What are main issues for the new Constitution? Who determines what is petty and trivial at this point in Zimbabwe? Which issue is supposed to take more weight than the other in forming our new Constitution? I have just read a blog from someone saying that homosexual and gender issues are trivial and should not be magnified as they do not have anything to do with the governance of this country.

I am not for homosexuality but I am a Christian who has been instructed to love the next person as I love myself. I do not hate homosexuals, I just do not agree with what they do and what they believe in. But I am a woman, and gender issues involve me whether I like it or not. The blogger continues to say that Constitutional campaigns have magnified these issues. My question is what campaigns are these? If you have a burning issue and you want it put under the microscope I suggest you have your own campaigns just as those people campaigning for gender are having theirs.

I will talk about what affects me here. It is very important that we deal with gender issues once and for all. Why should I keep quiet when I know that if this issue is left behind, my daughter will face the same challenges that I am facing as a woman? This is an opportunity to make a difference and I am going to grab it by the horns.

To educate you a bit my fellow blogger, gender refers to widely held beliefs, expectations, customs and practices within a society that define masculine and feminine attributes, behavior, roles and responsibilities. Now if anyone is going to be of a governing body which is going to be governing a society, don’t you think they need to have their own individual beliefs and expectations in check?

My point is this; good governance is not going to come about when people in governing spaces do not know their social standing, be they male or female. In fact good governance has got to do with gender issues for a government to work. Every person needs to know who they are, what their roles are and what they are entitled to as human beings. So I say viva to anyone who wants to magnify any issue that they feel is important to them and these issues should be dealt with, and included in the Constitution. If people want to lobby for homosexuality and gender issues let them go ahead. Better yet if there are others who want to have anti homosexual and anti gender campaigns they should also go ahead. What better way to exercise our hoped for democracy and freedom to choose who we are and what we want to be?

I think that I am one of the few fortunate people around. I got to witness the first musical performance of HIFA by Edith WeUtonga. She and her band got the audience moving to her new sound. However that’s not all. I had the privilege to talk with a very special person during HIFA, who in my own view gave this year’s edition of HIFA its face. He was busy painting and transforming the Harare Gardens from a place of every day life; to a place that everybody wants to be part of. I really would like to give the thumbs up to this guy who says he doesn’t mind the long hours spent kneeling, doing all that painting. He said that he too was transformed because it takes a lot of patience and paint to get it all done. Well, he did not say the paint part but I thought I should rhyme! Who can blame me – I spent the whole week in a place of creativity! I tell you I am yet to meet someone who does not have the desire to be a part of HIFA one way or another. It is by far the most exciting time of the year in Zimbabwe.

My morning yesterday at HIFA was filled with a sense of awe when I attended a play titled “The Woman Who Didn’t Belong To A Political Party”. I absolutely loved this play. It is really about what Mbuya Nehanda went through and that she gave birth to a spirit of resistance that ushered in a new Zimbabwe. I must honestly say that being born in Bulawayo I have always seen her as a Shona people heroine more than an Ndebele people one. But I changed that view now that I know that her selfless act was for all Zimbabweans young or old, black or white who now live together as one. What made me see things differently in this play is that it is done by cast members from Bulawayo.This made me really realize that Mbuya Nehanda’s story is relevant to all Zimbabweans at large. Its a pity that their show is now finished because I would have really loved the young people of this generation to see it and maybe they would see things differently . . . that its ok to do good; praises can still be sung about you long after you are gone.

I knew that HIFA opening nights don’t disappoint – the same for this year! I was there and I don’t know about you but I was not disappointed; HIFA always finds something untamed for the opening. However as much as I saw the effort and time it took for the production to take place I did not get it. Maybe its because I am not a classical music person or something. On Tuesday not only did I get to watch international and local artists, I had the privilege of speaking with the people that make HIFA what it is. It was my understanding from these conversations that people are hungry for entertainment and HIFA is just the remedy. In particular I think people got their medication all right with Prudence and the Liyana band brewing up a storm. I felt challenged, I was in a stupor, and I just did not know what to do they were So Good. As if that was not enough for the music lovers, after Prudence performed there was a Bira held at the Global Stage. All the Bira lovers rushed there and I a reliable source told me that it ended at 3am in the morning! And it was still packed up. Harare is ALIVE. To all of those who have not put a foot on the HIFA grounds, you are missing out so go there and enjoy. There are still four days of entertainment.

I’m Kubatana’s roving reporter for this year’s HIFA and it’s promising to be an experience I wish every one could have. I am ready to drink from a pool of entertainment and mind opening performances. Stay tuned and see HIFA through my eyes!

Its amazing how much life can about one’s self. We can be so consumed on what we don’t have and what we would never have. But we never take stock of what we have. I fell in that category until a few days ago when I went to a presentation on Chiezda Child Care Centre. I tell you I was moved and challenged at that moment I realized that life sometimes has to cease to be about me and what I don’t have or what I wish I had. There are children in that center that have experienced life beyond their young ages. This is where the center comes in to try and help them realize that they can be more than just orphaned people. Though the center doesn’t have boarding facilities the children are offered food on a daily basis after school. They are also taught different life skills. For example the children are given the chance to play soccer while others are exposed to sewing and raising poultry. Unfortunately the current political and economic situation has taken its toll on the centre. The centre has not escaped the limited funding and scarce donations. Like I said before I was challenged and have stopped thinking of only myself. I am going to consider other people and be involved in making a difference in at least one person’s life. I would like to encourage you to take time go visit these child care facilities and you will be surprised at how much you could do in changing someone’s life. Your help doesn’t have to be monetary – your presence can inspire those children to hope and dream beyond being just a surviving orphan.