Ndini zvangu paPassport Office!

It’s interesting how Harare never runs out of people getting passports, yet in other towns you can practically walk into the passport office and be the only one there. So now it is my turn to go through this dreaded experience seeing as though my passport has expired. I have however decided to make this a pleasurable experience. I got there at 6.15am only to find over 200 people there already! Hallo??? What time do these people get up? So as I am walking towards the queue, 3 men approach me and offer me a place in the top 10 for $5.00. I politely turned them down and they persisted. And each of them had different positions and each was trying to convince me that one place is better than the other. It was just hilarious. However, as funny as it was it just reminded me of the hustler mentality that Zimbabweans have. These guys got up very early to hold places in the queue and then sell these places! Ingenious! As if that was not enough, there was a guy at the side of the road selling cups of hot coffee or tea with bread! So appropriate, and for sure it was selling fast. And now the icing on the cake, there were also guys who were selling black pens that would normally cost $1 for 5 or 6, here they were $1 for 2 and they stressed how you could not fill in the forms if you had no black pen (I later asked when I got inside and they said either a black or blue pen would do the trick, so clearly these guys were really misinformed, as they were about a whole bunch of other things). Oh and these same guys do photos and photocopying...by the roadside!
So apart from wanting to be a good citizen, I suppose I went through this whole process to see if I could come up with any interesting observations about the system of getting documents which are rightfully ours, and why we resort to paying someone to sort them out for us and now I fully understand why! So we were split into 2 groups, those that needed the passports within 3 days (US$253.00) or in 1 day (US$318.00) on the one hand, and then those that needed the ones that are supposed to take 1 week (US$150.00) but actually take a month, on the other hand. Then we were told to go and make our payments and then get the forms. I tell you the staff all of a sudden started being extra nice it was astonishing. I remember one of the guys asking me which passport I wanted and I could not even answer him because of the amazing treatment he was giving me. Ok, so I pay, fill in the forms and get myself ready to go and hand in. First the lady tells me that my I.D is still a paper one and looks “untidy” so I should go and get a proper one! Can you believe it, so I go and behold... another queue! So I waited a good hour before I could get served and eventually I get the I.D. sorted, and then I eventually handed it in, eish I am really making it seem easier than it really was, let me save you the drama!
I am bothered about this process though, because something that will simply be an in-and-out job, will take forever in Zim. And it is not even that we do not have the technology! Oh no. Its there, and there money is definitely there; I think I can safely count at least 60 people (which is way less than the actual people who were there), who needed 3 day passports so on average they are raking in more than US$15 000.00 a day, and please note I have not even included the 24 hrs and 1 week passports, which were over 200 people, so that’s an additional US$30 000.00!!! So where is this money being used? Because clearly it hasn’t helped the infrastructure or the system at the passport office which by the looks of things really needs improvement. Should we go through so much trouble just to get a simple travel document, an I.D. or even a birth certificate and especially because we are paying so much for them? Are we not creating unnecessary corruption by allowing simple processes to be so tedious? Can the average Zimbabwean afford to have a passport? Are these avenues for corruption simply “created circumstances” by a select few so that only these selected few can exploit and benefit from? Given a choice, I would rather have paid more money and have the passport delivered to my doorstep, than spend all that time waiting to be told “ magetsi aenda vabereki, huyai mangwana”! Food for thought!

Am I ready to be me?

