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee (ZOC). Anna Mguni ignored the bad
aspect of her health to focus more on her strengths and this has seen her emerge as the boss of the country’s Olympic Games governing board.
“I was a very sickly child suffering from asthma and
eczema to the extent that doctors said I could not do any normal activities that requires exertion. Watching other kids knowing that if ever I start running my parents will say don’t run, don’t do this, you will cough; was just bad because I really wanted to be like other kids. I spent days in hospital and
even had a near death experience, it was just bad,” she recalls.
The negative comments about her seemingly peeling skin from eczema rather encouraged her to stand for who she was inside. She did not allow people to take away the courage in her.
“I also suffered from eczema and back then I was stigmatised; people would look at me strangely and ask what was wrong with my skin and what is going on? I grew up to be so defensive on whether why I wassick or why my skin had broken out. It really toughened me into realising that
there is a border line, that (sickness) is not really important –there are more important things to life than that,” she said.
Mguni, a single mother of two girls, who was appointed as the ZOC CEO following Stanley Mutoya’s resignation last November may have faced a jittery start to her new career faced with preparations for the high profile London 2012 Olympic Games set for July, but that has not been the case.
The former national basketball team and Real Returners star acknowledges the help of her two predecessors, Mutoya and Robert Mutsauki, who have assisted with a smooth flow of information and advice. She insisted that for women to be successful and take up decision-making positions in Zimbabwe, they need not challenge men but realise that it is their support
they need.
“We are not really challenging them (men) but we need their support for more women to end take up these decision-making posts,” said Mguni.
Being a woman at the helm of one of the country’s sports board, it is tempting for some people to quickly judge her as a potential failure after the Asiagate scandal unearthed by the media proved to have been masterminded by an allegedly corrupt fellow woman, Henrietta Rushwaya.
Mguni refuses to be painted with the same dirty brush.
“I see it as a challenge, we need to assist our men get over this cultural perspective because if it was a man they would not paint every man with the same brush so why do one have to do that because it is a woman?” she questioned.
“It is a difficult system to fight but we need to work through it by education and also by just being clean in our dealings. It is up to us the women in whatever profession we are in we need to be
professional. Otherwise we lose our credibility a lot faster than they (men) do.”
She has a traceable record as a sports administrator and her passion for the field can never be questioned. She captained her basketball and hockey team at High School and the team sport has taught her to work with others and learn from their ideas.
From a tricky childhood to teaching Geography at Vulindlela Secondary school in rural Matabeleland where there was no electricity, shortage of textbooks and having to extract all notes for students, Mguni realised how she was a source of information for her students.
She is proud to have been a teacher saying the experience taught her how to deal with people and groomed her into an innovative strong woman.
For the highs and lows that characterised her life, Mguni has so many lessons to learn from it. The most important lesson being that one “may be bad in some aspect of your life but it is certainly not everything about you that is bad. So, why not focus on the good.”
Her vision goes beyond the 2012 games in London as she hopes to “go further in sports administration and follow in the footsteps of Robert Mutsauki who is now with ANOCA and Tomy Sithole who is now with the IOC.”

Source: The Zimbabwean newspaper.

Pearl Thompson: Trains like a man, looks like a goddess

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU

Tough and strong is a typical description of men in African society. But 33-year-old Pearl Thompson has proved that women can also bear that description - without giving their beauty away for it.

