All posts authored by Santino Zhakata
Being a parent has been one journey filled with discoveries for me. Of course techniques, beliefs and expectations in parenting are unique, just as most things are, across many cultural and social backgrounds. I, being born and raised in Zimbabwe through Shona cultural values, would most likely have a different experience of both childhood and parenthood to someone who is born and raised in Sweden and subject to Swedish cultural values, my wife for example. My children, who will in most cases be the subjects of my writing, on this blog, have neither a Shona nor a Swedish upbringing in its entirety, but instead experience some random fragments of influence from both cultures, even though they are growing up in Sweden. If you have any experience of dual cultural influence in your home or with anyone you know, pleasee feel free to leave a comment below. On my side , one of the biggest challenges I am yet to overcome is giving them a sufficient and significant dose of Shona culture to allow them to feel at home in Zimbabwe as they do in Sweden. This is hard since I haven´t travelled with them to my home country many times yet, but there is hope since they are still quite young. I will discuss this in a separate post soon. My children, who will in most cases be the subjects of my writing, on this blog, have neither a Shona nor a Swedish upbringing in its entirety, but instead experience some random fragments of influence from both cultures, even though they are growing up in Sweden. If you have any experience of dual cultural influence in your home or with anyone you know, pleasee feel free to leave a comment below. On my side , one of the biggest challenges I am yet to overcome is giving them a sufficient and significant dose of Shona culture to allow them to feel at home in Zimbabwe as they do in Sweden. This is hard since I haven´t travelled with them to my home country many times yet, but there is hope since they are still quite young. I will discuss this in a separate post soon. To be cosmopolitan is a trait I find emulable, especially in the world of today where cultures and personalities are constantly at intersection. Being a cosmopolitan allows a person to acknowledge differences without necessarily labelling one cultural trait as being better or worse than that of another culture. My experience has taught me that there is more than meets the eye when looking at cultures from the outside. It is not wise to say something from another culture is “absurd” or “funny” or “weird”, since our judgment would most likely be based on a perspective from our own culture or experiences. In most cases like these, a judgement would be based on ignorance misconceived logic. Since moving to Sweden 6 years ago, I have, as one would expect, tried to make sense of my new surroundings by using my own upbringing and experience as the compass to guide me through this jungle. As hard as it was, I made sure to avoid judging and labeling what I see, hear and get exposed to, as being better or worse. Consequently, I put weight on the word “different”. I have taken this approach in most of what I experience on a daily basis, and it is precisely these differences that mostly motivated me to write on this blog. I love the independence that I find in being an own individual with the right and entitlement to my own opinions, views, beliefs and perspectives, so my disclaimer is that. What I write is to be taken as personal experiences and opinions based on my personal experiences and does not claim to be fact or scientific, lest anyone be offended. Without wasting time, let me welcome anyone who finds themselves on this blog and reading this. Please feel free to share your opinions and perspectives as well, they will be respected here, after all, it´s more exciting to hear someone else than my own echo, just as it is wonderful to have company than being with my own shadow. © Santino Zhakata 2011
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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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