It could help save the country IMAJENI

Winky D and Gemma Griffith’s MuGarden has literally been playing in the heads of a lot Zimbabweans for a while now. Released about the three weeks ago, the song has gained 1.3 million views on YouTube for its music video (anyone want to make it two million?) and has endless continuous play on our radio stations and in a lot of people’s personal playlists. Not to mention the social media challenges, boom in mindshare and popularity for Gemma and general good publicity that the song has. To call it a massive success would be a huge understatement, and the success is well deserved, as the song and video have a level of top-notch quality and novelty to it. And what I would like to address is the part about that said novelty. A huge draw for a lot of people to look this song up was the fact that Winky D was collaborating on a major song with a person of a different ethnicity, a white person to be exact, and a lot of Zimbabweans where blown away by Gemma’s command of Shona. But while a project like this was new for a lot of people, it shouldn’t have to be. In fact, in a time where Zimbabwe as a nation seems to get more divided by the day, we need more projects like this that can bring together our country’s  different cultures, races, genders  and social backgrounds.

Now I’ll start by mentioning that MuGarden isn’t the first musical project to have people of different races on it, but it is the first one that has seemed to have this much reach or impact on people here. There are tons of artists and groups with people from different racial backgrounds that also put out great work. But unfortunately those seem to be enclosed to certain circles, because of how divided Zimbabwe is. And trust me, we are divided. We have been for probably decades now, and there have been multiple instances and reasons for why this happened, many which are valid and understandable. But in a time where our country seems to fall apart with each passing day and life as a Zimbabwean becomes an “extreme sport” as some would call it, is the one thing we need more lines in the sand? I personally remember a question a friend asked me back when I was in high school. I had been privileged enough to learn at a private school in Mutare and my family went to a church in a high-density area there called Sakubva. A friend of mine in church literally asked me once  that since I was learning with white people, if I found out if they were really nice people or they put shows on when they would donate to the church orphanage, going on to ask me how they act or what they are like in various situations. It was weird for me back then, but it’s even more saddening when I think about it now. Because whilst his questions could be considered a little odd or extreme by some, I’ve met kids in high density areas today that may ask a similar question. Let alone people in their teens or adolescent stages who somehow have never really interacted with a white person, at least not to the level where they can actually identify them as an actual person and realise that while differences exist in every race, we’re all still people inside And racial division is one thing, but we all know more forms of it exist , tribal, gender based or even worse classist. There was the relatively recent Precious Mutunzi VLOG about the different social classes in Zim which was……abrasive to some, but did seem to have the right idea in showing people just how split the lifestyles in Harare alone are. The only problem is our country has gotten to a point where this split in life experiences and living conditions makes some Zimbabweans….not even recognize their less privileged kin as fellow Zimbabweans. Now should it be like this? Of course not. We’ve gotten to a point where during the January shut down protests we had social media jokes about people in Borrowdale being shocked about the chaos in “their neighboring country Zimbabwe”. And while some people may take to be all good fun, it hints at certain amounts of resentment and segregation that happens among our social classes. Resentment and segregation that should not even exist to be frank. Some things are inevitable yes, and even if things were a lot better not everyone born in Borrowdale will have a best friend from Budiriro, but that doesn’t excuse the way some of us may look at a person with maybe even a level of disdain or disgust because they aren’t as well of as you.  In the same way being from a less fortunate background doesn’t mean every person you meet from a well-to do background had it easy in life or is rich because someone in the family is in league with the ruling circle. No one should have to be judged for where they come from, whether privileged or underprivileged.  Our country is hurting already, the last thing we all need to do as Zimbabweans is give it more reason to bleed by letting our division turn into more wounds.

And this is where things like MuGarden come in. Cross-cultural, multi-background experiences are something Zimbabwe needs a lot more of to help promote people in this country to reach out, work with or just meet people who come from a different background than you. In the same way we push each other to support local in our brands and products, let’s realize that “local” means more than just people with black skin, or speak Shona or went to the same private school or are the same sex/gender as you. Zimbabwe may not be as crazy a diversity mixture as other countries on this globe, but it is more diverse than it seems. And coming together, all of us, learning more about each other, exchanging ideas, beliefs better yet deciding to do something, anything together is a bright spot we all need in a time where a lot of dark clouds seem to be around us. In fact embracing that diversity may be the shot in the arm so many of us need to add something new to something we are already working on. After all diversity in itself is meant to bring variety, nuance, and novelty to almost anything it touches. Look at it this way, you’ve lived in a Zimbabwe that seemingly gets dourer and blander as each year passes. Wouldn’t embracing something, someone totally different from you bring you at the very least some much needed color to your outlook of this country? And with that,  I’ll personally say I hope to see more public projects that include different and diverse Zimbabweans. And every chance we can as The Zimbabwean Perspective we will try and promote such ideas and projects. We hope you all will too. And that perhaps some of what was said here will nudge you (just a little even) to reach more Zimbabweans that differ from you.