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This article participates on the following special index pages:
Operation Murambatsvina - Countrywide evictions of urban poor - Index of articles
Book
Review: In my own words - Zimbabwean women's encounters with Operation
Murambatsvina
Zhean Gwaze, The Financial Gazette
February 15, 2007
http://www.fingaz.co.zw/story.aspx?stid=2459
Book title:
In My Own Words-Zimbabwean women's encounters with Operation Murambatsvina
Author: The Feminist Political Education Project
(Fepep)
Publishers: Weaver Press
"This booklet
is about expression, comfort and healing," reads the foreword of
the 25-page easy to read book, which offers a voice for the experiences
of women in the aftermath of Operation
Murambatsvina (Operation Clean-up).
The government's
clean-up exercise, embarked on in 2005 rendered 700 000 people homeless,
according to United Nations envoys, triggering an alarming humanitarian
crisis that means to this day, many citizens are still sleeping
in the open.
In My Own Words
explores the plight of seven women; Shupikai, Winnet, Kerina, Annatolia,
Rorana, Simangele and Eleanor who were deprived of their livelihoods
by the operation.
Although the exercise
affected men, women and children, In My Words reveals how the operation
endorsed patriarchy and that Murambatsvina was not the first form
of such violation against women.
"However, allowing
women to speak about their experiences, the consequences that resulted
and the ripple effects of the Operation reveals the differential
in the kinds of violations they experienced that are mostly linked
to their being female: to their physiology or to gender stereotypes
that govern their experiences and how the world responds to them,"
the book says.
For 27-year old
Shupikai, who is disabled and has only empowered herself through
vending, Murambatsvina is a nightmare. Her mother dies of pneumonia
(from sleeping outside, after she fails to pay for accommodation)
and Shupikai has to co-habit with a 70-year-old man who physically
abuses her and whom she fears might infect her with HIV.
For the FEPEP
team: Thoko Matshe, Bella Matambanadzo, Teresa Mugadza, Priscilla
Misihairabwi-Mushonga, Janah Ncube, Regina Dumba, Shereen Essoff,
Rutendo Hadebe, Thokozani Khupe, Jessie Majome, Eunice Mafundikwa
and Karen Alexander the topic is reclaiming the love, rights and
freedom of women from sexist supremacy.
The book launch
coincided with a four-day training course for a group of 22 young
and energetic females drawn from across the country at the exquisite
Pandhari Lodge, who expressed zeal to rejuvenate the women's movement
in Zimbabwe. A team of motivating facilitators revived the train
despite ferocious expressions of repression and oppression.
Matshe, so full
of energy and highly inspirational took the group for eight hours
in three consecutive days in live discussions.
Matambanadzo,
who hinted largely on how every dollar counts in a woman's life
and that every dream can come true in life. One of mine came true
thanks to Matshe.
Misihairabwi-Mushonga,
whose talk on sexuality and sexual health left participants yearning
for more. Get well soon after the accident.
Mugadza's exploration
of the women's movement in Zimbabwe also left hearts with answers
on who is next.
Everjoice Win's
post-mortem on strategic thinking was also a fundamental tool in
becoming a feminist while Juliana's report writing skills presentation
was a gem in the making.
For a timely and
provocative account of the crisis that unfolded among Zimbabwe's
women after Murambatsvina, In My Own Words is the book to read.
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