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black background who not only excel academically but also give back to society.
Zimbabwe’s Netball Team Captain Signs to UK Superleague Team for 2021
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Photo Credit - Surrey Storm
Felisitus Kwangwa, the 25-year-old goal defender who was a standout player at the 2019 Netball World Cup in Manchester with three Player of the Match performances was this month signed to Surrey Storm, a UK netball team. The announcement was made by the team following her visa approval. Photo Credit - Zimbabwe Netball News Surrey Storm is based at the University of Surrey and were Superleague champions in 2015 and 2016. Felisitus will play for the 2021 season. Felisitus led the 2019 World Cup in deflections and was sixth for intercepts. Zimbabwe finished eighth in the championships and was named Team of the Tournament.
Photo Credit - stagefaves.com
This festive season catch the beautiful and talented singer with the big voice, Bulawayo’s Sharon Rose in the full-on festive musical Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. She plays Joanne Jangle, wife to Forest Whittaker’s character and toymaker Jeronicus Jangle The film features a largely black cast including Tony -award winners Phylicia Rashad of The Cosby Show and Anika Noni Rose of Dream Girls as well as British singer and actress Lisa Davina
Philip and Keegan- Michael Key of Key and Peele.
Name Tanaka Maxwell Chembezi Age 23 Started photography 3 years ago Why photography It’s my way of illustrating the continuous battle which exists between the dark and good thoughts dwelling within my
mind. So my photography acts as a voice for my subconscious mind. Favourite shots Shadows. I love to capture the intimacy between shadows and light. Inspired by Sean Tucker’s work. He’s a photographer who also deeply appreciates the way light and shadows embrace one another.
ARTS & CULTURE
By
Rhoda Molife rhoda@houseofmutapa.com Shelton Mpala is a Bulawayo-born entrepreneur, pan-African activist and founder of Children of The Dark Continent (COTDC). COTDC is an online platform that’s redefining Africa’s image and re-telling the intimate stories of Africa through its people, history, natural beauty, language, fashion, food, arts and culture. In 2018, he started the ongoing petition against Disney’s application to trademark the Swahili phrase hakuna matata. Shelton, it’s great to have here at House of Mutapa. What do you think birthed your need to start something like COTDC?
I was fortunate to have grown up in Zimbabwe’s tourism industry with my dad holding a few senior management positions in the field. It meant I got to see almost every facet to the industry and meet a lot of tourists coming to Zimbabwe. I guess the need to showcase and share Africa to the world was instilled in me at a young age.
As a child, your favourite past time was…
Oh man, good question! Growing up, sports was a super big past time for me - from soccer to rugby to cricket. There were many school holidays spent outside playing cricket on the streets or any clear, dusty field we could bowl on.
Growing up you were…
…Exposed to life on both sides of the economic scale, as we would visit family members on both sides. I would go to the ‘loxions’ - that’s what we called the high-density suburbs - regularly with my grandmother who ran businesses. She literally taught me everything about entrepreneurship and the sacrifices you have to make. A deep love and respect for people was deeply embedded in me by her, regardless of who or what the person was, or where they were from. On a random note, I liked to create art with bits and pieces of discarded wire. Those young days were honestly some of the best days of my life.
How would your family describe you?
Ooooh (laughs)… wow… hmmm! Passionate and caring. I think those would be the first words to come to mind. I’m all about progression and empowering my people. I don’t subscribe to a status quo. We are all bigger than our situations and we just have to have self-belief and enough passion to work hard. I always tell people that ‘the power and will behind your words will change the world.’
What was your first job?
So, my firstever job was actually working for a sandwich delivery company in Central London called Darwin’s Deli. I would weave in and out of London traffic five days a week selling sandwiches to office workers and businesses, come rain or sun.
And now…?
Oh, maaan (smiling). So, I currently wear so many hats right now. I’m actually back in school doing a BA in Business and Society as well as working in retail banking part time. Then of course there is Children of The Dark Continent and a new venture I have recently partnered up on with DJ Touch of Soul, an Eswatini-born DJ based in Durban. We will be relaunching a clothing brand called Touch of Soul that I’m also extremely excited about. So definitely watch out for that. It should be dropping early 2021.
