On the cover

By Tapiwa Pawandiwa

The Year Book

“Fashion Identity”

The suit really just represents my desire “to follow suit”. However, at the same time there is a desire to make whatever I follow on the rat race corporate ladder match my identity and roots, hence the colors on the suit. The blank face... open eyes, and open mouth are open for interpretation.

“I’m Sorry”

I have really been in the process of unlearning the abusive and racist views on black hair, specifically on black women. What is natural was taught to be evil, what was naturally beautiful was taught to be ugly. Something to be fixed. Something to be relaxed, ironed, colored or “done”. I used black and white for that reason in this piece. And the hair curly and kinky just like us, the irony of it is that hair isn’t straight, the curls face any direction they desire. My views on beauty have also been “relaxed, ironed, or done” and for that I’m sorry for taking so long to unlearn.

a dance called life

By Nwabisa Moyo

Reflection is easy when it comes in the form of questions from others shot at you like bullets. How did you feel? Why was that? How did you deal with it? It is easy because in that moment you are answering questions, but when these questions come from within, from the depths of one’s heart, from your very own self, it is hard. It seems like a war is going on in you, with soldiers from one army fighting against each other. But it is only a war when you see your body and mind as a battle field. When you see it as a place of healing, the guns are put down, and the armies converse, resulting in a reflection about what was, and how they can shape the future to become what they want it to be.

When I look back on this year, I realise that I saw many highs. I saw God moving in my life repeatedly, and at some point, I felt like Him and I were dancing to the same rhythm for once. At times, the music would stop, and I would think that He has left me, but then I realised that that was when He was closest to me, waiting for me to acknowledge Him, and once I did, the music began, and yet again, my feet were moving with Him.

I learnt a lot this year. I learnt that restoration is always available. Sometimes it takes time for it to arrive, and finds you battered down, discouraged, anxious, exhausted, and even when you have given up. No matter where you are in the sea of emotions, it comes. Even if you have seen the darkest parts of the valley of death or the pits of the grave, if you are still alive, you can still feel life in you. Yes, you may fall while doing this dance called life, or even break a leg, but, if there is one thing, I came to truly learn and understand this year, It was the fact that with God as your partner, the routine is easier, as His own hands guide us on which moves to make next, which leg to put forward, and which arm to pull back.

At times we feel that He may let us fall and crash our heads into the ground. Right there, we hear the music stop, and we see the spotlight in our faces, but right in those moments, His hands reach for our backs and hold us up. They lift us and place us on both feet. Then the music resumes, and so does the dance, slowly and more carefully, and at these times, we don’t just know that He is there, but we feel Him.