The Sunday Mail
Book Review
Edmore Zvinonzwa
THE world over, the transition from school into the world of training, employment and at worst joblessness has never been easy.
School leavers struggle because the expectations they have while still learning are very high, with different systems of education apprenticing them to believe that they will go it easy. At this level, usually people assume the school leavers have received some career guidance of some sort. However, experience has shown that this is not usually the case and the duo of lawyer Patony Musendo and doctor entrepreneur Farai Maphosa have just released a possible filler to this yawning gap in human development.
The book, titled “Dear Yuppie: Letters to the Young Professional” draws from the duo’s personal experiences. It could easily pass for career guidance sessions.
Officially launched in Harare on Sunday, the Royalty Books publication is packaged in the format of a collection of letters and takes nuggets from the Bible, African proverbs as well as notable people.
In the words of the authors: “Wise people learn from other people’s experiences. The not-so-wise learn from their own experiences. Choose to be wise. Learn from our (and other people’s) experiences.”
The observation made by writer and inspirational speaker Milton Kamwendo that his own life lacked this kind of grounding makes the book even more valuable.
Each chapter of the 157-page collection is a different letter and looks at an entirely different aspect of concern for those who have just left school and are still at a quandary as to what decisions they should make in their lives.
Today’s youths, including those in Zimbabwe, have been caught in the web of dangerous substance abuse because of idleness and the grounding they can get from this book will push them away from this fast-spreading vice.
Perhaps one of the approaches the authors use, that of satire and humour, render permanent lessons in readers’ minds.
For instance, the letter titled “Knowledge and Exposure” when the writer is arrested at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport after the discovery of a bottle of sea water in his luggage.
He had collected the water from the Indian Ocean and intended to show it to his grandmother back home!
“My humiliating experience in Kenya motivated me to seek to know more in life. It urged me to desire to be knowledgeable and exposed. Knowledge is power. Knowledge is life. Knowledge makes a difference . . . What you seek to know will make the difference. I will never be the same again.”
The authors also comment on traditional knowledge systems.
“The village is one of the best classrooms of life. It is a reservoir of ancient knowledge and wisdom you might never find in books …They don’t flow with the eloquence and fluency of the charismatic and charming. They don’t drip in opulence and luxury brought by money and wealth.” (p15)
While some people are critical of rural life, claiming it is empty and has nothing to offer, it instead gives quite a strong foundation for people in terms of character and discipline.
“The village has taught me a great lesson about work ethic. If you don’t work you will not eat. Simple! Growing up going to the village I knew that once there, I had to work. Life there taught me the meaning of making hay while the sun shines. I understood the concept of working while you are still energetic. I credit much of my work ethic to the rigours and disciplines of the ordinary folk.” (p17)
One of the greatest lessons in the collection is about not giving up after a setback.
A partner at Kamusasa and Musendo Legal Practitioners and chancellor for Manicaland in the Anglican Church, Patony has been practicing law for over 20 years and has a passion in leadership development, capacity building and empowering minds.
On the other hand, Farai is Food Safety director based in Paris. Married to Busi, Farai lives with his family in The Netherlands and the couple are pastors at RCCG Amazing Grace Parish in Wageningen in the European country.
