uNfelandawogne

Fran is a rather tall woman from the Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. She has one of those soft voices that, if needed, will become firm and commanding. One of the first things I remember about her is the woolen bonnet covering her razor short hair on the winter day I arrived at the house we would share for four months in the western suburbs of Harare.

Among the many stories we shared over breakfast and dinner, Fran told me how, after years of participating in her savings group, she finally got allocated a plot of land in 2014. She was so happy she ululated. She even had room for a little garden. “I am the first in my family to have a house in town” she said.

She started buying materials bit by bit. In the technical component of the Federation they train builders, electricians, plumbers, carpenters; and they don’t overcharge because, “in Federation it is uNfelandawogne, you know, we do it together” Fran says “And now my dream house in under construction”.

Fran’s house under construction in Dzivarazekwa Ext.

Harare, Zimbabwe. January 2020

Photo credit: herself

Judging by her enthusiasm, one could never tell this woman once prepared for her own death.  When Fran found out she was HIV positive in 1999, she thought the diagnosis was a death sentence. It was that same year that she met a person from Dialogue who encouraged her to join the Federation. But she still felt hopeless.

Slowly but steadily, though, awareness about HIV issues started growing in Zimbabwe. Fran found support in the workshops at the Community Resource Center and the Health Clinic, where she learned two words that became her mantra: live positive. Later she joined the Federation and found comfort in her savings group as well, “we support each other there,” she tells me. “I started having hope. I started doing things.” She shares, and her voice goes from the usual softness to a crescendo of excitement as she remembers how she was recalled to life.

“The first thing I did, I went to my rural home. I bought my orange tree, I bought my avocado tree… Then I told them, ‘You tree, I’m going to eat the fruits of you. I will not die before I eat the fruits of you.’ I had the first fruits. Then fruits, and fruits, and fruits. Until now. Till now I’m eating those fruits!” And we both laugh out loud.

From the way Fran talks about those fruits, I find myself craving them too.

Pencil sketch of Fran

by Humphrey Machuma, Bulawayo Zimbabwe. August 2019