My writing journey
I did not make a conscious decision to start writing. My life experiences compelled me to do so. I have always been a writer at heart, and I know this because:
As a child, I had a lot to say. I was nicknamed “Chitende” by my late paternal grandmother, for being an outspoken child. My outspokenness in a society where women were conditioned to be submissive, was indispensable music to my grandmother’s feminist ears. After her death, I lost my voice and became introverted. “Chitende” is a Shona word for calabash or gourd, which is used on percussion instruments in Africa as an amplifier. Mbira, Hosho and Marimba are examples of such Zimbabwean instruments. Ironically, percussion is a musical instrument that is sounded usually by being struck with a beater. Women who challenge the patriarchy are susceptible to misogyny, an unpleasant plight I have had to fight time and time again. Misogyny, as I learnt the hard way, is not simply the hatred of women. Instead, it’s about controlling and punishing women who challenge male dominance whilst rewarding women who reinforce the status quo. Such experiences made me find my voice, and I use my writing to advocate equality and raise awareness of hidden abuse;
I won the Masvingo regional prize for UNESCO sponsored Randall’s National Essay competition in Zimbabwe, when I was 16. Interestingly the subject of my essay was “Why read a book when you can watch television?”. Winning that competition opened other opportunities for me in my school where I later became president and chief editor of the school magazine club. It is unfortunate that I did not write for leisure after high school. I did go through a phase of poetry writing, but I found it difficult to share my writing publicly because exposing my inner thoughts and vulnerabilities is not something society expected from a woman. Instead, I entered the legal profession where I write formal documents to earn a living;
I do a lot of writing in my work as a governance, compliance and risk management consultant. Not only do I write training material, reports and opinions to senior committees and boards, but I appraise and edit other people’s work when I review and approve the financial promotions and communications to ensure they are compliant with regulatory requirements. Drafting of policies and procedures is also a task I live and breathe within my profession. Sounds pretty mundane right? That is precisely why I now find time to write for soulful reasons;
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I have always known that I have a greater purpose in life. After many years of journeying within to find my true self, I found words flowing naturally to me. I want to use my writing skill to raise consciousness of issues we don’t usually think or talk about, yet are very important for the attainment of human equality, liberty, joy and inner peace.
Why I write in Shona and English
The promotion and preservation of vernacular languages is important to me, so I must write in Shona (not just English). Chikaranga, a dialect of the Shona language, is part of who I am. I am a fluent speaker and writer of both languages, which I studied at A level. It would make sense to make use of both languages, because I can.
In Zimbabwe, the Zezuru dialect is generally used in writing by the "Shona". As an advocate for equality, writing in Chikaranga presents to me an opportunity to promote and preserve the dialect. This will hopefully encourage speakers of other Shona dialects (and other languages such as Ndebele) to follow suit, in order to preserve and promote their own “mother tongues”, which are just as important.
Zimbabwean culture does not promote freedom of expression around sensitive topics. The limited vocabulary pertaining to taboo topics in Zimbabwean languages is reflective of this. As an advocate for equality, I use my writing to raise awareness of these issues, by thinking in English, finding ways of expressing the issues in Chikaranga, and then translating my vernacular expressions back to English.