I think God is beyond genius. When I look at some of the things that happen in my life in the way that they do, I know it is beyond my wit. Yesterday I headed back home from the studio, very inspired by the work that I had done, so inspired that I did not know what to do with that inspiration. I called up a good friend of mine and I went to see him and the first thing that he does is play me his latest offerings and I marvelled at his ability to be himself and this extended to his music and his style. And the last thing he said to me was that not everyone was going to be by my side even the closest of people, but I need to realise that it might not be them but a greater force working in them so all I need to do is “forgive them for they know not what they are doing.” So I headed back home and as if there was some divine intervention, I put on my Lauryn Hill CD, and she serenaded me as I went to sleep. I got up at 5am, and for some reason decided to listen to some more Lauryn (God bless that woman!). I have listened to this CD several times, and those that know me know that I can sing every song on every album and every time I listen to her I get a different message and it is always something to do with what I am going through or a preparation for an experience I am yet to go through. What i first picked up was passion. She highlighted that when you do what you are passionate about and what God put you on this earth for, you are praising Him in a way greater than any other way possible because that is your purpose. But sometimes we make our passion a burden because we put the wrong things around using that passion. In carrying out our passion most of us make the mistake of looking to what others are doing and emulating them, yet that is not compatible to whom we are. She (Lauryn Hill) says that our passion will not work if we are trying to compare ourselves to a standard which is not reality. We compare ourselves amongst ourselves yet the truth is You are the standard, and you should compare yourself to what you are capable of! I mean really how is it possible that an "infinite God with all this expression who created every single one of us absolutely different, ON PURPOSE, wants everyone to fit into the same suit?" We have to be ready to differentiate ourselves in our uniqueness from the rest of the crowd. One reason why it is difficult for people to be themselves is of course social “doctrine”, where the society has set standards for us and we feel we need to adhere to them and for that reason we are simply not real to each other. We have lost the concept of reality. If we could all just be open and real with each other it would save us a lot of time and effort. And after my studio experience it just makes me see this in another light. Artists break their backs and spend lots of money trying to produce just one track let alone one album, and then it seems like “they just put it together” but do we realise the time and effort put into our art, let alone our passions? Let’s give each other the real picture because all it does is help us appreciate each other even more. If i were to tell you some of the things that I have had to sacrifice (and still sacrificing) I can guarantee that you will all be lining up at each and every one of my functions to support me. REALITY is a difficult thing to deal with as reality involves truth. We cannot get the truth from the outside in but it’s from the inside out and she alludes to how society has made us believe that we need to take care of our outer self in order to be happy internally, when it’s really the other way round. She then goes on to say that she has always looked at Bob Marley and she thought if she just had the locks and the rasta look and that would be good but we all overlook that he went through struggles, trials and tribulations that made his music get to the quality that it got to and to gain the respect that it did and it takes more than just the image to make the person. So I am in a process of growth and it seems this growth is being met with resistance. Lauryn Hill says that anything that is not growing is dead, and with growth there is inevitable change. Do not hold me hostage for change in my life. I am changing because that is a natural part of life and I am letting my experiences teach me. I am finally ready to be me in spite of what anyone else will think! I am ready to be me.

Witchcraft

I have just watched our local news and there was a very interesting story about a family that were gathered in front of a chief in their area trying to sort out an issue of witchcraft in their family. Apparently, one of the family members had 2 big snakes (in the hills) that were stopping the rain from falling in that area and that person also used male genitals to open graves! (I have no idea how that is possible). What interested me was how that family actually took time out to gather together to sort out this issue, and it was such an important gathering for them. The chief actually ruled that a cleansing ceremony be done as soon as possible.
Forgive me, I have no in depth knowledge about issues regarding witchcraft and other traditional beliefs, but truth be told, I think there are a number of Zimbabweans that are rooted in traditional beliefs, more than the recorded statistics. It is assumed that Zimbabwe’s religious syncretism is 50% Christian, 25% indigenous, 24% Muslim and other beliefs 1%. This I think is not true. I had the opportunity of spending time with one of Zim’s well known ex government officials who needed me to do a function for them (which I ended up not doing for various reasons which will need another blog to explain), but I remember her calling another well known official at 7am at their residence and they were reported to have left at 5am to go to their rituals. So when I asked her to explain what these rituals were, she simply laughed at my ignorance and asked me why I did not know that everyone visits traditional healers for various reasons. So clearly, there are a number of people that are very traditionally vested and there is clearly nothing wrong with that I guess as everyone has freedom to choose their beliefs, but because people are socialised to believe that Christianity is the “right” religion, they would rather not come out in the open.
Then I visited the salon last week to get my hair done and guess what the centre of the discussion was ... witchcraft. Now you know that the salon has exaggerated versions of stories, but I will share them anyway. There was a woman who had a sister who was married to this guy, but the guy’s father did not like her at all. So at the wedding he swore that she would never have children and the first time she got pregnant, she miscarried. The next time she fell pregnant, she also miscarried the day after the father in law had visited them. Then he decided to move in and the fights between the couple just erupted. It got so bad that they are now separated. The other story was about a woman who was renting this place in the suburbs but started miscarrying ever since she moved in and every time she would wake up she would see a lizard/s in her bed! Then her pastor in the States had a dream about the whole situation and called her the next morning and ordered her to move out immediately if she wanted to keep her life. Apparently, the landlord was using this girl for her selfish reasons and was feeding off her babies! Imagine that!!!
Now there were a whole lot of stories that came out and I ended up spending more time than I had intended to in the salon. Clearly there are a whole lot of people who believe in witchcraft and its present whether we want to accept it or not. But what are the repercussions of such an issue on a national level. I was thinking to myself, if I get bewitched today and I can somehow prove it (don’t ask me how) where do I go to get help? I know in the rural areas the chief can attend to such issues but is that the case here in central Harare? How on earth did the people who were accusing the family member of witchcraft prove that he/she had snakes in the hills and did they actually see them opening the graves with the genitals? Do people get arrested for bewitching another person? Should witchcraft be something that should be included in the constitution? Because surely it is affecting people somehow. Is witchcraft really there in the first place or is it just something that people are using to hide behind what the truth really is?
Food for thought!!!