Watching her flex her muscles at the recent Mr and Ms Pro-Fitness bodybuilding competition, where she came second, left many women intrigued by her audacity to plunge into such a male-dominated sport.
They must have thought to themselves, “why lose my feminine beauty for a man’s bulky body, all in the name of sport?”
Most beauty pageants around the world have preached the gospel of women’s beauty as something only possessed by skinny, tall women. Muscles have no place in these sermons unless it is a men’s chapter, but Thompson has proved that there are no limitations to a woman’s beauty.
The single mother to a four-year-old girl has looked and felt more beautiful since she started lifting weights back in 2009.
“Beauty starts from within, if you feel good inside then you feel beautiful. There is no point in having a beautiful face when you feel rubbish inside and it is difficult to feel that way when the body is not functioning well inside. That is why it is important for people to go to the gym or do some form of physical activity because the happy hormones are released when you do some form of exercise,” said Thompson.
“One can still be a fat woman and feel beautiful; they don’t have to be skinny to be beautiful.”
Thompson, who was born in Zambia, lived in Zimbabwe her whole life and started weightlifting after attending an inspiring bodybuilding contest in Harare about 12 years ago.
“I started my training with Otis Goredema who noticed at that time that I had an interest in the gym, he became my personal trainer and helped me win the Ms Zim competition in 2002. For the past four years I have been training with Givemore Marume and Kenny Guwa, they have really helped me by pushing me each time,” she said.
Thompson who once weighed 75kgs feels good at her current 65kgs.
“It is mainly about eating healthy; we don’t look like the body builders seen in other countries because here we don’t take supplements that boost our bodies. We just take a diet that allows the body to look like that,” Thompson explained.
“A lot of people are surprised to know that I do bodybuilding, but it is mainly because I still look like a woman.”
Despite deciding to come into the sport as a “hobby” and competing at some contests “just to support her gym” Thompson clinched her first prize at the 2002 edition of the Ms Zimbabwe bodybuilding contest, at the age of 24.
What makes her an inspiration is her ability to juggle her roles not just as a woman in a man’s world but as a single mother. She runs an Art and Craft Academy in Harare Milton Park. Thompson spends most of her time at the school as well as visiting the gym and making sure she spends quality time with her daughter.
“Mothers are not allowed to get tired,” she said.

500 women armed with life skills

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU

MACHEKE- Kunzwana Women’s Association (KWA) in collaboration with the British Embassy capped part of the 500 successful graduates from their Mationesa Training Centre in Macheke, last week as they continue to empower the unemployed rural woman with practical livelihood skills.
66 participants from the four constituencies, which included Chikomba East, Makoni North, West and South, went through various training under Kunzwana with the British Embassy funding from February to July.
According to the association’s executive director, Emmie Wade, 96 clubs were formed this year with a total number of 2 820 women attaining membership.
“It is unfortunate that at times we are actually turning women away; it is our wish to empower them all but sometimes we are limited by resources. When we went to Chikomba to recruit 66 women we found the compound filled with over 200 women who were hoping to take part. It is interesting to see how women in our country are hungry to learn,” she said.
The British Embassy second secretary Sarah Bennet added, “I used to be in the army and I know how it is like to be involved in a male dominated environment that is why I am so keen to champion women empowerment.”
“To see that we encounter poverty, we need to start appreciating women as equal partners of men. It is my hope that those graduating will one day be able to start their own businesses and generate an income for their families.”
Formed back in 1993, KWA was aimed at promoting and facilitating the social, economic and educational and cultural advancement of disadvantaged women, children and youth residing or working in farming communities.
This they have done by the establishment of effective working club networks, provision of information and training on life surviving skills such as carpentry, weaving, garment making, nutrition including organic farming, candle making, poultry, interior decoration, flower arrangements, pottery, tie and dye, food processing, shoe making, basket work among others.
This have seen many women rising from grass to being proud of their ability to contribute in providing for their families and gaining their men’s respect in recent years.
The Association began under a Mango tree at the residence of founding member Emma Mahlunge. She worked with three other women to have KWA registered and moved to the staff quarters at her house which was used as offices for four years.
The dedication of the founding team over the past 15 years has seen the Association grow to become a recognized development institution in Zimbabwe. These women volunteered and used their own resources to develop a framework that would help those less fortunate than they are.
The Founding team established club networks of not less than 10 women and not more than 30 women. These are now fully functional in Macheke, Kwekwe, Marirangwe, Tsunga, Nyamandlovu, Goromonzi and Muzurusani.
Mahlunge said, “This is meant to help women and have them help empower others. Women empowerment is wrongly interpreted by some men as a way of giving women the power to rule and disrespect them; but I encourage all women to sit down with their men and get them to sincerely understand what this is all about.”
“When we started this programme it was only targeted at women, but as we began to show progress men began to appreciate our work with some encouraging their women to join as others approached us to be members. We agreed that they will only take part in the courses but they will not take up positions within the association.”
KWA have since incorporated men within their training centers making it a bakery of empowerment for both men and women. But the majority of the participants remain the less privileged women.

