RSS 2.0 FeedMarch 2010 Vol 7, Featured Articles
Women in Zimbabwe:We want a future
The UN Commission on the Status of Women convenes in New York today (1 March) to look at gender equality and the advancement of women. The ongoing challenge is how to help young women with few choices, like Privilege Zengeni, realise their aspirations. Oxfam’s Nicole Johnston reports
Privilege Zengeni is a breathtakingly articulate young woman with a direct manner and a bright smile. She also embodies the challenges facing young Zimbabwean women, as well as their resilience
We met when she approached me at a meeting about a cash transfer scheme run by Oxfam partner, Lead Trust, in Bulawayo. Drawn by my video and digital camera, she was shy but came straight to the point: “Can you please show me how that works? I want to be a journalist one day.”
Few alternatives
Like many Zimbabwean children and teenagers, Privilege is an orphan. She lives with her aunt and her gogo (granny) in a household with no steady income. They survive by selling vegetables, which they grow in their own backyard. Unemployment tops 90% in Zimbabwe and there are few alternatives. The family’s vulnerability qualifies them for the cash transfer scheme, which provides $25 a month to households identified by community members as being in urgent need of help.
Even in a country where - as the joke goes - “education is the biggest religion”, Privilege’s yearning for learning is unmistakable.
“Life is hard here. We need to learn but we don’t have the money for school fees. I know I need to be educated to secure my future, but what can I do?”
Privilege is still in high school, unable to complete her schooling until she can clear her outstanding fees and find money to enrol for Form Four.
She wants to be a health or development journalist so she can speak directly to other girls about the issues that directly affect their lives, particularly HIV and unplanned pregnancies.
“Maybe they feel they don’t have a choice”
“As girls it is difficult for us. When we have our periods we don’t even have money to buy sanitary pads. Things can get really hard at home, so girls will look out for a grown-up man who can give them money. But at the end we become pregnant or get HIV and that ’sugar daddy’ will never come back for you. Girls do hear the messages about HIV prevention but they don’t listen. Maybe they feel they don’t have a choice, so they do those things. I won’t do that because I want a future and I have learned from seeing other people’s mistakes.”
She feels that girls need someone they can talk to, who understands their concerns and speaks their language. “Someone needs to tell our stories,” she says.
More Featured Articles
CAUGHT CHEATING? HOW TO MOVE FORWARD AFTER BEING UNFAITHFUL
We all learn to look out for signs that our man is cheating, or subtle hints that he might be seeing someone else on the side, but what if you are the one that cheated? Assuming that you still want to work on your current relationship, we have 7 ways to move on successfully after you’ve been unfaithful. This is not a “loop-hole” and is not praised, but the reality is 14 percent of married women have had affairs at least once during their married lives and 17 percent of divorces in the United States are caused by infidelity. If you fall into this category, and don’t want to be part of the divorce statistic, take a look at these helpful steps.
Sure signs she's cheating on you
MARRIAGES often break down on account of husbands not being loyal to their wives.
Who wants to be a monkey?
A student has been left feeling a little red-faced after an embarrassing incident with a monkey made her a global star. Charmian Chen, who just happens to be a model, was visiting the Sacred Monkey Forest Ubud in Bali last month when two of the primates decided she was a little overdressed.The 22-year-old student, from Taiwan, was on holiday on the tropical Indonesian island feeding long-tailed macaques when she was singled out.
Burden of Aids hits Zim women
Harare - Since testing positive for HIV six years ago, Cecilia Chinhamo has endured a torrent of verbal abuse from her husband.
Zimbabwean Oscar winner 'Music by Prudence' get to big screen
Music by Prudence," made partly with the financial and creative support of the Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore's MICA, overcame several other strong candidates, including the American labor tragedy "The Last Truck," to win best short documentary at the 2010 Academy Awards on Sunday night.
Nation Bleeds While Battle for Chiadzwa Intensifies
THE mystery surrounding the Chiadzwa diamonds continues to deepen with the alleged blockage of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines' visit to the fields for investigations wites William Chibhebhe.
Tales of Witchcraft Abound in Zimbabwe
In Zimbabwe, witchcraft is still common in rural areas. Hardly a week passes without a local report or newspaper story on the practice. For example, police recently cornered a man at the Mbare Mbare bus terminal, after they discovered a live cobra snake in his luggage. He told officers the reptile was one of his witching tools.
Avi Krawitz: An Open Letter to Abbey Chikane, the New KP Monitor for Zimbabwe
Dear Abbey: Firstly, congratulations on your appointment as the Kimberley Process (KP) monitor for Marange, Zimbabwe. It would be appropriate to say welcome back to the diamond industry, and even more appropriate to say welcome home. As a founding member and a former chairman of the process, I can’t think of any individual who is more suited to the job at hand.
Zimbabwe: Political and Security Challenges to the Transition
Despite initial scepticism, Zimbabwe’s year-old unity government has achievements to its credit, but the democratic transition remains at risk, especially from hard-line security officials – President Robert Mugabe’s last reliable supporters.
Journo calls Zuma a 'sex-obsessed bigot'
President Jacob Zuma has touched down on his first state visit to the UK and his programme begins in earnest on Wednesday when he will be entertained by the Queen.
A mysterious arms dealer lands Illinois golf course in legal "twilight zone"
MARION, ILL. — Until recently, people here had little reason to know the name John A. Bredenkamp or anything about his past, a tale worthy of a James Bond villain, filled with allegations of international arms deals, blood diamond trades and ties to despotic regimes in his native Africa.
Bob is 'God's gift to Africa'
Praise-singing politicians fall over themselves to salute Zimbabwe's leader as he nears 30 years in office
Windies slump to Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe recorded a 26-run triumph in an extraordinary Twenty20 International against West Indies in Trinidad.
African leaders show there are many countries for old men
Robert Mugabe is the eldest statesman on a continent where age is seldom a barrier to power
Transcript: FT interview with Jacob Zuma
Interview with Jacob Zuma, President of South Africa.
