The Launch of Chisiya Writers' Workshop: Preliminaries
In August, we launched Chisiya Writers' Workshop in Zvishavane, Zimbabwe. This was at Gwavachemai Secondary School in Mhototi, which is in the Mazvihwa area of Zvishavane district, near Mberengwa. It had taken over two years planning, but when it finally was going to happen, I suddenly didn't know what to expect. This was going to be the first workshop of its kind, a rural model writers' workshop that draws facilitators from the urban areas (which is where they usually live) and ask them to come stay in the village for a week, teaching the people in the area how to write. But once I had landed in Zimbabwe, the doubts began to intensify; I didn't know what to expect, plus I started having these questions: What if this thing fails? What if it is going to be a total disaster? What if we are going to encounter participants who did not care about writing? What if? What if? I had a few days to think about these things in Harare. I was even distracted by the international book fair, got to participate in the writers events, was asked to read from my work and at the big workshop even gave a vote of thanks. But these pre-events turned out to be good practice. By the time Memory Chirere and I left Harare for Zvishavane on Sunday (and we left really late), I was readier, I was better attuned to participating in writers' things. But still, I didn't know what to expect.
Fast forward to the end of the first day, I was the happiest person on earth. This thing was going to work, we had awesome participants, who even read on that very first day, read works they had written in preparation for the workshop. I sighed and appreciated the work the organizing committee at the school had done. The school was going to meet all our venue needs, and the teachers were going to take turns moderating each of the four remaining days. The school's administration was completely involved in the whole process, and things were going to work....
It's more than a month later and I still am in awe, that this model might actually work and spread across the Zvishavane district and beyond. In the coming few weeks, I will be writing posts based on the workshop, posting lots of pictures, reporting on some key events at the workshop, and talking about the future.
Many thanks to the participants and my fellow facilitators (Memory Chirere and David Mungoshi); great thanks to the school, to the teachers and the administration of Gwavachemai Secondary School); to the community leadership, and to the District Education of Zvishavane for the support (and request to have this workshop spread to other schools in the district).
Wow...
Fast forward to the end of the first day, I was the happiest person on earth. This thing was going to work, we had awesome participants, who even read on that very first day, read works they had written in preparation for the workshop. I sighed and appreciated the work the organizing committee at the school had done. The school was going to meet all our venue needs, and the teachers were going to take turns moderating each of the four remaining days. The school's administration was completely involved in the whole process, and things were going to work....
It's more than a month later and I still am in awe, that this model might actually work and spread across the Zvishavane district and beyond. In the coming few weeks, I will be writing posts based on the workshop, posting lots of pictures, reporting on some key events at the workshop, and talking about the future.
Many thanks to the participants and my fellow facilitators (Memory Chirere and David Mungoshi); great thanks to the school, to the teachers and the administration of Gwavachemai Secondary School); to the community leadership, and to the District Education of Zvishavane for the support (and request to have this workshop spread to other schools in the district).
Wow...
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