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Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday IN front of a supermarket in Mt Pleasant last week, we see Father Christmas. He is skinny and tall. And he is dark skinned. I am seeing my first black African Father Christmas in Zimbabwe. This is history. I want to shake his hand.
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Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday Sunday afternoon at Robert Mugabe International Airport arrivals area. The plane has landed. We wait to welcome my cousin Reuben’s wife, Mai Tinashe and children coming from Australia.
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Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday The other day, my cousin Reuben was counting the number of single mature women who live alone in Harare. This idea came up when our friend Temba, the one who lives in the USA, and is planning to return home for Christmas, asked if there were women he could meet for conversation and […]
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Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday “Hi there, kwakadii kumusha?” How is everything back home? I get this question on a WhatsApp message. I reply, “Hi there Temba. Kuno kuri right. Kwakadii ku US?” Here everything is fine. How is everything in the US?
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Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday At the corner of Herbert Chitepo Avenue and Seventh Street, I see masses of people, cars hooting and people singing. Two armed soldiers are directing the traffic lights. I am driving and am not able to turn back. I have to keep on and get to my dressmaker. I drive […]
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Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday After the October and early November hot spells, the rains came pouring down in our village on Sunday. I had only just sat down in the kitchen hut near the fire when there was a big flash of lightning followed by a spectacular thunderstorm. “Ah, ndimi mauya nemvura VaNyandoro,” said […]
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Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday It’s Sunday afternoon at Rufaro Stadium. I am not fully dressed for a church service because almost everyone I see is wearing a white gown. Just as well I had a white scarf in my handbag. I quickly cover my head with it so that I can at least look […]
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Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday Long before independence when land reform was a dream, my grandmother Mbuya VaMandirowesa stopped drinking beer, singing and dancing at the end of each October. You would see her shelling nuts and selecting the best red millet and maize seed. Some mornings, we saw her standing by the cattle pen, […]
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Sekai Nzenza On Wednesday “Kumusha kwenyu kuchine chembere here?” asked this lady who was having her hair done next to me. (Do you still have old people in your village?) The question was not directed at me. No. This was part of a conversation between Maria, the hairdresser, Chamu the barber and others. My hair dressing shop […]
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Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday This man in the village next to ours shook people’s hands using a stick. His hand did not touch another person’s hand. No. His hand could only hold one end of the stick. It was the other end of the stick that made human contact. The man’s name was VaBhunu, […]
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Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday I USED to be skinny, dark and generally not seen as beautiful. I could handle the dark skin aspect of myself, but my self-esteem always reached rock bottom when I looked at my skinny body in the mirror.
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Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday “Did you see the video featuring one African President’s daughter in Rwanda or was it Kenya, Congo or Tanzania? It’s a bad video my friend. It is bad,” says my cousin Reuben.
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Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday SUNDAY afternoon in our village courtyard. We are celebrating the memory of my father’s life. Today is the church service. But yesterday, it was the nyota yaBaba, a traditional ceremony to drink to my father’s ancestor spirit.
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Dr Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday Every year, when September comes to Zimbabwe, the trees welcome new leaves. You see the buds at the end of the mutondo branches. Then slowly, the buds open. Fresh, soft orange leaves emerge. Within two or three days, the small leaves change colour to a beautiful yellow, pink and orange. […]
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Sekai Nzenza on Wednesday “After this trip, we will not come back to Zimbabwe again,” said the man who was visiting my cousin Reuben. He sounded emotional and angry. Piri and I stood at the door of Reuben’s house. In the background was a woman’s voice crying. I did not see the visitors because Reuben would […]