Clarah Mhondo –Organic Farming; Chikomba East
I was a woman who knew I can help raise my family through farming, but my major worry was where I was going to get the money for the required fertilizers. My experience with Kunzwana’s project of organic farming wiped out all my worries when I got to learn that the unavailability of fertilizer cannot stop me from achieving what I want. It is just so amazing how I can use manure and ashes as a substitute. I am now earning up to $US65 a month from the sales of my crops and it is really something I could not get without this project. I’m always wondering where Kunzwana Women’s Association was all this time and I have no worries of any challenges that may come in future because I know they are here for us.

Future Majoni –Carpentry; Makoni South
The reason why I chose carpentry was because I just didn’t want to take up a course believed to be for women. I wanted something expected of men and prove that women can do it as well. I knew Kunzwana was here to take us out from rags to riches and I am happy that they have made a difference in my life. My first product was a chair and my husband found it difficult to believe that it was my own work that he thought I bought it somewhere. I have no worry of more visitors coming in now because I know I can make as many chairs as I want. I am proud that I can make a difference in my home and in my community.

Perpetua Mchichwa –Poultry; Makoni West
We were very backward for sure; gossiping was what we knew best before we were empowered by Kunzwana. We used to do everything that we were taught back in our communities but before this training we just didn’t do it right. We practiced poultry but we didn’t have much knowledge about it. I never knew chickens need special care and they can also suffer from stress and get sick at times. I now know everything needed to make a good environment of keeping chickens and feeding them. My colleagues and I are now busy with our various projects with no time to waste in gossiping.

Pollar Mhondoro –Garment Making; Makoni North
I can easily admit that I was very backward before attending a Garment making training at Mationesa centre with Kunzwana. Today I am a different woman all together. I know I have the power to provide my family and my community with the best clothing. My biggest dream however is to supply schools in my community with uniforms because it does not make sense to have people from where I come from travelling to Harare for their children’s school uniforms. So, if my colleagues and I can be able to work towards that we would have helped others.

Professor Hope Sadza looks beyond Zimbabwe

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU
Hope Sadza (Pictured) is on a mission to share her dream with all African women. As founder and Vice Chancellor of the Women’s University of Africa (WUA), she now wants to roll out her successful programmes beyond Zimbabwe and Zambia and in to Namibia and Malawi.


“The target now is to go through the whole of Africa and pick on the women who have been left behind,” said Sadza. She is the first woman in Africa to create a tertiary institution that allows ordinary women to advance themselves and improve their way of living.

"We call it the second opportunity university; it allows women the chance to start all over with their education. We help them achieve their dream and live a life they have always desired,” she said. WUA offers women Bachelor of Science degrees in areas of management, agriculture, entrepreneurial skills, information technology and education. The university gives a flexible schedule as women take their classes in the evening, on weekends and in block releases.

WUA has produced 1 000 graduates since its establishment in 2002. The shortest programme runs for three years with the longest taking four. It gives first preference to employed applicants aged 24 and over. The oldest student the institution has empowered so far is Tsungi Hungwe-Chimbunde, who at the age of 64 graduated after a three-year degree programme in reproductive health in 2005.

According to Sadza, students have not found problems getting employment after years of empowerment with the university. She told The Zimbabwean ***** that the expansion into Namibia and Malawi should be up and running by 2011 and 2012.

“We will sign an MOU with their universities as we have done with the University of Zambia. We propose to start with 25 students and this time these mature students will pay for themselves or can be supported by their employers,” she said.

“We currently have 20 Zambian women with us. Since we are an opportunity university accommodating married women who are also the working class with lots of responsibilities, we have given them a flexible programme that allows them to manage their social life as well. They (Zambians) are here for three months and they go back for three months. While they are in Zambia they will also be doing open distance learning with the University of Zambia, using modules prepared by WUA.”

Since there are no hostels that accommodate foreign students, the University has a house in Harare’s low density suburb of Mount Pleasant. The institution has survived on funding from African Capacity Building Foundation, with scholarships from Econet Wireless and Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Networking (ZWRCN).

