My newborn son has discovered his hands lately and he no longer enjoys being swaddled especially when he is awake. He is now able to lift his hands, stretch them out excitedly, and bring them together in union. The discovery of his hands as a toy results in him scratching his face leaving it with scars. Interestingly, the scars heal fast and the new skin comes out to cover as if nothing ever went wrong. I have been watching this and I found it interesting because I related it to a film by celebrated Zimbabwean director Rumbi Katedza titled, ‘The axe and the tree’.

In this film we see victims of political violence finding healing through a workshop facilitated by survivors of political violence from the Tree of Life Trust. Their healing process is based on viewing the life of tree. The healing process entails one spending time reviewing a tree’s trunk, branches, leaves and maybe fruits and relating it to their own life experiences. Thus through this process they find out that trees have been hurt too but they never give up, they continue providing us with leaves for manure, shade on a sunny day, firewood and fruit to eat even though humans are their enemies.

One of the participants had his home burnt by perpetrators of violence including an avocado tree that was in his yard. In a scene in the film where he revisited his old burnt home to show and explain what happened, he and the Tree of Life facilitator found new branches coming out of the burnt avocado tree. This showed that trees could heal themselves and so could we humans if we look at the life of a tree. I have learnt that my son’s scars heal themselves naturally without me having to put in any effort.

And this shows the possibility of victims of violence own ability to heal themselves through forgiveness.

I remember on the day I gave birth, I was both tired and happy. The long journey was over. Even though I was dog-tired, motherhood was calling as my son had to be attended to. To breastfeed him and to change his diapers among other things. Even though the clinic provided an extra hand to help I had to start doing some of these chores myself. The midwife would come in the mornings to clean the babies. Out of curiosity to see how its done, I joined her at her at the basinet area. I had given birth the previous night, so I was still in pain, but I told myself I wouldn’t miss this. I engaged myself in a conversation with the midwife. We discussed my son’s birthmarks, his looks and I did mention how fragile I felt he was. During dressing time, I mentioned how diapers were more convenient because he had done his first poop – meconium – so it meant no washing to be done. The midwife agreed with me that diapers help she felt they were damaging the environment as some mothers were not aware of how to properly dispose of them.

When I got home I realised that surely disposable nappies are convenient but I faced, and am still facing challenges with disposing them. To start with the City’s refuse collection vehicle does not pass directly outside our own gate, they instead use the main road that links our road. This means if I want to engage in their services I have to take my rubbish to a neighbour’s gate, which is rather unreasonable because if they do not turn up what happens to my rubbish? So that option has been totally cancelled. Burning used diapers is not an option either as they are hard to burn completely as well as the dangers involved in burning rubbish. At the end of the day when the diaper plastic bag is nearing full I find myself stressed as to how I have to get rid of it.

Talking to mothers out there, they shared the same sentiments that disposing diapers can be a stress especially in areas where the City’s refuse collection is not yet in its full functionality. These same challenges were experienced by a couple in Harare living in a medium density area. Being environment conscious they couldn’t join the rest of their neighbourhood mothers/families in throwing their rubbish (with diapers constituting the large proportion) out in the streets where dogs would come and strew the diapers all over the place. It is this same couple that is going to bring change to mothers and families out there who face similar challenges, by offering diaper disposal services. For a minimum monthly charge one can subscribe to these services and have their used diapers collected once a week.

Some mothers can echo that they are already paying for these services on their water bills to the City and forking out an extra penny towards works, which the City should be doing, is not so appealing. But at the same time considering the dangers mothers and families pose out there to the environment by not properly disposing of their diapers, the need for the use of these services then should be recommended. It takes us to change the communities we live in, and living in a clean and safe environment is a top priority on our must have list. So personally I would recommend the use of these services.

If you want to be a responsible citizen contact Valerie on 0772 979351 for proper diaper disposal.

Letter to the librarian

You are the heart where arteries of knowledge congregate
The root that binds fibres of worldly wisdom
A rock where intellectual imbibers chisel and curve their creative granules
Bring me, the IPAD to connect to the universe

Bring the search engine to sieve juices of life
You are the nutrition of psyche.

Bring books from Tolstoy, DH Lawrence, Jon Donne, Maya Angelou
The poetic, the academic, the scholarly

Mr and Mrs Librarian where minds meet
Mrs and Mr Librarian my mental fodder
Mr and Mrs Librarian my intellectual drumstick

My soapstone for my wisdom sculptor
My oozing oasis for my PhD
My running river for my dissertation
My rich spring for my Communications assignment.

Your womb vomited, presidents, poets,
Ministers, medics, bishops, engineers, mothers
Your womb vomited our past, our today and our future

You are the inspiration that break with sun
To the world, let our guns and swords be books

Mr and Mrs Librarian, This is my letter to you

You are cemetery with live skulls of knowledge

Mbizo Chirasha aka The Black Poet

The American Resource Centre (ARC) celebrated National Library Week on Wednesday. The commemoration included other libraries and information centres in Zimbabwe as they together with the US Embassy’s ARC took time to showcase some of their latest developments.  According to the ALA (American Libraries Association), the idea for National Library Week was based on the idea that once people were motivated to read, they would use and support libraries.

The US Embassy’s work in the dissemination of information through its resource centre is greatly appreciated in the information and technology fraternity. Technology is ever changing and they continue to adapt their services to suit current trends and user needs at the same time setting a guide for other resource centres in Zimbabwe to follow suit and remain functional in this technological era. ARC has corners in at the Bulawayo Public Library, Gweru Memorial Library and recently added Mutare to the list. These centres engage people who are not based in Harare to enjoy similar opportunities being rendered to students and researchers in Harare. The resource centre offers various library services to users being pod casts, kindles and their recent launch, elibrary. The elibrary, which is a collection of databases and journals, can be accessed through http://elibraryusa.state.gov/. It’s free but one needs to register to be able to access it.

