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Multi award winning Zimbabwean female author Chengeto Mayowe last Saturday launched five books titled The Adventures of Nyenyedzi series, which are meant to preserve Zimbabwean culture through educating children to be proud of their language and identity.
The fascinating book series follows a little girl, Nyenyedzi, from Vumba, navigating her daily life with her family, traveling around Zimbabwe, learning about familial relationships and why names are so important.
Speaking at the flashy launch of Nyenyedzi book series in Harare, Mayowe outlined the reasons which inspired her to work on cultural products that educate and show the importance of a person’s identity to the world.
She said, “When I started writing The Adventures of Nyenyedzi, I did not know what lay ahead, but I did know that I wanted our children represented. Often when you travel, you will not find an indigenous name on a key ring, or people won’t be able to pronounce your name, so you change it to an English one.
“What this does is it removes your culture, as naming a child is one of the most important things a parent does. The books I read when I was younger never had pictures with children who looked like me. How i’m challenging this is by having books that speak to our culture and country positively, in a way that teaches the children to love themselves and their country.”
Asked about how the Nyenyedzi book series will be consumable to Zimbabweans, who speak 16 different languages, the poet said, “I translated it into 16 languages to primarily ensure that a young girl from Binga or a boy from Bulilima or friends in Chegutu can read literature in their mother tongue, which could be Ndau, Chewa and so on.”
Besides being a multi award winning author, Chengeto Mayowe is a Cultural Heritage Ambassador, poet and founder of the Mambokadzi Builds Foundation. Currently, she has written 13 books, 5 of them being the books in ‘The Adventures of Nyenyedzi’ series.