Now let’s chat about COTDC - what was the ‘aha’ moment you knew you had to do this?
So, COTDC really came about because of my frustration at always seeing a negative image of Africa that had been propagated by media and other people. It was either the Lion King narrative that all Africans have wild animals roaming in their backyards or the pro-foreign humanitarian image or the starving kids or conflict. These images or stories didn’t fully tell Africa’s story. Nigerian writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie put it so well when she said, ‘The single story of Africa has created stereotypes and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story. So, I made it my purpose to re-tell that story of Africa to the world. Our culture, our language, our history, our music, our cuisine isn’t up for negotiation anymore. We should be proud of it and share it with the world.
What is COTDC about?
It’s about rewriting Africa’s story. Africa was called the ‘dark continent’ by early European
explorers as very little was known about it and its people. When we refer to ourselves as children of the dark continent, we are talking about an Africa unknown to the world. We are not referring to the colour of our skin because our Africa is a mosaic of ethnic groups.
When was the movement founded and where is it based?
I founded it in 2015 and it’s currently based in Toronto Canada. However, we have a worldwide network of contributors sharing and telling stories about their Africa.
Which of your skillset did you find you needed to use the most in setting this up?
Communication to be honest. It took a long time to really understand the true depth of what communication is. It goes further than just having a conversation or doing a blog post. It’s the imagery you use, the colour mood boards, the history and asking the right questions to spark a great debate or conversation.
A highlight of the journey so far has been…
…Wow, there have been quite a few. I guess the best so far has been the campaign I launched against Disney copyrighting the term hakuna matata. I got to learn how urgent it is that we Africans learn about intellectual property (IP) law, as well as the hundreds of millions lost due to not having IP rights. If you have Netflix, you must watch the documentary called The Lion’s Share based on the story of Solomon Linda, a South African singer, songwriter and composer of the song ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. Her song has been used countless of times for many purposes, but she has not got the credit for writing or composing the song. Eventually though she got a settlement figure from Disney.
And where are you up to with the petition?
It’s still going. We now have over 230K signatures, but a substantial amount of protest will be needed to reverse Disney’s plans. For me, I hope that at least we Africans are more knowledgeable about the importance of IP law.
What is the biggest challenge you face on the COTDC journey and how do you tackle it?
The biggest challenge is always being able to curate the best content possible, as well as being as authentic as we can be. We are always looking to expand our pool of contributors to get a fuller picture of Africa from all aspects. It’s a huge challenge, but I’m up for the fight.
How do you choose what to feature?
Features are really based on current events, people we meet in our network as well as up and coming talent we find.
What do you love the most about our culture?
Maan (smiling) ubuntu! To me it represents pure love not only for others but also a love for self. As they say, you can’t truly love someone unless you love yourself first.
One thing about the African culture you didn’t know is…
…There are far too many things to mention. I’m constantly learning new things every day. I’ve found so many new studies and books about African culture and history that have completely torn apart my former miseducation.
What changes have you had to make during the COVID19 pandemic?
I think the pandemic has really opened my eyes to just living a minimalistic life. Being locked up at home, you don’t need to buy all these fancy clothes because there’s nowhere to go. On a serious note though it’s also made me more aware of the importance of mental health. It’s something that we truly haven’t addressed as a community, but we need to right now.
First thing you do in the morning is…
I would love to say something motivational, but to be honest the first thing I do is check my phone for notifications, news and emails then plan my day accordingly.
Last thing you do at night is…
… Listen to an audio book or listen to some positive affirmations. I truly believe in feeding your
mind and making it grow as much as possible.
What or who inspires you?
People. There’s nothing more amazing than seeing people accomplish things that they thought they couldn’t. The other thing I like is seeing people that are genuinely happy even though they don’t have much.
What’s the vision? For you, for COTDC?
The vision is big! I would love to scale COTDC to a place where we are creating and producing Afrocentric content for TV, radio and the online space at a world class level.
Follow Shelton and COTDC here:
Facebook: Children of The Dark Continent IG: @childrenofthedarkcontinent @sheltonmpala Twitter: @COTDC
