Women From Zimbabwe

"I've been able to reclaim myself. This is something that's required for every individual. We are not what happened to us"

"I learned to redefine myself regardless of what happened to me when I was a kid"

"I don't think I would be doing what I'm doing now in Zimbabwe if I didn't believe there is a possibility for a change"

"One of my biggest dreams, of course, never having met my father, was to actually have a father"

"In this case it was converting waste into food, creating food for the community, but also doing something that no one else in that community was doing. We were unique in that time, doing something that was highly scientific without having studied at all. In my case I'd only done five years of primary-level education. It was like magic"

"You realise that if you can work, you can actually get there step by step, you can put food on your plate"

"My grandmother was so knowledgeable that even when she couldn't see any more she could smell which mushrooms were edible, inedible, poisonous … But to grow them was very strange"

"When I was eight years old I'd told myself, 'I want to help other young orphans so they do not have to experience what I was experiencing.' I thought, 'If I get married, am I achieving that or not?' And it was clear that was not the way to go. I didn't go to meet the guy and my relative told me, 'I tried to help you, you turned that down and from now on you're pretty much on your own"

"I did not go because I realised if I got married, then I was leaving my grandmother and my little brother alone and I wouldn't be able to help them any more"

"The reason why I was supposed to find it attractive to marry him was because he had two sisters that were going to South Africa to buy clothing and coming back to Zimbabwe"

"I remember I cried many days after that and I used to watch other kids going to school that I used to run around with, and it was painful. But it was more painful to go to school and spend the whole time thinking about what's going to happen when I get home. Getting back home to watch the hungry faces of my granny and little brother. It was unbearable"

"It was tough"

"I strongly believe that, regardless of what is happening in politics – not just in Zimbabwe but in many different parts of the world – if we want to change things, we will need to go to the grassroots and teach them to stand up for themselves, because if we can empower them beyond being a victim of a political situation, then we are making change happen."

"The reason why I go into communities, select groups of young orphans, empower those and bring them back into the communities to inspire change there is because we need to change the way change is viewed. People say politicians or the grownups or the successful ones are going to change things in the country, but I think everyone has a part to contribute."

"I learned to redefine myself regardless of what happened to me when I was a kid, I've been able to reclaim myself. This is something that's required for every individual. We are not what happened to us."

"People don't see what they have, they're busy looking at what they don't have and worrying about how they can get there, and yet when they start by appreciating what they have, then their lives will be different and their goal in life will not be to project what they don't have and to use it to define themselves when they can learn to define themselves by what they have."

"Aged nine, she took her final primary school examinations, where she obtained top marks for all of her subjects. Lacking financial support to undertake her high school education, Maud studied on her own and completed her Ordinary Level in just two years after skipping two forms."

"If it is not Harvard, Stanford or Columbia, or anything in the Ivy League or the top ten universities in the world, for my Masters in Business Administration"

"The growth that comes from doing is more tremendous at this point than anything I can get in a classroom"

"My three years of articles becoming a chartered accountant showed me so much. It was a combination of school and real-life work experience. I can feel like I have grown so much"

"Although I was the youngest, school was easy for me at university because I did not have to catch up like I had done through primary and high school. Every semester had its workload which I managed with ease"

"At home, we attempted to start businesses to change our circumstances. They always looked good on paper, but they failed. This is why I decided to study accounting, to understand why businesses failed"

"Africa has the resources to feed itself and the world. However, a quarter of all Africans experience the everyday reality of hunger."

"Look at the children of the land leaving in droves, leaving their own land with bleeding wounds on their bodies and shock on their faces and blood in their hearts and hunger in their stomachs and grief in their footsteps. Leaving their mothers and fathers and children behind, leaving their umbilical cords underneath the soil, leaving the bones of their ancestors in the earth, leaving everything that makes them who and what they are, leaving because it is no longer possible to stay. They will never be the same again because you cannot be the same once you leave behind who and what you are, you just cannot be the same."

"NoViolet Bulawayo has created a world that lives and breathes – and fights, kicks, screams, and scratches, too. She has clothed it in words and given it a voice at once dissonant and melodic, utterly distinct.""

