CALL IT the ultimate ego-trip and you would be probably right. As we prepare to bring back Zimbabwe in Pictures – rebranded and reloaded – I thought I should take this opportunity to explain what we are trying to do with this media platform. The idea of interviewing myself is not new – it is borrowed from eccentric and gifted writer, Dambudzo Marechera (1957-1987). The only Zimbabwean who could hit you with a line like “The poem, in consternation, began to pick its stanza-lips” and you would scratch your head and ask, “What was that?” But that is for another day. For now it’s ME-time. Here goes:

Chris Kabwato (CK): Can you give me a background to the Zimbabwe in Pictures project?

Me: Well, we just started this without any clear plan. All we wanted to do in March 2008 was to cover the Zimbabwean elections in pictures. We got funding from a Dutch organisation to do a two-week photography project. We produced a couple of electronic newsletters and distributed widely. They were a hit – something fresh and new on the Zimbabwean media scene. We knew we were on a winner. After the elections we just broadened the scope of the project and started covering wider issues – xenophobia, the social and economic crisis, the political negotiations etc.

CK: Who is we?

Me: “We” is my brother, Levi and my daughter, Nyasha.

CK: So it’s a kinda family thing?

Me: Precisely. It is and that is why it will be sustainable. The foundation is family and we are bringing in others – children, cousins and a couple of friends to be part of this. We are not apologetic about that model. We think the basis of sustainability for a project like ours is not financial but vision. As long as the vision and values are there this media initiative will thrive.

CK: But what is that vision?

Me: It is simple. Little people can make a difference. Little people should be outraged by suffering, oppression and injustice. Little people matter. These are the founding values of our vision. It is what drives our weekly editorial. It is what drives our choices in life – the writers in my family, the journalists, the lawyer…It is what we teach our children. Personally, I am an idealist – cynicism has no place in my life. As long as children are being born in Zimbabwe, we believe the struggle continues to create a society based on political, social and economic justice. I have chosen journalism and photography as my weapons of choice.

CK: But are you a trained photographer?

Me: Maybe one day I will get some training. But other than being forced to go to school by my parents (thank you) and going to university because I had nothing else to do, I have learnt what I know on the trot. I do tell my kids education is essential but personally I live in what Russian writer Maxim Gorky called “the University of Life.” I learn as I go – a piece of paper does not do things. People do things. But I have all the respect for those who have the time, patience and maturity to sit at a desk. I just don’t have that. I just move with my cameras and take pictures – some good and a lot very bad but I still do it and will do it…to the end.

CK: Umm..okay. But to come back to the model for Zimbabwe in Pictures what is new that you are bringing?

Me: Let me say that the first half of 2010 has been a revelation. The reception to our weekly editorial by the audience (thank you all) has been amazing. This is what has spurred us to revamp our website and also to re-think our strategy. We are bringing the following elements:

-        The Republic: this is the weekly editorial but now even more hard-hitting and well researched;

-        The Big Interview: interviews with key political, social and economic actors in Zimbabwe;

-        NewsBreak: the Twitter Channel that gives you the news as it breaks;

-        The Big Campaign: we will start online campaigns on a given issue and mobilise Zimbabweans, Africans and sympathisers elsewhere.

We have a lot more elements but you know our people – very little respect for intellectual property - so some things you are just going to experience them as they come on stream.

CK: And how will you pull all this off without a single cent?

Me: People do things as I always say. We don’t follow the money – the money will follow us. As a people we have waited too long on the door steps of donors and bore the brunt of the lack of imagination in most programme officers. The less said about government and the private sector the better. I just feel I am past that and will get on with what I feel gotta be done. “It is us we have been waiting for…”

CK: All the best to you and your team.

Me: Thanks. 

//ENDS

Publisher: Chris Kabwato (chris@digitalartsafrica.org)

Editor: Levi kabwato (levi@zimbabweinpictures.com)

Newsroom: editor@zimbabweinpictures.com, +27-73-212 0629

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