African Capacity Building Foundation donated a bus to the university and has committed itself to paying tuition fees for the foreign students from Zambia. Econet funds the top 20 outstanding students, while ZWRCN caters for four of the brilliant but poor students.

“Our lecturers are committed and have a passion for working with women. Lecturers have to be people who share the same dream of empowering women because a lot of patience is needed with them.”

It is the joy she has seen in the university’s graduates during past graduation ceremonies that continues to inspire Sadza to keep working with mature women.

“When I came up with the idea of establishing a university many people asked whether as a woman I could do it. But making it this far has proved to them that it is possible not only for me as a woman but for them as well. They have come to accept that everything has a beginning,” she said.

The university has registered a total number of 1500 students. “We want to go up to 4 000 students and we need more women in areas like law and sciences, I have realized that the women who graduate become more and more hungry for education. So we have opened an MBA and Masters in Development Studies as well,” explained Sadza.

Due to the economic challenges that have faced the country in recent years, WUA have seen over 200 dropouts. “It is a sad situation that we don’t have enough scholarships, but we have tried to make it easy for our students allowing them to write the exams and pay their tuition fees on collection of their results.”

Sadza began her career as a primary school teacher, became an officer in government and ended up as a Public Service Commissioner in 1989 resigning in 2000 to open WUA. She followed her dream to attain her PhD with the University of Zimbabwe.

“Before I did my PhD, the time management was a challenge. People had suggested I go to England for my studies but I could not because I had a family to look after. Then I just thought of how many women could be in my situation,” she said.

“Women fail to get the opportunity to go to university once they get married, it is difficult for them to manage the time. But we give them education with flexible timetable. In Africa 85% of the economy is based on Agriculture and 80% of the food is produced by women. Women know how to produce food but they don’t know how to manage, process it and add value as a finished food. We want to give them the knowledge to manage business and be leaders in society.”

Sadza and WUA were awarded winner of the 2007 "Empowering Gender through Tertiary Education" Award at the International Business Women's Conference, in Washington D.C. At the Women Entrepreneurs and Achievers Network (WEAN) awards held in Lagos, Nigeria the same year; she was named Africa's most influential woman in education.

Sheila Portia Tshuma (Pictured)
Regency Casino Operations Manager, Sheila Tshuma (44), believes without the knowledge she got from the Women University in Africa she would not be where she is today.

Tshuma co-owns one of the top of the range Casinos in Zimbabwe with her husband. She was one of the pioneers of WUA, where she attained a degree in General Management in Entrepreneurial development.

“I found the programme very inspiring, the entrepreneur development programme inspires you to take up the challenge of starting your own business, you learn everything how to make a business plan and how it could fail. One of the errors some small business owners make is being everyone in their companies. You would find that in most companies the owner is the seller, the driver, the secretary and this programme just teaches one how to run a business properly by having to employ people with the right skill.

“A lot of the women we went to school with are actually running their own businesses now, I recommend that degree to anyone planning to start their own business.

“The University has given an opportunity to us mature women. When I finished my A levels I didn’t have the requirements points to go to UZ but with the opening up of the Women’s University one didn’t necessarily have to have such requirements as they only require one’s working experience.

“So I like that idea about Women University where they are saying anyone can go to University. From there on I went to Chinhoyi University to do my Masters in Strategic Management but when I compare my programme from my undergrad and postgrad, I still think I learnt more from WUA; no disrespect for Chinhoyi. It has changed my life even at a social level; you get to view everything with a critical mind.”

Tsungirirai Hungwe-Chimbunde (Pictured)
Tsungirirai Hungwe-Chimbunde (68) is a holder of BSc Honors degree in Reproductive Health and Family Sciences with Women’s University in Africa. She registered to embark in this degree at the age of 60 in 2002, the year the university was established.

She was awarded the Ndoro Shield in 2005. The Shield is awarded to the model female student who has shown the embodiment of the university values, hardworking, determination, dedication to studies and a source of inspiration to the African Women.

Chimbunde was the deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs back in 1990 and a former Deputy Minister for Health and Child Welfare.

