Half way up Orange Grove Drive in Harare yesterday, mid lunchtime run, I found a man lying unconscious on the side of the road. I stopped and wondered, what do I do now? My running partner caught up and we decided that diabetes had felled him. Under a hot Zimbabwean sky we tried to flag down some cars to see if we could get something sweet to feed him. A guy driving two foreign visitors stopped and one of the passengers found a ‘seen much better times’ chocolate. The other drivers who stopped didn’t have anything to eat on them but a couple of old ladies gave us $2. A nearby security guard helped us move him into the shade where we patiently dripped water into his mouth whilst slowly getting him to suck on the chocolate. In the meantime the security guard headed off with the $2 in search of some Cascade (orange juice). Our calls for assistance at a house nearby reaped two peanut butter sandwiches and a bottle of cold Mazoe. The man who had collapsed looked like a rubbish picker. He was thin and at first his gender wasn’t clear. The security guard looked down at him and said, ah this guy, he’s hungry. The experience was a reminder about the beauty of collaboration. Two runners, some motorists, a security guard and a domestic worker (the goddess of peanut butter sandwiches) all came together to help a stranger. We’re not in this world alone.

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Finance and Administration Officer: Local NGO
Deadline: 30 September 2013

Functional Unit: Finance and Administration
Reporting to: Programme Manager

Responsibilities
-Preparation of financial reports
-Administering and maintaining of all financial records
-Preparation of bank reconciliations monthly
-Liaising with auditors and timely audit preparations
-Check advance and payments requests
-Preparation of organizational quarterly budgets
-Preparation and controlling project budgets
-Asset management and control
-Ensuring the implementation of the organization’s financial, human resources, and administrative policies and procedures
-Ensure that all administrative functions are completed as per specified reporting and control procedures
-Any other financial and administrative functions ancillary or incidental to any of the above duties that may, from time to time, be allocated by the Programme manager.

Qualifications and experience
-At least a College Diploma in Accounts
-Part ACCA or CIS (A distinct advantage)
-5 ‘O’ Levels including Mathematics and English
-Clean Class 4 driver’s license
-Minimum 2 years experience of which 1 should have been in an NGO or civil society sector
-Knowledge of software packages such as Pastel, MS Excel, MS Project and MS PowerPoint Personal attributes
-Excellent command of the English language – both written and verbal
-Assertive personality but team player
-Analytical approach
-Solution focused
-Attention to detail
-In control of deliverables
-Proactive

To apply
Applications with full contact details, accompanied by comprehensive curriculum vitae, should be sent by email to: coordinator [at] zeipnet [dot] co [dot] zw and copy zeipnetwork [at] gmail [dot] com

Female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

Smeeta Mahanti; Reagan Arthur Books

From The Atlantic:

In an interview with The Guardian, fellow Zimbabwean novelist Petina Gappah, often referred to as “the voice of Zimbabwe,” rejected the role. “I get irritated by the term ‘African writer,’” she said, “because it doesn’t mean anything to me. Africa is so big.” In her essay “What Makes a ‘Real African?’” Ethiopian writer Maaza Mengiste expressed a similar sentiment: “The question is problematic,” she wrote. “It assumes a static and compressed definition of Africa. But Africa is a continent of 55 recognized states, with a population of over one billion and more than 2,000 languages. There are so many possible responses.”

Bulawayo, by contrast, embraces her role as an “African writer” and, as her novel reveals, doesn’t let expectations circumscribe her. “For me, I always insist that I am an African writer because it is true,” she said. “I am an African. If I deny that label, my work will scream otherwise.”

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Via poetfire