The Sunday Mail
Waddilove High School’s Misheck Jaravaza is the Winner of the 2017 GFPS-Kasoma Africa Essay Writing Competition after facing a fierce fight from Dominican Convent’s Juliana Makonise who emerged as the first runner-up.
In addition Juliana Makonise also got a token of recognition for her essay which attracted close to 40 000 online views and received the most feedbacks both on the Sunday Mail blog and the Global Foundation of Public Speaking Facebook page. The Second Runner-up was Shannon Jones from Mabelreign Girls High School whilst third runner-up was Agnes Mutsvairi from Wanganui High School in Mhondoro-Ngezi.
Dubbed the “Tell your African Story, Win a Tablet” contest, the competition which ran from March to May this year, sought to demystify the negative myths associating Africa with poverty, disease and failure by encouraging Zimbabwean students to narrate their stories, challenges and success stories from an Afro-centric perspective. GFPS-Kasoma Africa Coordinator Mr Fungayi Sox stated that for a pilot project, the competition had surpassed its benchmark as close to 100 essays had been received from 8 out of the country’s 10 Provinces.
The panel of essay adjudicators consisted of four final year students drawn from Harare Polytechnic, the University of Zimbabwe and Women’s University of Africa. The essays were judged on whether they gave someone an idea of what it feels like to live in Zimbabwe and a true reflection of everyday life in Zimbabwe or lifestyle of a Zimbabwean. The Kasoma Africa Platform is currently one of the fastest growing online storytelling platform with African countries such as Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda contributing most of its content.
Guest of Honour, Sunday Mail Bridge Editor Charles Mushinga said he was impressed with the quality of the essays and encouraged all students to continue writing without fear of embarrassment. The competition was administered by the Global Foundation of Public Speaking, an organization that grooms effective communication skills, develops self-directed learners and builds the capacity of students in all public speaking centered activities, in partnership with Kasoma Africa, an online storytelling platform. Students can continue sharing their amazing African stories on www.kasomafrica.com
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.
