One world under the skyMutare was the centre of the world for me. When I looked up, as a small boy, and saw the mountains that surrounded me, how they connected like a chain of beads around the city of Mutare, I fooled myself believing that beyond the monutaines lay nothing. It was as if they were the ends of my tiny world..
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Zaion-Horn of Africa restaurant and bar opens in UmeåOne of the most pleasant ways of opening up to a new culture is by trying its food. Specific dishes , how they are prepared, served and eaten can say a lot about a culture. A good friend of mine, Mike, originally from Eritrea, has decided to open an Eritrean/Ethiopian restaurant in Umeå. I am very proud of him. Mike is my first friend since I moved to Sweden six years ago, and surprisingly, the only friend I have in a 150km radius. Gosh!, How terrible or rather sad, that must sound. My experince of Sweden has made me believe that making friends is not as easy as I had always found before moving here. I believe that while I generaly regard swedes as very friendly people, being friendly is not the same as being easy to become friends with. More on this in another post, but for now lets celebrate cultural diversity .
The first real snowfall has come, the clocks have been wound 1 hour backwards and me and my little gang are shifting our routines.
I confess that having grown up in the warmth of Zimbabwe, the cold automatically makes me long to be indoors. Discussing the weather is one of the easiest ways of starting small talk in Sweden. I learnt. So I will start mine by highlighting how much I love the fall, or autumn. It is a time of colourful shades of red, orange and yellow leaves.
The 80´s were a glorious time to be alive for me. They were the years of my childhood. In Zimbabwe there is a term called "ma born free", referring to anyone born after 18 April 1980, the day when Zimbabwe officially attained its independence from 90 years of colonialism under Britain. And now, it seems it is hard to talk about history or the present time in Zimbabwe, without risking being accused of "talking politics". My focus is not on the politics of this period, but is instead a chance to talk about my simple experiences during that historical epoch from my childhood. I wonder if it is possible at all to talk about the glorious days of my childhood without someone seeing it as a political discussion. I will try that here and see how far I go before my post becomes stained with politics. |
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AUTHORI am Santino Zhakata, born in Zimbabwe, living in Sweden. I do a lot of writing, photography , blogging and website creation for fun and for profit. My fields of expertise include teaching and tutoring English via distance or face to face. I also specialise in communication for development. Welcome to my blog, feel free to share your thoughts.
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