Happy Harare...

I am lucky enough to do quite a lot of photojournalism around Zimbabwe and Southern Africa, mostly tourism and wildlife related stories, but recently I was happy to receive a brief from Travel Africa magazine to do something a little different. For their April/June edition they wanted to feature an article on the highlights and attractions of Zimbabwe's capital Harare. The article was coined 48 hours in Harare I was asked to showcase a variety of activities that a tourist could enjoy in and around Harare in a few days. 

This involved quite a lot of interaction with some of Harare's residents, from the amazingly talented sculpture artists at the Chitungwisa arts centre to arts and crafts purveyors at the various flea markets I visited. Several strangers were also accosted in the streets and everyone was always happy to have their picture taken, affirming the often attributed characteristic that Zimbabweans are some of the friendliest people in Africa.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time meeting new people around Harare and would encourage anyone to get onto the streets and mingle, make new friends and most importantly smile alot!

You can check out the edition of Travel Africa magazine that features my article here (flip to page 80) and see some of the amazing smiles that I captured around Harare below.

Inspiration in the Darkness...

The shrill chant of children's voices echoes starkly in the fridge like classroom, the maps and colorful drawings plastered on the rooms’ walls are barely visible in the darkness. With barely enough light to see their material, 3 groups of children huddle around cheap, dim solar lanterns reciting mock test answers in preparation for their upcoming grade 7 exams.

Swathed in warm clothes and a beanie to ward off the bone chilling cold is the leader of this inspiring scene, Fuyana Tshatiwa, grade 7 teacher at Ngamo Primary School near Hwange’s National Park’s southern boundary. Entirely of her own accord and at her cost Fuyana is coaching 14 members of the grade 7 class every evening for several hours. The bitterly cold nights, worsened by the unheated concrete classroom and the lack of decent lighting are no deterrent to this inspiring teacher, who has already had a full day’s work at the school.

Tonight, as she inspires me and the few visitors who are with me in the classroom she is more upbeat than ever, buoyed on by the fact that the school has just received a donation of a 5Kva diesel generator, which brings the promise of decent lighting and thus easier learning.

The generator was donated by a selfless visitor inspired by the amazing work the teachers are doing at Ngamo Primary School, crucially, this visitor was a tourist on holiday in Hwange National park with Imvelo Safari Lodges and had visited the school as part of a community activity. With the support generated by tourism operations like Imvelo and Wilderness Safaris the Ngamo community have stepped up to the plate and are thriving, all thanks to tourism dollars.

For me personally this visit was an amazingly inspirational experience and a reminder that despite the current doom and gloom attitude in Zimbabwe everyday people continue to do amazing things in their communities. Fuyana braves the cold and the dark not because it benefits her but because she is selflessly committed to the enrichment and development of her grade 7 students, something we should all take note of.

As a photojournalist I am privileged to often find myself witnessing inspiring people doing amazing things, but will shamefully admit that I do not know whats going on in my own community back at home. Like Fuyana, I am sure there are selfless people doing inspirational things just round the corner from where I live, so I am going to find out and support them however I can, after all, isn't that how thriving communities are built?