Zimbabwe 5

Listen to Zimbabwe 5, a 44-year-old woman from Kwekwe, Zimbabwe. Click or tap the triangle-shaped play button to hear the subject. 

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BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

AGE: 44

DATE OF BIRTH (DD/MM/YYYY): 15/01/1974

PLACE OF BIRTH: Kwekwe, Zimbabwe

GENDER: female

ETHNICITY: Black/Shona

OCCUPATION: personal-care provider and domestic worker

EDUCATION: Secondary school — Form 4

AREAS OF RESIDENCE OUTSIDE REPRESENTATIVE REGION FOR LONGER THAN SIX MONTHS:

The subject was born in Kwekwe, Zimbabwe, but relocated with her family within Zimbabwe every five years because of her father’s occupation (policeman). She moved to South Africa with her husband in 2009 in search of employment. They have been living and working in the Western Cape since then, undertaking annual visits to Zimbabwe to see their family, including their children.

OTHER INFLUENCES ON SPEECH:

The subject speaks mainly English in South Africa, but has also learned to communicate in isiXhosa.

The text used in our recordings of scripted speech can be found by clicking here.

Note: This subject reads only a portion of Comma Gets a Cure.

RECORDED BY: Nadia Barnard

DATE OF RECORDING (DD/MM/YYYY): 05/03/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF SCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

ORTHOGRAPHIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH:

I was born in 1974. My parents: They are still alive. I grew up in different cities because my father was a policeman. So my primary level I finished it in Rusape; there we were learning like, it was called Manyica language. It is similar to Shona. But then we end up in Harare [subject laughs] and I wa- I meet Isaac there [subject laughs], so then we got married. We’ve got two kids, until now. [Subject laughs.]

I come here in 2009. When, when I left Zimbabwe, it was not good: no food, no work, no jobs. Ja, so we decided to come here, to stay and find something to do. To support kids and to look after the families, you know.

It is like this: In Zimbabwe, at first it was good, because everyone worked, we earned money. But then when things goes wrong, like it was, ja 2007, 2008, everything was down. So here at least you can work, you can earn money, you can survive. But only, the only one thing is, it is tough to leave home. [Subject laughs.] You know that. But the education for there is good; that is the only difference. Ja, and it is difficult for us to bring them here because of the papers, and — you know? Ja, so we only go home once a year.

I’m a Shona, so I was born in Kwekwe. You know where Kwekwe is? You don’t know. Ja, when I was small, I used to play with whites, before Mugabe said, er: “Land, land,” you know what land things, so. So when all those things changed, ja, it was like, Zimbabwe was not good at all; it was bad.

It’s Khayelitsha. Hmmm, difficult! Because you were not allowed to come out like, late – they will attack you. In the morning, you have to look first, that can I go or not; what is happening outside? So at least you can go out if you saw that the taxi’s coming, so that you can run fast and get into the taxi. If you walk like a free person, they will attack you. Ja most of them, they are gangster thieves, and you know, those who wants drugs, or what. They can even come and say to you – they will not even say to you – they can come and say: “Give me your phone!” [Subject laughs.] Like, and knife is in hand. So you always take your phone and give them like that.

Once I was going to Athlone for work, ja. I was carrying my blanket; it was new. Then I was walking; there were no taxis or what, so I used to walk. And they come — three boys — but they were coloureds, and they harassed me, and they said to me, “Where are you going?” And I said, “I’m going to work.” “Give us that, that blanket!” I just give them! [Subject laughs.] “Go, go, go, we don’t want to see you here!” And then that was like that; I was so scared! I couldn’t even run, because they were three.

OK, I’m a mother, right? I look after kids; I look after old people, right? So, I know, if I’m not like happy or — I’m someone who can entertain, so that those little kids, those old people, might be happy somehow, somewhere! [Subject laughs.]

TRANSCRIBED BY: Nadia Barnard

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): 15/03/2018

PHONETIC TRANSCRIPTION OF UNSCRIPTED SPEECH: N/A

TRANSCRIBED BY: N/A

DATE OF TRANSCRIPTION (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

SCHOLARLY COMMENTARY: N/A

COMMENTARY BY: N/A

DATE OF COMMENTARY (DD/MM/YYYY): N/A

The archive provides:

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• Text of the speakers’ biographical details.

• Scholarly commentary and analysis in some cases.

• In most cases, an orthographic transcription of the speakers’ unscripted speech.  In a small number of cases, you will also find a narrow phonetic transcription of the sample (see Phonetic Transcriptions for a complete list).  The recordings average four minutes in length and feature both the reading of one of two standard passages, and some unscripted speech. The two passages are Comma Gets a Cure (currently our standard passage) and The Rainbow Passage (used in our earliest recordings).

 

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