The Sunday Mail
Wilson Kakurira recently in Murombedzi
KAWONDERA Secondary School successfully hosted this year’s edition of culture week commemorations at its culture centre on Friday in an endeavour to enlighten students from around Zvimba District on the importance of preserving the Zimbabwean cultural heritage.
Addressing scores of people and dignitaries who attended the event the guest of honour Chief Chirau heaped praises on students who exhibited their artwork at the ceremony and challenged those who attended the event to emulate the good work.
“I was very much impressed to see what our children and other people are doing to keep our cultural fabric intact. The country needs people with such mind-sets to preserve our rich cultural legacy because if we fail to teach our children on the importance of knowing our culture today we are most likely to raise a generation that does not know anything about our Shona culture.
“I would like also to thank the National Arts Council and the Ministry of Sport, Art and Culture for giving us the whole week to relive and look back at what we have done well as well as our shortcomings. We have done this to preserve our Shona culture through music, dance and art that we have seen on the stands as we were touring the school,” he said.
“In this life we live not all of us are gifted in art and it is my wish that those elders who are talented artists go on to train our young people so that when they pass on their talent will continue to live in these students who are gathered here today.
“Art can be a source of income to our children who are not gifted academically and I appeal to the Ministry of Sport Art and culture to create a markets locally and even abroad so that our children get something out of their work,” he said.
“Ticharamba tichiita mhemberero dzakadai nemumaWard mese kuitira kuti munhu wese azive kukosha kwekuchengeta chivanhu chedu munyika.
“Our culture boasts of rich music, herbs, artwork, dance and that makes us true Zimbabweans.Wherever you go every nation has its culture and that differentiate us from other nations across the globe and if we fail to preserve our culture we will surely loose our identity in this era of technology and computers,” he said.
Speaking on the side-lines of the same event Zvimba District’s Arts and Culture Development and Promotions Officer reiterated that culture week commemorations are important in educating children on the importance of knowing our culture and explaining to them that our cultural values should not be associated with witchcraft. “We have heard a lot of tales at churches people castigating our cultural practices labelling them evil and associated with witchcraft but that is not true because even before Christianity came our ancestors had their way of life and they prayed the same God.“As the parents we now have a mandate to erase this misconception from our children’s minds so that we enlighten them on the importance of knowing our cultural heritage.
“As Zimbabweans we have our local healthy traditional dishes, music, dressing and a distinguished way of praying and we should be proud of that.“However with the advent of computers and technology we now live In a global village and most of us have since ditched the Zimbabwean way of life to adopt foreign ways of living and if we are not careful our cultural values will be eroded.
“We cannot run away from our culture and our way of living and I am impressed with what I saw here today, young people exhibiting traditional herbs that can be used for medicinal purposes. Although these herbs were in existence since time immemorial these young people know how these herbs work and their purposes and we are sure that we will continue to benefit from these young people’s expertise.
“These herbs are cheaper and effective than the medicine we use today and our ancestors used them to cure any disease in their day.
My question to all who attended these celebrations today is that if our ancestors used these herbs and survived why we can’t today?
Gusho added that the culture week commemorations where invented by UNESCO.
“These celebrations came as a brainchild of UNESCO and we held a national launch in their year of inception as Mashonaland West but now we have taken it to schools so that pupils get to know much about our culture and where we come from as the Shona people.
“This year we chose Kawondera Secondary School to be our hosts after considering a lot of factors.
The school staff cooperates with us in every field and they work well with their community that surrounds them as can be shown by the attendance today, they also have one of the best culture centres in our district and we wanted other schools heads in our district see for themselves and go on to do the same when they go back to their schools,” she said.
“Our culture is rich and we have seen a lot of people making a living through art, Oliver Mtukudzi survives through music and Dominic Benhura has gone places exhibiting his artistry.
“Art has changed lives in our country and I urge all parents to encourage their children to do artwork so that when they finish school they can generate income for themselves through selling their art products.
“Kare kuimba kana kuveza zvainzi ndezvemarombe asi ndinoti aiwa ichi chivanhu chedu uye vana vanogona kutorarama nemabasa emaoko iwaya. Tikavadzidzisa vana ava zvinonakira nyika yedu mangwana,” she said.
“This is just the beginning of our journey to educate pupils and young people about the importance of knowing their culture and we expect to hold bigger and better celebrations next year so that our children grow up knowing the importance of knowing where they came from at the same time schooling them to maintain our cultural values as the Shona people,” she said.
Students, YOU CAN SEND YOUR ARTICLES THROUGH E-MAIL, FACEBOOK, WHATSAPP or TEXT Just app Charles Mushinga on 0772936678 or send your articles, pictures, poetry, art . . . to Charles Mushinga at [email protected] or [email protected] or follow Charles Mushinga on Facebook or @charlesmushinga on Twitter. You can also post articles to The Sunday Mail Bridge, PO Box 396, Harare or call 0772936678.
