Lovemore Meya Arts Correspondent
Jazz musician Maria Vera who has been on a one-month tour of Germany and Poland recently together with a group of youths and other musicians has applauded the cultural exchange programme.

Speaking just after her return, Vera described the whole journey as beneficial to artistes.

“We went to Germany with about 20 youths from Zimbabwe for cultural exchange programme where we stayed with different families in that country,” said Vera.

“We brought home a more positive outlook on life being on the other side of the world and how to work with the resources that you have.

“It was refreshing to meet with a lot of influential people when we travelled and they were very interested to continue working with Zimbabwe. I feel the way we marketed our country to many people who were there and never heard of Zimbabwe before were very happy to learn much from us.”

Vera said the world outside always has negative publicity on Zimbabwe but their presentation left a mark.

“Our visit came after a group of Germans came to Zimbabwe for the same cultural exchange two years ago. After 10 days in Germany we moved to Poland for another cultural exchange and we were slightly a bigger group of about 30 to 40 Zimbabweans.

“In Poland we presented our project called ‘Kwatinobva’, a presentation on Zimbabwe on what we as young people are celebrating and what we wanted to share with the rest of the world about our country.”

Vera said after the presentation they moved to the World Youth Day Celebrations in Krakow.

“I gave a sterling performance as Vera at a concert dubbed ‘Laudato Si’ which is basically an initiative by the Catholic community and the Pope and to promote a greener lifestyle.

“We also performed our ‘Kwatinobva’ and we travelled with a Zimbabwean girl Haleema Mekani who started her fashion line made up of natural fabrics and clothes you can pull apart and make something completely different,” she said.

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