Unofungei Fungai?

A young ballerina dances at HIFA 2009- 7 Arts Theatre, Avondale.

I got into SA without a VISA. I so did! Just like that. It’s like a freedom that I ought not to be excited about- like the freedom to breathe and go to the toilet and eat the burger that I have just eaten so that I can exercise the former freedom- but I celebrate anyway because it it’s like lung that has been inflated to enable air to become breath, a mouth that has been unplugged to allow me to eat, an orifice in my nether regions that has burst open so that I can make room for more…

The man next to me has not finished his lunch. I am thinking what a waste. I am still hungry. The woman next to him has not done much justice to her food either. Agony. I look away and take in the awesome palatial masses of white vapour around me. They rise majestically out of nothing into each other and go on and on and on- Deathly still as if plotting silently, the thunderstorm of the century. (continue reading…)

I have been waiting now for almost five months. It will be 5 months on March 7th. No sign of a VISA. No sign that there will be a sign of a VISA- and yet they told me two months. What system is this, designed to keep people apart for so long? What bureaucracy that does not make way- even for love?

:: More

Oxfam Great Britain established the Susie Smith Memorial Prize in 2008 to honour the life and work of Susie Smith who died in June 2006. Susie touched the lives of many people around the world in her 30-year career with Oxfam. In her later years with the organisation, she championed the cause of HIV and AIDS and pioneered new approaches to tackling the pandemic. With this prize, Oxfam wants to acknowledge and build on Susie’s deep sense of justice and commitment to sub-Saharan African and her incredible talent and determination to challenge traditional thinking - especially about HIV and AIDS - wherever she found it. The prize of £3,000 will be awarded to a single piece of published writing on HIV and AIDS from sub-Saharan Africa. Any type of writing (for example poetry, fiction, a play, an article or a chapter of a book) of up to 10,000 words, in English, and published since January 2006, will be eligible. The judges will focus on two key elements: the quality of the piece itself (writing, analysis, insights) and evidence of impact of the writing in the media and/or with people, governments or other institutions.

Deadline: 31 March 2009

For more information visit http://www.oxfam.org.uk/susiesmith 

i am missing you
in agonized moments
that tick by
in painful tock motion
ants that never stop
neon signs
that won’t go off
flashing always
keep waiting- soon
keep waiting- soon

<<For the ninth time, the International Journalists’ Programmes (IJP) is offering a bursary to as many as 6 young Southern African and as many as 5 young German journalists. The Southern African-German Journalists’ Programme is an effort to shape an integrated understanding of another country and region and to foster relations between Africa and Germany. It has been offered as a response to concerns about the increasing political and cultural detachment between Africa and Europe. (continue reading…)

“In recognition of the part that the literary, visual and performance arts can play in fostering a culture of peace and tolerance in a highly polarized and complex situation as Zimbabwe today.  Zimbabwe Poets for Human Rights invites you to a free Tolerance & Towards peace Poetry Recital and Discussion Forum @ the US Embassy Public Affairs Section Auditorium 7th Floor Goldbridge on Tuesday 27 January 2009 from 1500HRS to 1700HRS.”

Thank you. We are through. Thank you.

Selmor Mtukudzi performs at the end of the International Images Film Festival for Women Awards ceremony in Harare on Saturday evening (29 Nov 08). (continue reading…)