My Personal Reflections and Dreams

I come from a resource-constrained community called Makokoba, in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second capital. My interest in grassroots advocacy started in 2005, during an internship at the Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS), based in Harare.
Since then, I have volunteered with several organizations that do work around HIV and AIDS, orphan care, gender and poverty alleviation, putting my writing and research skills to use for my own people.

In the past I have also volunteered as Country Coordinator for the Global Youth Coalition on HIV and AIDS, a UNFPA- and UNAIDS-supported initiative; and as a Key Correspondent for Health Development Networks, my task being to write topical articles on HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. In addition, I have been the communications person for support groups in my own community that fail to document their experiences owing to illiteracy and lack of access to donors and policy makers.

My dream is to bring together my community’s various social networks under one umbrella, termed the ‘Makokoba Community Coalition on HIV and AIDS.’ I wish to use the skills and experience that I gain through the MJ program at Carleton to assist my own community in utilizing local media to raise awareness around issues of HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

I am one of my community’s greatest resources, and studying at Carleton University gives me an opportunity to learn more about how best to bring meaningful change to our lives. Recent positive developments in the political environment in Zimbabwe have made me hopeful and eager to make my contribution as a journalist focused on issues of social and community-based development. This optional elective also provides the right platform and resources to enable me to get complete and practical journalistic tutorship, which I can then utilize in Zimbabwe.

I have another compelling reason to pursue my higher education: a five-month-old son, for whom I wish to offer a solid, protective, secure foundation in which to develop and mature. I will certainly miss my son during my two years at Carleton University, but I believe that furthering my education and improving my professional skills will ultimately allow me to return to Zimbabwe with the ability to offer him greater opportunities to succeed in life.