Inspiration of Ndima Ndima

Inspiration of Ndima Ndima

Auckland has been my home for more than a decade, but I’m always homesick for the country I left. Though I grew up in Harare, my soul belongs where I was born, Mutare. No matter how many times I cook traditional meals or have dinner with close friends that speak the same language as me, there’s always something missing. In my novel Ndima Ndima, I wanted to relive a part of my old life through words, and my main characters did that for me.

My agenda was to paint a landscape unknown to some of my readers and leave them fully satisfied with the images: greenery mountains, steep, winding roads, and red dirt. With nature and bright colors sprinkled throughout the book, I could balance the mood and tone between dark and cheerful scenes. I could also bring all the senses to life on the page. 

Ndima Ndima is not only centered on the setting, but also culture. We see how vital culture is through Nyeredzi. The connection between the dead and the living is very fascinating. For me, it is the only way one can reveal who they are, the reason they do certain things, and what benefit they gain from it. I like to watch documentaries on television. With reports of cultures becoming extinct, it is critically important to pass on cultural traditions to our children. It’s the core of our lives. Not everything cultural is true in my novel, but to me, any book that helps future generations engage with culture is worthwhile, and in many cases, fiction can deepen that engagement.

Yes, I am someone who is deeply in love with my culture, and other peoples’ cultures too, but there are a number of things I wouldn’t mind seeing changed as time goes on. If I am to disclose one thing about my old self here, it is this: I wanted to be a boy when I was young. In my culture, a man is the head of the family. I thought to be a man was to have all the freedom, power, and I wouldn’t have to endure pain from giving birth, nor hormones raging every month. But I was wrong in so many ways. I learned that to conquer in this world is to embrace who I am as an individual, a woman bestowed with too many gifts. 

Human connection is another theme that cements my story together. I created unbreakable bonds I am familiar with. From the relationship of Zuva and her father, to Nyeredzi with her mother, sister, and Ambuya; I guess it was another way I could only hold onto those exquisite memories of my past. These characters have the emboldened nature that I cannot give myself, but inspire me to be better. 

One may ask me what it is to become a better version of myself? Well, I think it’s being able to distinguish what’s right from what’s not. Or changing certain things to make lives better. Inspiration comes from a lot of things. For me it’s been mainly observing how people live in this world since I was young. This would be through reading books and watching films. And as I grow older, I find that strong female characters are empowering to me, my novel has two—mother and daughter. I created Zuva, Nyeredzi, and the other women in this story to show the importance of women in a society.

Although my novel is set in Zimbabwe, its facts are only a fraction of what’s happening worldwide. As a woman, there are plenty of things that do not sit right with me. So, in Ndima Ndima, I address issues I do not wish anyone to go through, through my characters. 

In this modern day, cultural practices still prevent a third of girls from attending school in Zimbabwe. My characters understand that to be educated is to have freedom, so all females in this story are sent to school and universities. This is to inspire those who do not see the importance of education for women.

Over 48% of women in Zimbabwe have gone through physical, sexual and emotional abuse at the hands of their husband or partner in their marriages. I tried to show all types of abuse that one in five women go through in their lifetime. Be it during a war, or any event taking place in their lives, young girls and women are often taken advantage of in a brutal way.

Culturally, girls are expected to be obedient when boys are given freedom to exploit those who are innocent. It is a girl who tarnishes a family’s name when she falls pregnant, not a boy. It is she who is held responsible for dumping a newly born baby in the bush. It is also a girl who commits suicide when she’s neglected by her family and society for a deed committed by two people. Even if we look at it in marriages, it is a woman held responsible for not bearing a child when the man is the one who is infertile. How is it right that people have failed to correct this for so many years?

To change how people see things worldwide, especially in placing women as leaders, I gave Zuva roles that are usually held by men: a church leader, a soldier, and a chief. In Zimbabwe, there are over 280 chiefs, but only under ten female chiefs throughout the whole nation. Zuva is one fierce woman who proves that women can lead just as much as men can. Not only that, she also fought in the Second Chimurenga War. 

In history class, we learned a lot about men who fought this war. Their names are printed in books, on buildings, statues, and on roads signs which take you to places you want to go in cities. Their spirits linger around us while commemorating their existence in speeches and songs, yet women who fought this war are barely acknowledged for their efforts. Apart from Mbuya Nehanda, who did many wonders during the First Chimurenga War, I know no other women who are remembered. And as for the Second Chimurenga War, we know only a few. 

Could there be more women working in politics today who could be written about in history books tomorrow? That’s my hope. Could their names be used to christen buildings and places too? Could we have more female chiefs, ministers, and presidents, too? I hope my grandchildren will live to witness that. And in the meantime, I will live out that hope in Ndima Ndima.

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Tsitsi Mapepa is a Kiwi, Zimbabwean-born writer who lets her creative side stream out in poetry, short stories, and novels. She studied at Manukau Institute of Technology, where she won an award of excellence in 2016 and the Kairangatira award in the BCA in 2018, before completing her Master’s in Creative Writing degree at the University of Auckland in 2020. She resides in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband and three children. Ndima Ndima is her debut novel.

NDIMA NDIMA

From the red soil of her garden in Southgate 1, a crowded suburb of Harare, Nyeredzi watches the world. She knows not to venture beyond the grasses that fence them off from the bush, where the city’s violent criminals and young lovers claim the night. But on this red soil, she is sovereign. It is here where she learns how to kill snakes, how to fight off a man, and how to take what she is due. It is here where Nyeredzi and her three older sisters are raised, and where they will each find a different destiny.

Decades prior, a young woman abandons a position of great power to seek justice in the second Chimurenga War, only to return to find her world in shambles. So Zuva Mutongi sets off to build a world of her own, raising four daughters—Nyeredzi, Hannah, Abigail, and Ruth—and defending them from the evils beyond their small Harare home. But when a letter from her long-estranged brother calls her back to a past life, Zuva must reconcile with her duty and heal the broken community she left behind.

Tsitsi Mapepa’s vibrant debut is the history of a new Zimbabwe, with resilient women and men who raised a nation from its ashes. It is the chronicle of an L-shaped house, long awaited and much beloved, and the guests, welcome and unwelcome, who cross its threshold. It is the coming-of-age of four sisters, who will discover the secrets of womanhood on the volatile streets of Harare. But above all, it is a love song to one woman—a soldier, healer, chief, and mother—whose fierce devotion to her people is a testament to the bonds of blood that bind us all.

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Tags: featured, women writers

Category: On Writing