"“I used to be very afraid of graveyards and death and such things, but not anymore. There is just no sense of being afraid when you live so near the graves; it would be like the tongue fearing the teeth.”"

"“I think the reason they are my relatives now is they are from my country too - it's like the country has become a real family since we are in America, which is not our country.”"

"“We're hungry but we're together and we're at home and everything is sweeter than dessert.”"

"“If Messenger would be to open his mouth right now, his voice would be a terrible wound.”"

"“Now when the men talk, their voices burn in the air, making smoke all over the place. We hear about change, about new country, about democracy, about elections and what-what."

"“...and the women spread their ntsaroz and sit on one side, the men on the other, like they are two different rivers that are not supposed to meet.”"

"“Aunt Fostalina says when she first came to America she went to school during the day and worked nights at Eliot’s hotels, cleaning hotel rooms together with people from countries like Senegal, Cameroon, Tibet, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and so on. It was like the damn United Nations there, she likes to say.”"

"“Further and further we go, and the sun keeps ironing us and ironing us and ironing us.”"

"“There are times, though, that no matter how much food I eat, I find the food does nothing for me, like I am hungry for my country and nothing is going to fix that.”"

"“The problem with English is this: You usually can't open your mouth and it comes out just like that--first you have to think what you want to say. Then you have to find the words. Then you have to carefully arrange those words in your head. Then you have to say the words quietly to yourself, to make sure you got them okay. And finally, the last step, which is to say the words out loud and have them sound just right.”"

"As for the coldness, I have never seen it like this. I mean, coldness that makes like it wants to kill you, like it's telling you, with its snow, that you should go back to where you came from."

"I am starting to talk fast now, and I have to remember to slow down because when I get excited, I start to sound like myself and my American accent goes away."

"“When things fall apart, the children of the land scurry and scatter like birds escaping a burning sky.”"

"The President said the nation is proud of her work of promoting equality and empowerment for girls and women. "Congratulations @TereraiTrent who has been honoured as one of the 10 most inspiring women in the world, part of the "Sculpted for Equal Rights" initiative. All the people of Zimbabwe are deeply proud of you & your work in promoting equality & empowerment for girls & women," the President wrote."

"Even after becoming a child bride who had three children by the time she was eighteen, Trent eventually earned multiple degrees, and a prominent global platform. A platform where she has interacted with world leaders and international businesses and audiences to advocate for universal access to quality education."

"Zimbabwean humanitarian, scholar, educator, and author, Dr Tererai Trent is one of the world’s most internationally recognized voices for quality education and women’s empowerment."

"As a child growing up in poverty, I witnessed how community consistently prioritize boys over girls in education because they felt boys had more chances to get job opportunities, These experiences made me want to write a story that decisively validates the value of giving educational opportunities to girls."

"We are strong already, but together we are stronger."

""Your dreams in life will have deeper meaning when they are tied to the greater good.”"

"I am just humbled- it is unbelievable. Can you believe I am standing so tall in New York City? We know that 3% of statues in the city are female. My great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mother - ha - they would never have dreamt of something like this."

"I am incredibly honored to be standing among the World’s Top 10 Most Inspiring Women ‘Sculpted for Equal Rights’! Can you believe this rural Zimbabwean girl and just looking back where I came from to think I will have a life size statue standing in the streets of NYC! My goodness! The list includes Oprah Winfrey, Pink, Nicole Kidman, Jane Goodall, Cate Blanchett, Janet Mock, Tracy Dyson, Cheryl Strayed and Gabby Douglas."

"Wherever you are in life, despite challenges and difficulties, your dreams will always call you and remind you who you are and what you want to become."

"These girls are married off before they are able to define themselves. I come from this line of women who have been married very young before they could define the lives they wanted for themselves."

"Jenni WIlliams demonstrates the strength and perseverance that has become a hallmark of Ginetta Sagan Award recipients"

"We had huge expectations that it would have... but we have not noticed any change. In fact, in some ways we can say the pressure on us has increased because post the signing of this deal, I then found myself back in prison. And after having made bail - and it was a huge legal battle - we then found that we were restricted to a 40km radius, and that has never happened before"