Rebecca Muzariri
I’m originally from Chinhoyi in Zimbabwe. I came to South Africa in 2008 because of the situation back home. You know, no jobs.
I was watching the news on TV the other day and when I saw what was happening back home — the coup and all that — the first thing that went through my mind was:“Maybe things will now start changing for the better.”
I’ve still got a lot of family back home — my grandmother, my brother, aunts and uncles are all still living there. So when I saw what was happening, I was really worried about them; their safety.
But I really think that with what has happened now, things back home will be better. You know, things like more jobs and going back to having our own currency. Because, for such a long time, people back home were getting more and more worried about things. It was becoming really hectic. Things like not being able to get money from banks — or there just being no food. No food. And with the elections coming up, I think people were starting to get even more worried.
You know, I have a little baby girl and I really hope for her to grow up in Zimbabwe. As I was watching that news report, I kept thinking, “I’ll just keep an eye on the situation and, until things have calmed down, I’ll keep her and my husband, Brian, here in South Africa.”
But as soon as the situation is okay, I want to take her back home. So that she can grow up in Zimbabwe, in the country I was born in. I hope what happened — the coup — will make this possible. – Rebecca Muzariri, 32, as told to Carl Collison, the Other Foundation’s Rainbow Fellow at the Mail & Guardian