Ruth Butaumocho Gender Forum
<h3><i>More often than not, women shy away from the media and are not keen to be interviewed on certain issues, arguing that they don’t want to be quoted out of context.</i></h3>
During a visit to Buhera some months ago, I had an opportunity to attend a village gathering where people were exchanging narratives on different methods of preserving vegetables and several other crops. As the discussions got underway, one of the ladies shared some of the preservation strategies, similar to conventional methods, saying they were used in the 1960s when Zimbabwe experienced one of its worst famines.

The lady claimed that the preservation methods have passed through generations and remain one of the best and trusted ways of conserving vegetables in their natural form.

This was no ordinary meeting, but a unique gathering where both men and women were sharing nuggets of valuable information, crucial to the well-being and betterment of Zimbabwe, as the country moves towards a “new economy” which encourages creativity in all forms.

Bearing testimony to such enriching narratives, it was clear that all that information would eventually be lost unless a deliberate effort is made to preserve the information through writing about it. Listening to the discussion, there were already gaps in the information, with some having been lost while it was being passed down from generation to generation. The information could only be preserved if the thoughts, experiences and testimonies were put down on paper.

With the world now moving in the ICT fast lane, the generations demand men and women to consider writing their own narratives on different and diverse issues so that their stories become the stock of intellectual and cultural products in their own communities and the whole nation.

Well-known gender activist Professor Patricia MacFadden once said when women write from a positionality that is built through solidarity and inclusiveness, they conjure new intellectual products, treasures, which, if acknowledged and accepted become an important part of a community’s heritage.

Professor MacFadden says it is important for women to put their thoughts on paper so that they can inspire and help shape the future of women and girls, who struggle to find any narratives for women and by the women themselves.

Though she made the statement more than three decades ago, the majority of women have not started writing their own narratives, and those who have done so mainly focused on trials and tribulations, leaving out the success stories, which are in our midst and continue to be a benchmark of success for a lot of communities.

Zimbabwe boasts of women and men of valour, with intriguing narratives about their personal lives, but their narratives are yet to be written and published. And yet these should find good readership once they are written and shared.

Had the late veteran broadcaster Mbuya Miriam Mlambo written her narratives which she shared with millions of Zimbabwean children over three decades during her Friday programme on radio, the book was going to be a critical source of intangible heritage for generations to come.

Had the late Mai Musodzi written her own experiences on what she went through in accommodating women who had been evicted from their homes by their husbands, it would have been a compelling narrative, from where today’s feminist movement would have learnt a lot of things.

Had Susan Chenjerai written about her exploits and acting antics during her time with the Mukadotas, scores of aspiring actors would be marvelling and trying to emulate some of her lessons that are not found in any textbook on acting anywhere.

Yesteryear great actresses like Jesesi Mungoshi, Pretty Xaba and Mai Sorobhi boast a wealth of experience in acting, and valuable lessons that could be used to nurture upstarts in the arts sector, if they could put all their experiences and thoughts on paper.

These individuals represent a small but very diverse group of people with highly inspiring and captive narratives that Zimbabweans can use to shape, define and review their own lives.

Their thoughts and words can become crucial in shaping their future and the direction they intend to take, because they can always refer back and establish where they went wrong.

Once they start writing about their own experiences, women will be able to define their own space, determining what they want shared, and how they want it to be done.

More often than not, women shy away from the media and are not keen to be interviewed on certain issues, arguing that they don’t want to be quoted out of context. As a result, women’s voices are distinctly absent in a lot of issues, creating a vacuum that should not be there in the first place.

It therefore becomes important for women, not only to become consumers of information as it were, but to produce information that can also be disseminated. Writers say writing on its own is quite therapeutic and helps one to deal with issues, without resorting to violence, for instance.

Renowned authors and writers often say that putting your thoughts on paper is liberating for those with emotional and personal problems they can’t deal with.

During a survey done by an institute called Telugu Workshop Writers, most women who were interviewed actually said they resorted to writing to ward off loneliness. Rather than wallow in self-pity, the majority of women claimed they picked up the pen as an instrument, a weapon of survival.
With no prescription on what literature can do to individuals, writing is crucial in shaping women’s political, economic and social landscape.

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