“Anything good does not come on a silver platter, it is through determination and perseverance, which are the characteristics of an African woman,” she said.

“During our time, not many girls were accessing secondary education, let alone university education. I only enrolled for my university degree at 60. I could not do it at a tender age. Having acquired my diploma in nursing, the traditional profession for a black woman person, I got married and had three children. The marriage did not see us through our lives and we parted ways. I took responsibility to look after my three children. Then it was not easy. However, with that load I did not lose hope, deep down I had that desire to acquire a degree.

“The establishment of WUA and its target group answered my prayer. I quickly grabbed the opportunity. My grandchildren now do not have an excuse not to be graduates. All other women should know that age is just a number.

“Being educated opens someone’s mind. One is able to think outside the box, get a confidence boost and earn respect. I’m now able to express myself much better and understand issues and interpret them better. I wish I had such qualifications during my time as Minister, I always look back and say I could have done better.”

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

Schoolgirl dreams of scholarship into Oxford to change the image of African women

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU
Marbereign Girls High Young Writers Club editor, young Rutendo Tavengerwei, was inspired by yesterday’s (March 8. 2010) International Women’s Day to change the low-grade image of women seen through the spectacles of the African patriarchal society.
Growing up as an ambitious young woman who has been empowered through education, Tavengerwei sees this day as a platform “to encourage women that they can do anything.”
“It is no longer a patriarchal society, we are gradually changing it,” she said. “Men used to have and some still have the notion that women are inferior and we are conquering that with education. A large section of women are educated these days and that is what draws the difference between women of today and those of yesterday. Education has empowered women and inspired them to stand up.”
“We have our Mai (Joyce) Mujuru and Mai Thokozani Khupe in such decision making political positions, in the States there is Hillary Clinton who even campaigned for the presidency, so it just shows how women can achieve so much,” added Tavengerwei.
The all girls school student dreams of getting a scholarship into the internationally renowned tertiary institution, Oxford University, where she aspires to be groomed as “the most prestigious lawyer in the world.”
“My parents have always told me that there is no limit, even the sky is not the limit. I intend to do something to inspire women and as a lawyer I think I will have the right platform. And in the road to follow my dreams the challenge I may foresee will be of men reluctant to give me the platform because I’m a woman and I intend to be assertive. I will not allow anyone to shake me down,” declared Tavengerwei.
Former Marbereign Schoolgirl, Hope Masike, an upcoming mbira songstress who performed at the International Women’s Day Schools music concert, held at the school last Friday, insisted that self-empowerment is a pre-requisite for all women with dreams.
“A lot of talk has been going on about women but I want you to know that the first thing you need to do as a woman is to empower yourself,” she announced. “Being educated does not mean you are not cultured. You can be a very well respected daughter in law who knows how to ululate and clap the African way and at the same time be well equipped technologically. You need to be balanced as a woman.”
“I believe women need no special platforms in education or any stage because they have the ability to do great things when they stand for themselves. We can’t expect men to be helping us when we don’t even show the confidence. So it is self-empowerment that we need to preach to individuals for women empowerment to be a success,” added Masike.

