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Marcus Gora and Valerie Kabov

Tafadzwa Zimoyo Lifestyle Writer
International trends that have resulted in the interweaving and interlocking of cultures driven by globalisation assuming many connotations that have immensely reduced the world into a global village.With currencies, religion, fashion, language and even the arts cross-pollinating, it is gradually becoming the norm for influences from one corner of the globe to spill over onto the polar side without raising any eye-brows.

In fact, it has become fashionable for all colours of the rainbow, oil, the sky and the soil to mix and when the ocean and the sky meld, it is often said that the palette of life assumes a more beautiful hue.

The same also applies to inter-racial relationships and marriages, which though as old as time, have always sent toungues wagging.

The cause has not been helped by bigots of the Hitler-pure-race school whose driving belief is that reproduction across races dilutes the purity of another race.

But again, some medical experts dismiss the whole issue of race as being more social rather than biological even if a DNA sample can now be broken down to tell the sex and ethnic inheritance of an unknown subject.

But with constant mingling in the global village, love was always bound to overcome any illogical beliefs in the superiority any one group of people over another. We are just different, but equal. After all, there is really no skin that is black, white or any other colour, just different shades of brown.

Locally, famous people like Tourism and Hospitality Industry Minister Walter Mzembi, Agriculture Minister Joseph Made, theatre enthusiast Daves Guzha, renowned photographer Tinashe Njagu, businessman Shingi Mutasa, sports personality Steve Vickers, mbira guru Albert Chimedza, author Virginia Phiri and artist Marcus Gora among others have crossed the cultural divide.

Internationally personalities such as US rapper and mogul Kanye West and Kim Kardashian, golfer Tiger Woods, Iman and David Bowie, Halle Berry and Olivier Martnez, John Legend and Chrissy and Cuba Gooding and Sara Kapfer have also gone inter into racial marriages.

A Zimbabwean-born woman, Ruwa Mgodi who is based in Canada, is married to Denis Poddoubtchenko from Russia. She said they have been together since 2010.

She said it was hard at first to adjust on the cultural aspect but she got used to it because of love.

“We got married last April. He is of Russian origin, but we live in Canada. Our cultural differences are mainly to do with language as his mother tongue is Russian-Ukranian while mine is Shona. But since we both speak English it’s fine. The only problem is that his parents don’t speak English very much so there tends to be a communication breakdown between myself and my in-laws,” she said.

Mgodi believes that communication is the only barrier in inter-racial marriages.

“There are a lot of jokes, stories that fly over our heads when we share or chat but since the other won’t have any context regarding the joke or story it becomes a challenge as you will then need to explain further,” she said.

She said another cultural difference is the food aspect.

“I still like my sadza and beef stew, while he likes things like cabbage rolls, borscht and potatoes. So when it comes to cooking, we have to compromise and we usually end up eating very simple food so that the other partner doesn’t complain. But we usually don’t notice the cultural differences in our day to day lives because personality wise, we are very similar and agree on most things,” she said.

Renowned theatre practitioner, Daves Guzha, recently got married to Tanja Lubbers orignally from The Netherlands at Hwange Safari Lodge.

He said it is not about race but the person.

“Our marriages have always been across cultures and ethnic clusters, meaning different villages. The world has become one global village. Our politicians and certain sections of society are the ones that would want to consciously remind us of our perceived human differences. Are we not all the same? All we feel is love and respect for each other,” he explained.

The case is also almost the same with Tinashe Njagu who engaged his long time friend Emily Picha in New York recently.

Word in the streets says that the duo are expected to wed later this year.

It has emerged that the union is bound by love more than anything else.

“Gone are the days when people used to revile this kind of marital set-up. They thought that white women were weak especially when it comes to carrying out domestic chores in the rural areas. But with time, people now know that marrying someone from a different race is purely out of love,” noted Timothy Magaramombe of Borrowdale.

The late reggae legend Bob Marley’s parents were of mixed race, while Kung fu icon Bruce Lee married a Western lady. Golf ace Tiger Woods is a product of a mixed marriage. Most Hispanics have got a “salad” heritage encompassing Black, Latin, Native American and Caucasian ancestry.

Another notable and well-known example of a successful inter-racial marriage is that of celebs Kim Kardashian and hubby Kanye West.

Theirs can be described as a slow road to true love.

While Kanye West’s $3 million marriage proposal to Kim Kardashian in a San Francisco baseball stadium was pure Hollywood theatrics, their relationship, in fact, bucks the showbiz standard.

Far from being a whirlwind romance or one orchestrated by agents for maximum publicity, Kim and Kanye’s engagement was built on a nine-year friendship.

It took Kim a disastrous 72-day marriage to basketball star Kris Humphries for her to realise, finally, that Kanye (whom she’d met in 2004 and stayed in touch with ever since), was the man for her.

One relationship expert and author, Andrew G Marshall said couples stand a greater chance of long-term happiness when there is history to their relationship.

“One of the problems with dating nowadays is that there’s no context,” he said.

Marshall believes that the reason dating someone you’ve known for years seems so old-fashioned is because, as a society, we’re obsessed with the idea that we have to be swept off our feet when we meet someone new.

“Because of this great desire to find ‘The One’, we’ve gone from going on a date and thinking, ‘Oh, that was quite nice, I hope we meet again,’ to it becoming a high-stakes event that quickly becomes all-consuming and passionate — and burns itself out six weeks later,’’ he said.

“The great advantage of somebody being a friend is that your eyes are open rather than it being a fantasy. You’ve got a much more rounded picture of them and that’s a good starting point,’’ he says.

One concern about slow-burn relationships is that they lack excitement because couples skip that first stage of instant attraction.