Standard Style 22 March 2015

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26 THE STANDARD STYLE /COMMUNITY/ BREAKING NEW GROUND March 22 to 28 2015 After years of groping in the dark, Chipo Nenzou finally finds her place Patricia Mabviko Musanhu Thinner is Better An education system that focuses on academics alone forces students to put all their attention towards acquiring theoretical knowledge. The assumption is that this theoretical knowledge is the most important form of education they need when it comes to finding a career. In such a system, very little or no recognition is placed on practical subjects or in understanding the soft skills of the students in question with a view to using these as additional skills to help guide them to their careers. In addition, very little focus is placed on helping the students to understand the different careers available in the market place so that whilst they are in school, they can begin to create some linkages between what they are learning and where they are likely to settle in terms of a career. Chipo Nenzou is a product of such a system and like many students, she struggled to find a link between the theory she had learnt at school and a career she could pursue. Her search for a career was a journey filled with confusion and uncertainty until a friend helped to direct her to a most suitable career through recognizing her soft skills. ‘’You study quite a lot of subjects at school and none of these really link you to any career because they are so broad. I didn’t know which direction to take in terms of choosing a career and worse still for me I never got the opportunity to get some career guidance whilst at school, ’’ said Chipo. Chipo completed her ‘O’ levels without any idea of what she was going to do next. Concerned with her situation, her mother suggested that she takes up nursing and so she applied and got a place to do nursing in England. This course was to last only a short while. ‘I dropped out because I didn’t like it and in no time I was back at home. However, I couldn’t just sit at home. I realized that I had to do something to earn a living and so I took up a course in secretarial studies and soon after wards got a job as a receptionist, ‘’ she said. Chipo worked for six months and then left for a better paying job where she worked as a personal assistant. After two years, she left this job to join a Non Governmental Organization for another secretarial position. It was whilst working for this organization that Chipo came to appreciate the importance of considering her soft skills in choosing a career. ‘I want to thank a friend of mine who advised that I consider taking up a career in social work because of my natural ability to sit and listen to people. I never saw this as a strength that could possibly be considered when choosing a career. I am an introvert naturally and I have an ability to give a lot of undivided attention to someone when I am interacting with them,’’ she added. Understanding who she is helped Chipo to find her way to a career she has now undertaken to pursue. Chipo’s strength in terms of her character played an important role in helping her to make a different career choice. She now believes that it is important for any young person to do a self assessment of their character and identify their strengths and weaknesses with a view to using this assessment to help them choose a career in addition to their education. This will help people to avoid taking up whatever is available or whatever career is thrown at them. Chipo also advises parents to help their children walk this journey of self discovery from much earlier on in their schooling lives so that they are not groping in the dark throughout their lives trying to find a career most suitable for them. ‘I am studying towards a Diploma in Social Work with one of the local universities and will be graduating this year. I love what I am doing now and I think it’s where I am supposed to be. It’s taken a lot of time to get to where I am today but I am happy that I am finally here,’’ she said. Patricia Mabviko Musanhu is a Company Director/ Producer at Black and White Media Productions. She can be contacted at pmabviko@ gmal.com Josephine Kanengoni Yes. It’s a political statement I know. But I stand by it. I’m so sick and tired of people skirting around the issue and acting like the only reason weight is an issue is because we as a people are concerned about our health. We all know the real reason why weight loss is so celebrated. Just ask Jennifer Hudson and the Oprah of the early 90’s. Life is better on the other side of the scale. In an ideal world – size wouldn’t matter. People would strut their goodies- whatever size of said goodies. Gabourey Sidibe would be treated with the same reverence as Halle Berry and Mariah and her millions wouldn’t struggle so publicly with weight issues. What’s on the outside really, honestly, wouldn’t count for anything. But unfortunately society’s standards are harsh. And society is not too kind to big people. There is a picture already approved for what beauty looks like, and the one consistent fact - beauty is always thin. This is the reason why women as powerful as Oprah will try and fail and try again to lose weight. Because as happy as they are, they know losing weight would make them happier. It’s the reason Monique will tell you she is a lot happier now, even though she insisted when she was plus size that she wouldn’t change a thing about herself. It’s the reason why the average adult woman’s life is filled with obsessions of numbers on the scale and failed diets. Because ‘big’ is not a good look – not by society’s standards. And no matter how strong a person you are, no matter how happy and content, how proud of your achievements, how sure of your capabilities, every now and then, the reality that all this would be better enjoyed with a size 8 figure will hit you. But the worst part, our attempt as society to show our progression in embracing people of all sizes. Lauding ‘plus size’ women like Salma Hayek and Kim Kardashian as our way of saying ‘Look at us. We like everyone now– ‘fat’ people included’. All this does? Affirm the truth that we’re a world that really doesn’t want to embrace the reality of what big really means. Because as beautiful and curvy as these women are; none of them is at the center of the problem. It’s the Gabourey’s, the ordinary women who make up over a third of our population. The young girl starving herself or stuffing her face then spending all night with her face on the toilet seat. The people who long every single day to lose those extra pounds – whatever it takes. Those are the people who really understand the plight of the ‘fat’ woman.