http://www.thezimbabwean.co.uk/

Gender does not mean women

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU


Each time I introduce myself as a gender reporter to male sources, they eventually see a “FEMINIST” tag stuck on my forehead and pour their grievance down on me, accusing women of abusing the word gender to mean female alone.
They see a 23-year-old woman who advocates for women empowerment over their male counterparts; a threat to the African cultural statusquo where men are the head of the house and society at large.
By definition gender reporting refers to balanced media coverage of both men and women in society. It is a campaign on gender equality.
But this has for long been a subject overlooked by media organization in Africa because of men’s dominance in various media organization.
In pre-colonial Africa, women were “naturally the weaker sex” as African author Wole Soyinka expresses in the play “The Lion and the Jewel.”
A girl was born powerless than a boy child. They grew up to live a life devoid of their own independence, depending on their brothers and fathers in a family and eventually their husbands when married.
Because of societal expectations the boy child appeared to have been born with a sixth sense that gave them the “divine and legal right” to have power over girls.
But the modern life has seen girls and women popping out of the nutshell to shine their light in their families, society and countries at large.
2009 saw Zimbabwe appointing its first woman Deputy Prime Minister in Thokozani Kuphe and Vice President in Joyce Mujuru. The country’s swimming sensation, Kirsty Coventry, has lifted Zimbabwe’s flag high at international arena.
South African athlete Caster Semenya, carved her name in the athletics circles when she won a gold medal in the women's 800 metres at the 2009 World Athletics Championships with a time of 1:55.45.
It is these women’s successes that motivate other potential women leaders to shackle off the chains of gender discrimination and shine their way to stardom. But along with their success comes the demeaning chauvinistic criticism such that Semenya’s competitive spirit of setting commendable records in the athletics fraternity is deemed unbefitting of a woman.
This has a pulling down effect to the women role models and a pounding consequence to the aspiring stars on the rise.
Women have lived for long under the dominance of their opposite sex and men should not feel threatened when introduced to the subject; gender equality. One needs not to be anti-men to be pro-women.
Women empowerment does not mean men automatically lose the respect of their wives, respect is earned through a person’s behavior and interaction with others in society and not because of gender.
Women empowerment means encouraging and supporting women to free the stars trapped in them It is simply putting an end to the inferiority complex that is instilled in the girl child at birth.
Standing up for gender equality does not only mean advocating for the rise of women (or men) to stand up for what they should be but it also means the tolerance of those flying high to accept that those below them deserve a share of oxygen to fly up there.

www.thezimbabwean.co.uk

The survival story of Zimbabwe's proud women

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU

Shingirai Maphosa (19), a waitress attending customers at a busy restaurant, in Harare, has inspired her older workmates with her courage and strength to bulldoze through the barriers between her poor background and her dreams, erected by Zimbabwe’s difficult economic situation over the years.

Maphosa finished her ordinary school level, at Glen View 1 High School, in 2007 and she has since described her four-year experience as “frustrating and discouraging” though she soldiered on.

Getting chased out from school having not paid school fees was typically how the young woman started every school term, in her high density suburb. She hardly wore any new pair of school uniform, white socks or shoes, since her father passed away in 2006. She had to buy cheap used uniform from school leavers with the money she earned from selling home-made lollipop ice-creams from mauyu –an African fruit.

“And I hardly paid any cash for the cheap second hand uniforms, but I was fortunate that they were patient with me and sometimes I would even manage to pay them when the uniforms are as old as getting torn in the collar and armpits,” she recalled.

“I was always left behind in the studies because I will spend the whole week at home without school fees, then I had to help my mum at her market place to raise my school fees as well as my young brothers’. It was even difficult to concentrate in school because I always worried if we were going to be able to raise the exam fee in the end.”

Because of the hic-ups, she only passed three Ordinary level subjects (English shona, Food and Nutrition). Maphosa sat again for the Accounts, Geography and Science examinations the following year, which she eventually passed. The 21-year-old went on to study a 14 months-course in hotel and catering, at a college in the capital.

Her current straining job as a restaurant waitress, where she works 72 hours a week is nothing close to her dream of working at a five star hotel, in the country and eventually opening her own restaurant. But she remains happy she is two steps up the ladder.

“It is that kind of job where employers love taking in young girls like me whom they know they won’t complain much on the salary. I get US$90 per month and my other workmates get US$60 and I have learnt not to complain because I have told myself that all I need is experience and it will not be the same with staying at home,” she said.

The young waitress’ widowed mother, is a vendor in Glen View, and she has relied on her business to raise her four children -Shingisai, Godwill (17), Panashe (13) and Masimba (3)- since his husband’s death three years ago.

She has always waked up early in the morning for her hoarding of vegetables in Highfield’s Lusaka market to sell in her community. With a meager profit of $US15 per week, the family has always adjusted to live under the circumstances by reducing their meals of the day.

“It is not easy, but sometimes when I’m about to quit I try to look at other options and find none and the next day I will still be stuck with it. It is not the best rewarding job to do when you are trying to raise a family, the money I get from each day is sometimes not enough to prepare a meal for my children and looking at them starve is so heartbreaking for me as a mother,” she said.

