Zvinhu zvese zvafamba zvakanaka
Isn’t this lovely?
In less poetic language it translates as ‘all went well’
It was written on a feed-back form by one of our community facilitators after a capacity training workshop
I have been waiting to use it…
One Friday each month, the Tree of Life invites representatives from all their partners,
the communities and groups who have trained as facilitators and workshop organizers
and have begun their own circles where they live.
On Fridays we sit together and bring our stories, our successes and failures and plans for the future
we talk of exchanging facilitators between communities,
and
have tea and sandwiches
laugh
Friday Circle
29.4.11
In Motoko they rose before dawn
walked the cold dusty paths dressed in Sunday best
the sparkle of Venus dims in the rosy glow of sunrise
cold morning air
wood smoke
nearly winter
At the main road they catch the combi
joining the morning crush
in a helter-skelter, precarious, two and half hour drive
life in the hands of a speeding, hell-bent driver
… into Harare
bustling noisy smoky morning traffic
queue at the terminus in piles of litter,
street people
vendors
to catch another combi to Marlborough
walk the last 2 km
to the monthly Tree of Life Partners Circle
Today was special
it is the week of the Harare International Arts Festival
and today we were to be visited by a group of young poets/singers/musicians
who would perform for us
But first the circle
today was special
what is the question we need to ask with the talking stone
that would bring our energy together?
50 people on a green lawn surrounded by trees
‘What is it, that inspires you, in doing this work?’
‘this circle’
‘the ability we have to communicate with communities across the country’
‘that we can speak together of our troubles and our inspirations knowing that we will be witnessed’
‘the power of love that holds us together’
‘the opportunity we have to heal our country’
‘the power of this network’
‘the spirit of love’
one young woman from Mrewa said
‘in this circle, for the first time, I can speak as an equal’
I feel an emergent pattern
flowing alongside the chaos
And then the artists…
These are our children
they have grown alongside this chaos
the last 11 years of their young lives have been a witnessing of corruption and violence and abuse of power
- town and country,
their adolescence has been spent in fearful isolating times
the closure of schools,
the loss of possessions and homes
families and communities disrupted and broken
so many deaths
What is it these new children of our nation have to say?
with their dreadlocks and hip-hop?
-of the freedom train… that left the station in 1980 when they were born free
and of the economy class – who were crushed together to make way for the first class
of the old woman who got left behind without money for the ticket
and the young mother who lost her baby
- those abandoned by the freedom train
Of the joy of being free within their own spirits
of living in the present
of connecting with nature
with his guitar a young man sang old songs
to old spirits with the voice of the old grandmothers
for the abused children
for the spirits of the dumped babies.
When he was asked what moved him to sing this song he explained
‘Once I was privileged – I had a job
and with the job came a newspaper
and it was in there – on pages 3 and 4
hidden away in lost corners
I read these stories
And I felt they were stories that everyone should know
So I sing’
A beautiful 18 year old
spoke with the voice of the young deaf and mute girl she was working with
a poem filled with vivid understanding
of the frustrated angry vacuum of this young life
She goes to this orphanage voluntarily, to hug the children!
A young man spoke with the voice of 3 different women
whose lives had been changed forever
by the burning and breaking down of outhouses and shack dwellings and posessions
in operation Murambatsvina
another young woman spoke
spoke from inside the skin
from inside the wall of prison
from inside the humiliated beaten body
from inside the mind
of one of our women human rights activists who was arrested last year
and powerful woman who was visiting Zimbabwe
called for the time of the return of the Goddess
the challenge of sharing the throne
of the balance of masculine and feminine
When asked how well she was received by our more conservative Christian population
she replied
‘I am not here to be approved of
I am here to make you think
about the coming of the inevitable’
A young boy not more than 11 years or so played traditional drums
he said he had been drumming since he was born
a young man sang
and we danced
what is this emergent pattern
flowing alongside the chaos
Zvinhu zvese zvafamba zvakanaka