March 22 to 28 2015 THE STANDARD STYLE / ARTS 27 Born free Exhibition: A Whole New Mind Zvikomborero Mandangu The National Gallery of Zimbabwe will be hosting the first edition of the Born Free Exhibition, an exhibition which seeks to give a voice to those born in the jubilation of an independent Zimbabwe under the theme A Whole New Mind from the 16th of April to the 15th of June 2015. This exhibition seeks to explore the importance of this generation of Zimbabweans and examine challenges they face in light of issues of identity, religion and history. The exhibition will provide a form of inspiration to solutions through the artists’ work from their own informed context and more complete picture of the Zimbabwean reality. These young artists will present artworks in different mediums which will interrogate the frustrations, hopes and social views of their generation. These young artists will engage in their own realities from the 1980s to the present day. Hearing echoes from the older generation of artists has been exciting, but one must not forget that the reflection finds inspiration in the day to day struggles they encounter. There is a war every generation has to fight. Every generation has to fight for their rights or problems affecting them. The born-frees have their struggles which they have to fight which include corruption, need for jobs and equal opportunities for everyone. All this is compounded by the crises related to identity, religion and history they have to deal with. What happened during the colonial rule is not immediate for this generation thus they cannot relate. Their problems, like those of a fairly young state, are all consuming and seem unmanageable. The talk of how conditions were better during colonial rule is constantly being disproved. It has been shown that opportunities offered by the minority white government were limited to a few blacks and that life under white rule was not really desirable – the curfews, the infamous pass and the much hated segregation. This exhibition offers a platform for the young artists to posit the question: What roles can the born frees play in bettering their own lives and that of the nation at large? The world has become fluid in terms of information flow and how people ought to conduct themselves in their respective societies. They reiterate the need to move away from blaming others and offer solutions to the current problems whilst embracing that the past shapes the future. They also think that the solutions lie in realizing that the present is an interwoven mixture that requires several individuals with dynamic ideas to continuously improve on past and present accomplishments. DStv Aquarius PR Zimbabwe’s advertising communications industry will honour the best advertising in the country during 2014 at the DStv Ngoma Awards, scheduled to be held in Harare in early April. The Ngoma awards are designed to recognise and reward excellence in advertising communications and have been held each year since 2005. Based on entries from advertising agencies and other individuals and organisations, the awards competition is adjudicated by a panel of local judges and an international judge, and awards are handed out in more than a dozen categories. The overall award for campaign of the year is the most prestigious of the selection and will this year be named the Feel Every Moment Award, as a result of continued support from MultiChoice Zimbabwe, which is also this year’s title sponsor. “We are delighted with the support from MultiChoice, as well as from our other sponsors, and this has enabled the competition to be run for 10th year, with a record number of entries from a large number of entrant organisations,” said Judy Macdonald, a member of the organising team. The deadline for entries at the end of January saw almost 320 entries in the various categories. Judging is now taking place and the awards presentation will take place at a glittering luncheon on Saturday April 11, an event open to anyone interested or involved in advertising, marketing, sales and public relations, as well as from the media. “We are hoping for a good turnout of industry professionals this year, especially from among the sales and marketing managers who control the advertising decision-making within corporates. They have not attended in the numbers they should in recent years, and we feel it is important for them to see what is happening within the advertising communications industry and be part of the process of change and development,” said Ms Macdonald. More information can be sourced from (04) 870306 or empire@mango.zw
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