“But I’m happy that I have managed to get my daughter through ordinary level and she has been helping with what she gets from her job. That has been the life for us and we are at least proud that there was never one day we survived the day with anything stolen from anyone, we have always believed in hard work and that is what I have taught my children.”

The Maphosa family, is an epitome of several families in a Zimbabwe that has been hard-hit by a tough economic situation, in recent years. Women have survived through by empowering themselves with one of the society’s uninspiring business of vending.

Selling “Dollar for two” packets biscuits at several bus stations in the country, less profit making R2 each lollipop sweets and cellular phone juice cards has been most women’s source of income.

Last year, before the dollarization of the economy by the government, almost half the population in Harare city centre resorted to vending. Literally every corner of the street was jammed with women and children selling sweets as the atmosphere was filled with voices shouting “R5 unodya ten masweets” (R5 for ten sweets), “Dollar for dollar Buddie, Txt, Partnership” and that will be mobile phone airtime.

They have switched from one self job to another with different levels of the economical hardships. Some have raised families by cross boarder trading, as others have been pushed by circumstances to voluntarily stoop low and become house maids in neighboring countries, ignoring the ill-treatment from their paymasters for the sack of their families.

That has been the survival story of the proud and hard-working Zimbabweans; in an African country the economy has left the world wondered how a human being can pull through a day.

Women artists celebrate the she-roes of Zimbabwe

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU

Pamberi Trust’s project, Sistaz Open Mic, will be wrongly described by some chauvinists as a gathering of feminists denouncing the opposite sex, but last Saturday, The Zimbabwean witnessed a party of Zimbabwean women with the zeal and enthusiasm for the arts industry as they celebrated the living and their late she-roes of the country.
It was a thrilling function of renowned and upcoming women poets, singers and dancers as they showcased their talents with utmost gusto, with the response from the supportive audience motivating for any first-timers. The few men present will testify that the event needed not to be anti-men to be pro-women, a gathering of Zimbabwean artists bonding their sisterhood.
Among the famous artists present was the afro jazz diva, Dudu Manhenga and the acclaimed writer, Tsitsi Dangarembga. There were such moving performance from upcoming artists as songwriter and singers, Rina Mushonga, Thanda Richardson, Caroline Chipindu, Tanyaradzwa Todini popularly known to the other sisters as Sister Fire, South African rapper, Blackbird, poets Cynthia Marangwanda, Chido Manhombo among others.
Sistaz Open Mic was born in January 2007 as a special platform for emerging female artists and the project has gone a long way in moulding young talent, according to Manhenga.
“We have seen singers developing from scratch right in front of our eyes and we have had the likes of Vimbai Zimuto recording their first albums, Thanda Richardson is amazing. We have always made sure to make this event (Sistaz Open Mic) an afternoon show so that we have women coming in and going back home, on time to cook for their husbands. It is also a flexible time for the young artists who will be making their first appearances to come and get back home early,” she said.
The emerging Dutch-Zimbabwean pop star, Mushonga, believes women in Zimbabwe need to loosen free the star shining in their hearts to help build the arts industry.
“Women in the arts and those who aspire to be artists should know that they are a great part of Zimbabwe, they are amazingly resilient and will continue to be respected for supporting their families,” she said.
Mushonga (29), a Mutare based singer who performed at the Harare International Festival of Arts for the first time, this year, described her Afro-pop music as a folk rock fusion tangled with lyrics about Zimbabwe.
Hakuna magetsi (There is no electricity) was one song she moved the crowd with at Harare’s Book Café, last weekend. When Mushonga came back from Netherlands late 2008, she found a group of talented musicians from Mutare and together they have formed a band, Rina and the Zimfellas.
Her solo performance at the Sistaz Open Mic left many convinced Zimbabwe will have her own Tracey Chapman in Mushonga, but a whole lot energetic Chapman who knows how to keep her crowd rocking with the sound of her guitar.
The house was also set ablaze by Richardson and Sister Fire with their Jah Rasta Farian reggae music. The energy from the two women artists saw the Café ballooned into a tantalizing gospel show, at some moment as Fire preached of “One Love.”
“I’m hurt to see people discriminating others just because they may have grew up in an irie (happy) family, there should not be such a thing as street kids; we are all the same. One Love sistaz,” she encouraged.
Marangwanda, in her poem “woman” recited of the new independent woman of Zimbabwe whom some part of the society has chosen to call a feminist.
“She is a lioness hunting for the Promised Land through a creative path; they call her feminists she calls herself independent. Respect her, this new woman of Zimbabwe, heart of this nation; African woman, foundation of this land,” she called at the stage.
The show has become a popular space for young women who come out to perform in this no-pressure zone, finding encouragement, direction and a solid support system from established women artists of Zimbabwe, who fully support the programme, since its establishment.
Manhombo, a 19 year old upcoming poet who performed her poem in public for the first time told The Zimbabwean she was “nervous at first but the audience’s reception helped calm down the nerves.”

