IMPLICATIONS AND COMPLICATIONS OF BRIDE PRICE PAYMENT AMONG THE SHONA AND NDEBELE OF ZIMBABWE

ABSTRACT Marriage is an institution that exists in all human societies. For most African cultures, it involves the bridegroom paying bride price to the bride's family, what is known in Ndebele an

Independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene, and improved complementary feeding, on child stunting and anaemia in rural Zimbabwe: a cluster-randomised trial.

BACKGROUND: Child stunting reduces survival and impairs neurodevelopment. We tested the independent and combined effects of improved water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), and improved infant and young child feeding (IYCF) on stunting and anaemia in in Zimbabwe. METHODS: We did a cluster-randomised, community-based, 2 × 2 factorial trial in two rural districts in Zimbabwe. Clusters were defined as the catchment area of between one and four village health workers employed by the Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care. Women were eligible for inclusion if they permanently lived in clusters and were confirmed pregnant. Clusters were randomly assigned (1:1:1:1) to standard of care (52 clusters), IYCF (20 g of a small-quantity lipid-based nutrient supplement per day from age 6 to 18 months plus complementary feeding counselling; 53 clusters), WASH (construction of a ventilated improved pit latrine, provision of two handwashing stations, liquid soap, chlorine, and play space plus hygiene counselling; 53 clusters), or IYCF plus WASH (53 clusters). A constrained randomisation technique was used to achieve balance across the groups for 14 variables related to geography, demography, water access, and community-level sanitation coverage. Masking of participants and fieldworkers was not possible. The primary outcomes were infant length-for-age Z score and haemoglobin concentrations at 18 months of age among children born to mothers who were HIV negative during pregnancy. These outcomes were analysed in the intention-to-treat population. We estimated the effects of the interventions by comparing the two IYCF groups with the two non-IYCF groups and the two WASH groups with the two non-WASH groups, except for outcomes that had an important statistical interaction between the interventions. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01824940. FINDINGS: Between Nov 22, 2012, and March 27, 2015, 5280 pregnant women were enrolled from 211 clusters. 3686 children born to HIV-negative mothers were assessed at age 18 months (884 in the standard of care group from 52 clusters, 893 in the IYCF group from 53 clusters, 918 in the WASH group from 53 clusters, and 991 in the IYCF plus WASH group from 51 clusters). In the IYCF intervention groups, the mean length-for-age Z score was 0·16 (95% CI 0·08-0·23) higher and the mean haemoglobin concentration was 2·03 g/L (1·28-2·79) higher than those in the non-IYCF intervention groups. The IYCF intervention reduced the number of stunted children from 620 (35%) of 1792 to 514 (27%) of 1879, and the number of children with anaemia from 245 (13·9%) of 1759 to 193 (10·5%) of 1845. The WASH intervention had no effect on either primary outcome. Neither intervention reduced the prevalence of diarrhoea at 12 or 18 months. No trial-related serious adverse events, and only three trial-related adverse events, were reported. INTERPRETATION: Household-level elementary WASH interventions implemented in rural areas in low-income countries are unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia and might not reduce diarrhoea. Implementation of these WASH interventions in combination with IYCF interventions is unlikely to reduce stunting or anaemia more than implementation of IYCF alone. FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, UK Department for International Development, Wellcome Trust, Swiss Development Cooperation, UNICEF, and US National Institutes of Health.The SHINE trial is funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (OPP1021542 and OPP113707); UK Department for International Development; Wellcome Trust, UK (093768/Z/10/Z, 108065/Z/15/Z and 203905/Z/16/Z); Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; US National Institutes of Health (2R01HD060338-06); and UNICEF (PCA-2017-0002)

(Re)negotiating illegal migrant identities in selected Zimbabwean fiction

Since the late 1990s, migrations from Zimbabwe as a result of the country’s collapsed economy, have resulted in a number of shifts in the country’s literature. Aspects of literary creativity affected are varied, but the most important shift commented on in this article is the thematic focus on the undocumented migrant protagonists’ journeys from their homeland and their experiences in the host countries. The discussion focuses on the representation of the various survival strategies employed by undocumented migrants in circumventing immigration laws as they move to and stay in the host countries. The strategies include border jumping and identity masking. Representations of the said subversions of immigration laws are interrogated as manifested in Harare North, We need new names and The crossing, ‘My cousin-sister Rambanai’ and ‘Everything is nice, Zimbulele’. The analysis is done in the context of Hing’s theory of migrant illegality and De Genova’s ‘spectacles of illegality’

Figurative and symbolic function of animal imagery in packaging human behaviour in Ndebele and Shona cultures

This paper sets out to discuss how the Shona and Ndebele people of Zimbabwe make use of animal imagery to refer to human behaviour and habits in various situations. In this context, animal traits are drawn from both domestic and wild animals. A discussion of such a conception of human behaviour shall demonstrate that although animalisation largely seeks to denigrate and dehumanise, it is also used to acknowledge positive human qualities. This paper also highlights the following Shona and Ndebele cultural sites where animal imagery is prevalent: Muchohwe/Izichothozo (insult games) and totemic references

The past is the present and future: Ambivalent names and naming patterns in post-2000 Zimbabwe

The post-2000 Zimbabwean crisis demonstrates the tendencies and potential in the past to influence the politics of the present. What is widely referred to as the Third Chimurenga (the third liberation struggle) in this crisis epoch is a complex (and at times problematic) cache of nationalist and quasi-nationalist ideologies, philosophies and practices, which are not only connected to the first two Chimurengas through their aspiration for a totally decolonised nation, but also the demand for its political guardianship by the heroes of the armed Second Chimurenga. Many writers have grappled with the hegemonic tendencies of what is now referred to as ‘patriotic history’ (a form of politicised, state-circumscribed history of the nation) without seriously engaging with the deeper crevices of its nature. This paper sets out to argue that in post-2000 Zimbabwean politics, the past and the present are also connected through names and naming patterns that straddle the three Chimurengas with ambivalent meanings and political significance, shaped by spatio-temporal forces peculiar to the historical periods. Comprehending political meanings that such names and nicknames produce in the contexts and circumstances of the three liberation epochs can enhance our understanding of the pre-eminence given to the liberation war’s past in contemporary Zimbabwean politics of legitimation and de-legitimation