Memoirs of Innocence & Experience

About the Book

I was born Innocent Murambiwa Hondo on 11 January 1961, in Chinyemba Village, Glendale, Mazoe District of the then Rhodesia. I had an official change of my maternal surname �Hondo� to my paternal surname �Chirawu� and acquired the middle name �Blessed� in 1983. Since my childhood I have always aspired to utilise every opportunity that helps me help my fellowman best. I was brought up in colonial Rhodesia which was dominated by �divide and rule� politics in favour of the white minority population. As a result the black child�s school was far inferior compared to his white counterpart�s. There was also a deliberate public policy to provide the average black child with an education only adequate for him to perform a subordinate role to his �white master� and only 12% of the black children were expected to proceed to secondary education. These would form the �elite� part of the society taking up occupations like nurses, teachers, clerks, agricultural extension officers and others.

I was very fortunate to fall into the category of the �elite� group, who made it through the bottleneck system into secondary education � Salvation Army�s Howard Secondary School which was a syndicate examination centre for The University of Cambridge whereby GCE �O�Level examinations were set and marked at that reputable university. I sat for those Exams in November/December 1978 and passed with grades B and C in 8 subjects including Maths, Science and English � thus obtaining a University of Cambridge GCE certificate in First Division.

I later on proceeded to a private institution, Ranche House College where I did my English and Sociology at Advanced level. My first job after school was working as a bank clerk for Standard Chartered Bank from May 1980 to Sept 1981. I then intercalated from banking to study for my Diploma in Theology at the International Bible Training Centre (Lagos) in 1982, resumed banking for a stint then did my initial teacher training from 1984 to 1987. I then taught Woodwork, RE and English in Zimbabwean secondary schools for 11 years, during which period I rose through the ranks of being an ordinary class teacher, head of department (Religious Education & English) and deputy head teacher. While in full-time teaching, I managed to study for a degree in educational administration, planning and policy studies as well as a part one in BA Media studies through Zimbabwe Open University � the latter which was interrupted by socio-politico-economic problems in Zimbabwe that time. I was doing all those study programmes paying the fees from my salary and without a penny of assistance from the government. In Zimbabwe switching from being a teacher to being a journalist for the independent press was and still is, like jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

In April,1999, I then joined the Daily News, the then Zimbabwe�s once most popular and best seller tabloid later banned and defunct from 2003-2010, where I served as a subeditor-cum-proofreader until the time I migrated to England in December 2001. By the time I left Zimbabwe there was every sign that the future of my colleagues, our newspaper and I was very gloom. After the bombings of our offices and printing press, our then editor-in-chief, Geoff Nyarota announced that due to the political situation and the hostility that time we were experiencing, he could not guarantee our safety anymore. So, I had no choice but sell my family property, buy a ticket, flew into self exile in England, and I have always lived here since then. Later on I called my family over to join my stay in the country.

My grandmother, my childhood mentor

About the Author