I like to consider myself a creative person. On any given day, I could be writing, playing music or taking photographs.
Freedom is a rare commodity in Zimbabwe, and those of us with non-conformist mentalities search for it within ourselves, even when it is curtailed without.
The instinct to ignite a creative spark is often at war with the instinct to survive. Zimbabwe is a society where almost everyone is unemployed, and many who do have jobs are a single pay-cheque away from moving back into their childhood bedrooms.
In this environment, we tend to sacrifice our artistic urges to the more practical realities of day to day living. I have known many artists and sportsmen who have fallen into this trap, ambitions swallowed up in the practical necessities of paying the rent.
It is not the work-life balance we must contend with – it is the work-passion balance. How can I do what I need to do to live while still finding time to do what I want well enough to eventually turn it into what I need to do to live?
I have found myself struggling, of late. The nitty gritties of actually trying to find and complete paid work, coupled with the vagaries of adult education, have forced us to miss the entire second quarter of 2016.
Although we have stumbled, we are back. And with the continued support of spouses, friends, writers far and wide, gods old and new, booze brewed and blended, pigs fried and braaied, and the ever-present and energising African sunshine, we are back to stay.
A luta continua.
