MWBCC to preserve, share unique Midlands stories

GWERU — Midlands Writers and Book Culture Collective (MWBCC) has taken bold strides to
celebrate the contributions of literary and spoken word artists to the cultural life in the province and
to meet the needs of the culturally rich, diverse, and evolving community in Gweru and its
surrounding communities.

Mbizo Chirasha, the founder and Executive Curator of MWBCC, said they have embarked on a
programme to gather, preserve and share the unique Midlands stories that shape the community,
today and into the future.

“We are a broader community of Karanga , Kalanga , Ndebele , Shona , Ndau , Venda and English
literary arts, cultural and poetry/spoken word arts collective that is coming together to familiarise
our roots, identity, history, cultural traditions, societal norms, morality, social ills, limitations and
successes through the power of words,” said MWBCC Executive Curator.

He noted that ancient Zimbabwe has a rich history of storytelling which united communities then
and also provided both cultural and spiritual education.

“Zimbabwe after First Chimurenga up to through Second Chimurenga and third Chimurenga ,
realised the power of words. Many storytellers, poets, writers and spoken word artists were born
and their artistry was shaped by the environment they lived in,” said Chirasha.

“Zimbabwe in post-independence from 1980 to 2021 became a hotspot of storytelling, poetry and
art both oral, performances and written thus we celebrate the literary wonders of our country and
our home province.”

The significance of Midlands is that it is the epicentre of dialects and tribes- hence rich cultures,
traditions and languages, it is where the great dyke is found.

“Through this collective, we want to sing songs of home through poetry, we want to tell the story of
home through spoken word, and we want to shape the walls of home though written word /literary
arts.

“We want to sing to the land, the rocks, to the mountains, to rivers, to the heavens and to the
country that carry our umbilical cords, that carry our hopes, that weeps from our ills, that carry the
bones of mothers and fathers, we want to sing in tounges to the country that carry our aspirations,
we are a regeneration of spoken word,” said Chirasha.

He said their primary objective is to revive the literary arts, writing and book culture vibe in the
Midlands Province, to celebrate dialects, cultures, languages, norms, values, ills and identity through
the power of word.

Chirasha said they want to use poetry and other literary forms to correct ills, bring sanity, peace,
righteousness and freedom of all in Zimbabwe.

“Words when used wrongly destroy but when used correctly they build; thus we want to use the
power of words to shape, transform and to grow our youth from negative/destructive lifestyles to
positive lifestyles.

“We want to promote abstinence from drugs, early childhood sex, crime and other societal vices,”
said MWBCC founder and Executive Curator.