I love ZBC

I love ZBC! I seem to be laughing all the time when I am watching our only Zimbabwean television station. So I was really bored on a Sunday afternoon ...and evening and I decided to tune into it. The calibre of movies that they are showing is just insulting I tell you. But what amazes me is the talent that this country has. I have been attending the Zim Images Film festival for the past few years and the type of short films being produced by our very own is amazing and of international standard. Why are these films not being screened on our own station? I don’t expect something dramatic like Avatar or something but let me use Mai Chisamba as an example. That talk show has gained so much popularity simply because she has taken everyday issues and has provided an open forum to discuss them and even better, they are in our local language, Shona. There is nothing fancy about the types of cameras used for that show, I mean we can’t really compare that to Oprah or even S.A’s “Lets Chat with Mel”, but she has got the idea, she has managed to captivate Zimbabwean aspects and has made a successful talk show out of it, never mind the quality. I remember the other day there was a kid’s show which was meant to be teaching children how to swim. Can you believe that they showed uncoordinated swimmers from Borrowdale Primary school swimming for a whole 45 minutes? The camera was in the same position the whole time and the most effort they made was zooming. There was absolutely no commentary at all, just children doing crawl, backstroke, butterfly and breast stroke repeatedly! Imagine that for the only TV station in a developing country! I happened to come across our very own studio 263 on Africa Magic the other day and I imagined what other countries would say about Zimbabwean film after such a production. We have to give them credit they have made an effort to capture Zimbabwe’s current lifestyle, but Zim acting is a bit too exaggerated and does not seem natural. There has to be a difference between theatre and film. But how come we were able to do it when we did Neria and Everyone’s Child which were brilliant local movies. I do understand that they were funded, but the acting in those films seemed more natural and the concepts authentically Zimbabwean!
And then we move on to music videos! AMAIHWEE! What is happening to the creativity in this country, or rather, how come those that really know how to make good videos are not doing them for our local consumption? Is it budget constraints? But surely we can make a plan with what we have. I honestly think that our local station is not a reflection of the type of talent that we have in this country and I guess platforms like ZBC have not given the artists an incentive for them to want to be on that station. I know a couple of guys who do filming in this country and they are doing brilliant productions, so the talent and expertise and the equipment is there. If I had a music video, I would gladly give it to Channel O any day and even pay them flight it if I have to, because they have branded themselves well and have a wider outreach. I guess there are also many legal reasons that prohibit our local TV and radio stations from such expansion, but surely they can do something for the locals. There was a time when we could do without DSTV or SABC and enjoy the best films on our local station ZBC. And even the local productions themselves like Mukadota and Paraffin reflected authentic Zimbabwean scenarios, not the best of quality, but it kept us so entertained! Can someone really explain to me why we cannot go back to that, and even get better? And with the high costs of advertising on the stations, surely something should be done to improve the quality of films being shown.
Okay, now I have to go and watch Prime Gospel Show and enjoy the local music videos! Yoh!