The Research Council of Zimbabwe (RCS) also took time to showcase their latest ‘baby’, a research database that seeks to promote research and publicise Zimbabwean research on a global scale. The research database is an integrated collection of research work done on Zimbabwe and by Zimbabweans. It is accessible through this portal http://researchdatabase.ac.zw/

This is a great way to document research work electronically as the National Archives which is mandated to document these, is still doing so using hard copies. The database is accessible for free and one is required to register in order to do so.

The mother body for libraries in Zimbabwe, ZIMLA (Zimbabwe Library Association) held a separate meeting for librarians who were present at this National Library Week commemoration. ZIMLA is back on board on IFLA (International Federation of Libraries Association) and will share information on the 46th Conference and AGM to be held in Kadoma next month.

These efforts by librarians cannot go without acknowledging the work of writers, publishers and IT specialists in Zimbabwe who make it possible for such tools and programmes to be available for use in Zimbabwe.

From over speeding and exceeding their maximum speed limits to running away from police in a ‘movie style’ way to getting really nasty and urinating on pedestrians. These are kombi drivers in Harare. My worst encounter is when I board a kombi and the driver begins to move his vehicle before I can even take a seat and the the free seats are available only at the back.

Such inconsiderate acts by kombi drivers can be attributed to immaturity. Imagine a lady or man old enough to be their own parent being made to fiddle her way to a seat just because the driver is rushing to beat the kombi behind him to get passengers? That is lack of respect at its highest degree. The Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) through its information campaign in the press is sharing the Road Traffic Act regulations with road users.  In a statement, ‘How legal are Public Service Vehicle drivers?’ published in the Herald of Monday 26 March, 2012 by TSCZ interprets regulations in the Statutory Instrument 168 of 2006 which a driver should adhere to before driving a public service vehicle.

A Public Service Vehicle driver:
- must have proof of five (5) years continuous experience before driving a public service vehicle thus those who obtained their driver’s licences in March 2007 and before (at the time of writing this article)
-  must undergo a re-testing exercise after each period of 5 years
- must be a holder of a Defensive Driving Certificate issued only by the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe which is valid for a period of four (4) years
- must be examined by a Government Medical Officer and be issued wit a medical certificate which is valid for a period of one (1) year -    must display at all time, while driving a PSV: a valid defensive driving certificate and a valid medical certificate

Drivers are to charged accordingly under the various sections depending on the crime committed. Drivers who fail to produce any of the above requirements will either be fined or face imprisonment for six months or both. Those who are convicted of negligence driving or driving without due care in the first offence shall be prohibited from driving for six months and in the second offence with a period of 5 years have their licence cancelled. Operators who employ under-qualified drivers are also liable to prosecution under the Road Motor Transportation Act.

The TSCZ should now get this message to the kombi drivers. They should hold awareness campaigns, for example road shows at kombi ranks like Copacabana or Fourth Street rank to get the message out there.

We have to put an end to accidents on our roads caused be negligent driving. If you would like to get more clarity on any issue related to road safety contact the Traffic Safety Council of Zimbabwe (TSCZ) on marketing [at] trafficsafety [dot] co [dot] zw or 04-751203/8.

Growing up our elders might have had a worse of life than us in terms of availability of resources to use within the family. They used to sleep in a ‘common room’ as in the boys and girls sleeping together in a room not necessarily a bedroom but it could be in the kitchen or the lounge. Today families have a boy’s room and a girl’s room with some being privileged enough to have a bedroom for each child in the family. Our elders ate well and still do, all the wild fruits and vegetables that most of us in the younger generation have never tasted. And thus they have lived longer, and some are still counting their years.

Are we necessarily better off than our elders? Us youngsters love the fast life, the fast foods and we tend to cut our lives short and die before we can even watch our own children grow or even hold at least one grandchild. In my, I feel we are a whole lot more miserable despite having all this and that. We face each day with uncertainty, we just keep our fingers crossed for a better tomorrow. Our elders smile more often than we do. We walk in the streets with lots of burden on our shoulders from failed relationships to unemployment to lack of resources to trying to make a decent living on our own. Our elders seem to be cheerful and take each day as it comes despite some of them being the only surviving guardians of their grandchildren.

I was taken through this comparison journey at a Food For Thought Session at the US Embassy Public Affairs Section on Tuesday in commemoration of women’s month. The presentation was held under the theme, ‘When I was young’ / ‘Wisdom from grannies diaries’ and was facilitated by DefZee. The panel consisted of two elderly women. Looking at the elderly women who were on the panel I could see the generation gap but at the same time I felt like we are the ones losing out. One of the elderly woman actually said we called them ‘PO Box’ while we call ourselves ‘.com’- to illustrate that they are old and we are the new thing. But sadly while we are the new things with .com technology we tend to miss out on a lot of important things in life.

Our elders proposed and dated in a different manner than we do today. They wrote letters and each time they had to see their loved ones they had to have a third person present at their meeting. They never went out on dates. Instead they went to a ‘tete’ to approve of the relationship and to counsel them. Their advice to the young ones was that it would be of benefit to us if we stick to some of the morals and values they had in their relationships. For example no sex before marriage and being faithful to our partners. In conclusion, they encouraged the youth to pray to God because He gives hope and strength in the midst of all adversity.