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Kundai Marunya

Arts Correspondent

Midlands State University (MSU) student Garikai Mawere has launched a novel that interrogates gender-based violence (GBV) and ritual killings.

Titled “A Woman’s Cry”, the book is a tale of a 19-year-old girl who drops out of school and marries a young businessman to escape poverty.

Despite her father’s protests, Nandi elopes with Martin to start a new life in the city.

Little did she know that Martin’s wealth is generated from a series of ritual killings.

Nandi’s sudden disappearance leads to the beating of her mother who then escapes her abusive husband to hide in the bushes only to be kidnapped and murdered by her new son-in-law’s henchmen.

After marriage, Martin turns into a monster who constantly beats up a pregnant Nandi, and bribes the police to get away with it.

It turns out he married her only to get access to her blood which was crucial for his sangoma to accumulate more power.

In the end, after untold torment that includes seeing her maid marrying her husband, Nandi is sacrificed.

Her spirit does not rest, but comes back to haunt all involved in her torment and concealing her abuse and murder.

“A Woman’s Cry” well reflects on a society that ignores abuse and a generation that gets into relationships for wealth.

It challenges women to stand up against abuse and help those in abusive relationship to find their voices while outlining how only hard work can generate meaningful wealth.

Mawere said he took three months to come up with the book.

“It took me about three months to come with the whole book; a month for gathering up ideas,” he said. “The main inspiration to write the book was the rise in cases of GBV cases against women. I thought of raising an awareness through pen and paper and being a voice for the voiceless.”

Mawere said the publishing process was challenging.

“The writing experience was awesome, but publishing was tiresome,” he said. “I had to travel to find a good publishing house because my home town (Gwanda) has none.” Mawere was born on November 20, 2002 in Kariba.

After relocating to Gwanda with his family, he attended St Christopher Primary School and later proceeded to Manama High School for his O’ and A’ Levels.

His passion for reading and writing has led him to speak from the soul with the ultimate goal of communicating to reach the greater part of the world.

He is an Environmental Safety, Health and Quality Management student at MSU.

“A Woman’s Cry” will soon be available on online stores including Amazon.com, while hard copies are being distributed to different centres in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Zvishavane and Masvingo.