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AFTER THOUGHTS GUESTVWOIRCITEER
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ELLO, it’s me again! After many moons of being away from the keyboard, I am back to once again make friends, and maybe a few enemies. For those who remember me, it feels so good to be back. And if you do not know me, I’m Nomsa Mbuli, I have been living at Siteki for the past two years of COVID-19. I’m the founding Director for YATI, a thought-led, community empowerment and development organisation. I have a four-year old beautiful son who calls me mommy (still surprises me), and tells me he loves me every day. I am a feminist, and my writing with this esteemed newspaper is always focused on discussing topical issues from a youthful woman’s point of view.
Despite all the disruptions, hardships and uncertainty brought by the pandemic, and the political commotion that has faced the country for the past
two years and one year respectively, we can only thank God that those of us who are still standing, still are. So many have lost friends and relatives, and sadly also have had to face the reality that we could not seek solace in each other because of strict regulations to social distancing in order to prevent further spread of the disease. What a time to be alive and witness such a sad occurrence in history. We each want to make and be part of history, but this is not what we envisioned will be part of the history we witness.
Restriction
I am sure the lockdown restriction made us all wonder what we could do with our time. For me, I found comfort in reading and one of the books I read, which gave me hope, was The Gift. It was a gift indeed as I learnt so much from Edith’s journey, including coping mechanisms when faced with a difficult situation. I wish I could publish the key lessons for everyone because I understand that so many lost their jobs, some were demoted and similar struggles while companies were trying to keep themselves afloat. The political unrests that followed had a mixed impact – they provided a destruction from what has seemingly become the new normal, but also underpinned more pain as we lost lives, businesses to arson and some lost their personal properties due to violence at the informal ‘tollgates’ that were erected around the country.
But despite all that’s happened, the endemic which is gender-based violence (GBV) continues to rear its ugly head in our communities. It’s no surprise that
in the past two years the stories kept coming, and coming because most people were stuck at home with the abusers, with no escape. Teenage pregnancy became rampant and parents faced their worst fears. This means that on top of rebuilding the economy, the infrastructure, we have an added role to play – intensifying the fight against GBV. We have to pick up the pieces, and really ensure that the country, our communities and homes are safe again for women and children, as the main victims of GBV. It would be nice to one day, for a whole month or year even, open the newspaper and not have to read about a woman who was hacked to death, a teenager who was impregnated by her father, a young girl who was drugged and then raped or a pastor who takes advantage of his female congregants.
Captivating.
I look forward to a new journey with my audience, engaging and captivating. I hope that as I write and learn, we will be learning together, be transformed together and become better citizens. For years I’ve felt that every day is the same and the pandemic didn’t help in this regard, but I wish that one day we will reach a point where each day is different, and our actions contribute towards the betterment of our communities. It is not possible to bring sudden change, but taking it one step at a time and believing the country will become exactly what we, as young people envision it to be, one discussion at a time that will hopefully open our eyes towards a single goal, despite the different routes we might each want to take.