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Makarau lives her dream

BY GRACE CHIRUMANZU
Rita Makarau is living her dream as the first woman Judge President of Zimbabwe.
Makarau, assumed the powerful position as head of Zimbabwe’s high court in 2006. She has become the epitome of success in the eyes of women in the country.
The road to her dream career was full of pot-holes. Sitting back on her luxurious leather sofa in her office, she told The Zimbabwean how she overcame the challenges women face in a patriarchal Zimbabwean society.
Makarau (48), a lawyer who had her first court case at the age of 24, reminisced about the days she was usually confused for a secretary by clients, describing her challenges as “double barreled” amongst men in law.
“People then had a notion that women do not make good lawyers,” said Makarau.
“Apparently, they had this picture of a big and mature man when they visited my offices and would usually take me for his secretary.
“They did not take me seriously, so as a young woman I had to work harder than the men and older women.
“For older women it was different because they earned respect because of their maturity and experience,” she recalled.
“I was so nervous when I had my first court case in 1984, knowing that the person I was representing was counting on me, yet I was also not sure if my legal submissions would make any sense to the judiciary.”
Born on December 7, 1960, Makarau grew up an ordinary girl in urban Zimbabwe, taking her secondary studies at Goromonzi high after Donbrooke primary school, in Mabvuku. She took up a law degree in 1980.
Makarau reckons her loss in the well-known Magaya vs Magaya – a gender-sensitive case which set the precedent for the girl child against the boy in matters of inheritance, as her toughest challenge in her career as a lawyer.
The court ruled that the girl could not inherit her father's estate, giving the estate to her half-brother, on the basis that the 'nature of African society' relegated women to a lesser status, especially in the home.
However, Makarau says that during that case, she managed to enlighten society of the subconscious isolation subjected to the girl child in matters of inheritance.
“We encourage our judges to protect the interests of children in divorce cases, as well as widows in cases of inheritance,” said the judge President.
In African societies some men have appeared uncomfortable around successful women who are outspoken and independent.
Makarau, however, said that she was not discouraged by those men who tried to pull down women to take up their positions.
“If men feel that they have to be at the head of the pack, they should be there because they deserve to be, not simply because they are men,” she said.
Makarau is married to Amos, and together they have a daughter (24). She has managed to juggle between family and work.
For any woman, that would be a trophy.
She appreciates the African culture in marriage, where a woman is “not only married to her husband but the extended family” and believes that she is managing well.
“To be a complete career woman one needs to be able to strike a balance between family and work.
“One needs to understand that if she sits on an executive board at work, they should not take their position home.
“It does not hurt to swallow one’s pride once in a while, reduce oneself to the children’s level and play with them,” Makarau explained.
“A lot of women have failed because they cannot climb up and down- down to earth at home, and back up on the decision making position at work,” she said.
The High Court has been accused of taking sides in recent years, while Makarau has been associated with bias towards Zanu P.F.
But the Zimbabwe’s Judge President denied being influenced or associated with any party “in any time in my career”.
She hopes that with the formation of the inclusive government, judges will pass their ruling without being accused of taking any sides.
“We had to live with that (allegations of bias) since 2002; we never really got to be appreciated to have done well, especially in sensational matters after one side lost,” explained Makarau.
“We are human beings and do sometimes make mistakes, but personally, I have never been influenced by anyone in any of my rulings. I have always given far judgment,” she said.

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