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Former Queen Elizabeth pupil, Trishie Chikerema, who completed her A Level in 2018 has written a book influenced by her time at the school. The 21-year-old, who is now a Pharmacy student at Harare Institute of Technology, writes about her book and how every girl out there can be a queen. Read on . . .

Trishie Chikerema Youth Interactive Writer

Every generation pays a price to be independent and for this generation, the price is quite hefty.

We cannot portray the right image of ourselves without abandoning the false image that we created. One may wonder where the difficulty is but when one’s identity and self-worth is tied solely to their achievements and influence over their peers, it becomes almost impossible to reveal any form of weakness.

The youth have grown up looking into broken mirrors and suppressing who they really are in order to fit in. Inevitably, this is the root of their problems in life, friendships and relationships.

Without knowing who you are, choosing correctly the path to take, who to walk through life with and enduring hard times, attaining your goals is almost impossible. After interacting and counselling various age groups, the negative effects of self-misidentification became more apparent, which is what influenced me to write the book.

I was deeply motivated to share the various life lessons that I had gathered from both the elderly and the youth with the greatest influence being the teachings from Dr Rayo, the head of Queen Elizabeth and my mother.

Life needs more than just our perspectives, the lessons from others can help us navigate through the minefield. Experience is the best teacher so making use of other’s experiences can be a lesson to us.

Storytelling, as our ancestors exemplified centuries ago, still remains one of the most powerful ways in which one can teach others.

Previous generations call ours blessed and rightly so. The women have been empowered and programs to assist the youth find their path are being set up every day. However, if we rush to put a roof on a building that has a weak foundation, the whole house will crumble.

The youth themselves know that there is a crisis and with the firm belief that only by investing in individual growth and embracing our true selves, I sat down to write this book.

“Unveiling the Queen’s Crown” is a book that aims to uncover those parts of ourselves that we’ve hidden for so long. It calls us to embrace both our strengths and weaknesses. The recurring theme that will be seen in the book is how we must break away from ‘societal ideals’ which have put us on a futile chase for perfection which does not exist.

The quest for true freedom and the desire to create a world where children and parents can exist in harmony is critical for the future. A discussion that explored these topics was put in motion during the “Unveiling the Queen’s Crown” book launch that was hosted at Queen Elizabeth School on the 15 October 2021.

The whole programme was set up to be as interactive as possible while expressing the crucial need to change the way we are doing things. The youth were encouraged to press on and endure the hardships as they establish their footing in adulthood.

Parents were called to be understanding of the unique pressures their children are facing so as to find common ground.

“Unveiling the Queen’s Crown” took approximately six months to complete. Although I expected challenges in establishing myself as a young writer, the reality of it was more hostile. Finding a crowd that resonated with the message and acknowledged the work behind it was not easy because of the tendency that people have towards foreign writers as opposed to local ones. I did not give up, it simply added more drive to my work and the reflection in the book sales has been very rewarding.

Beyond the impact of this book, which I have observed in peer reviews, I hope to continue down the path of true emancipation and work with several organizations to reach as many people as possible. Everyone needs to be free to express their gifts and step beyond cultural constraints to attain happiness and fulfilment.

A world in which children are allowed to dream and be supported in their passions will create youths that will one day lead a nation. This is the impact that I hope to have as a writer.

There is so much more to what we see and transitioning between roles can be easy.

With that in mind, I have assumed so many roles, from scriptwriting, poetry, peer education, motivational speaking to art. The sky is the limit and knowledge is the set of wings we pass on to our children but they cannot fly if we chain their ankles.