A venture into where some elders fear

ZIMBABWE celebrated Day of the African Child last Friday with commemorations being held yesterday. Our reporter Grace Kaerasora interviewed the junior Mayor of Kadoma who recently published and launched two books. Read on.

Q: Please tell us briefly about yourself and your works.

A: My name is Ray Tonderai Chemvura. I am 18 years and doing upper six at Nkululeko High School. I stay in Kadoma where I am the current junior Mayor. I have published two books - “A Great Leader” which I started to write in October last year and has 107 pages. Then there is “Unlocking Your Riches” which is a recent project with 114 pages. These books were inspired by my own ideas which I thought were more useful to others if put on paper. Both books were launched on April 29 at Kadoma library and are selling at US$7 a copy. We initially printed 100 copies of each book, but we are capable of increasing the number of copies depending on demand.

Q: ‘A Great Leader’, sounds like an interesting title. Can you share more on that book?

A: The book was inspired by my mentor Chrispen Muyeche. He introduced me to leadership and felt that I needed to deliver the message to the world, that anyone can be a leader. It is not about gender or age, anyone can be a leader. Basically, it is a book that shows us what leadership is about and the weaknesses leaders have, but might be ignoring. Therefore it helps us overcome these weaknesses and become the greatest versions of leaders.

Q: And ‘Unlocking Your Riches’?

A: ‘Unlocking Your Riches’ was written with the view that poverty is a choice. I say so because I believe we have been given the capacity to make wealth. When our parents send us to school, they give us the capacity to be better people in life, so if we fail to utilise that capacity we end up poor. Therefore it is a choice we would have made by failing to utilise the capacity which we would have been given.

Q: You mentioned that the books have since been launched, what challenges did you encounter in getting to the final products?

A: Obviously the greatest challenge was access to finance. To get the books published, I was given a quotation of R92 000 from a South African publishing house. The figure was huge, but I told myself the figures would not dampen my spirit and I would not burden my parents with any pressure to raise the money. So I shared my vision with Pastor Tich Tanyanyiwa of Prevailing Word International Ministries. On the day I got elected as junior Mayor in February, Pastor Tanyanyiwa sent me a text message stating that he was sowing into the anointing that was in me as a leader. He added that he was going to publish my books at no cost. And true to his word, I am happy today that I am among the few young Zimbabweans with published works.

Q: Apart from the two books, any other works worth mentioning?

A: I contributed in a book called ‘Divas With No Limits’ written by Kumbu Malinga, Carl Joshua Ncube and other authors from South Africa and the United States. I wrote a special chapter in the book on how African systems and societies do not give equal opportunities to women. Basically, I talk of women empowerment, how to motivate them as well as the need for women to take the first step in developing themselves.