Author name: Juliet Mashiri

Sitting around a camp fire at night is a delight! The crackling wood, the magical changing colors in the flames, the sparks flying off into the night…no where I would rather be. Does the hypnotic affect of the warm colors woe us to another place? Do the dancing flames give us courage? Does the infinite […]

Today, 9 August 2019, marks my fifty-fourth year as a resident at the Matapi Flats in Mbare. I must say, life has not been so cosy and rosy after all, but l have survived. “Hodha bhero! Hodha bhero!” It’s always a scramble to get access to the latest bale on the market each morning. Mothers

The first rule of the jungle when you get lost is that you should stop and take in all the details of your surroundings. Seem like I had forgotten that. I paced around confidently as I summoned all my navigator knowledge from the boy-scout expeditions I had undertaken as a child to be of help.

Two years ago I was staying temporarily with a friend in town. On my way to her apartment a woman stopped me. She had a baby on her back and was holding the hand of an adolescent. They were very dirty, thin and clearly in distress. She asked if I’d seen her son Tatenda (which means we are thankful in Shona). ”He looks like his

Women just aren’t emotionally capable of handling such a job. David; 32 of age, College graduate, bachelor, the best in the company and my ultimate rival. The devil incarnate himself.My blood bubbles like hot larva beneath my skin just remembering his awful words. How dare he utter such an insensitive sexist remark like it is nothing. Though anger surges through my

An intense gaze hooded with anguished and enraged brown eyes laced with mine- holding them captive without any sign of relenting mercies. Reality slowly seeped in as I realised that I was no longer entitled to the devoted love, trust and hope I had always known. “Will you miss me ?” The words tumbled out

“Excuse me”. Silence. “Excuse me”. Still no response. “I said excuse me”, the voice grew bolder. “Can I grab a sit next to you?”. “Yeh”, it was a tired response as his eyes continued to rummage through the newspaper. Putting her books down, she pulled a chair and sat. A waiter was immediately beside her. “Evening

The drought season had left us hungry and penniless. Each day I would painfully watch as my mother listened to the weather forecast on the radio. I would see the glint of hope in her dark-chocolate coloured  eyes flicker like a candle in the dark – but the weather never changed. During the darkest hour of

The silence started at the front of the kombi when I suddenly turned off the latest dance hall song on the radio. “Ahh, Blaz, why you turn it off?” Fidzo, the conductor who quite liked the new song, protested. When he didn’t get a response, he looked over at me and saw that I was serious, a state that he had never seen me in,

GOOD MORNING ZIMBABWE The alarm went off, my hand went out and knocked it to the floor, “Ouch!”, I said, got out of bed and banged into the door Grabbed my phone, nothing happened and threw it towards the bed It crashed to the floor, flashed bright once and now it’s truly dead! Grabbed the