Two (2) IT Interns
Deadline: 8 October 2013

Duty Station: Masvingo 1 / Harare 1
Position Code: PS-ITI13

Job Summary
CARE International in Zimbabwe is inviting applicants for the position of Information Technology Intern. Reporting to the Information Technology Assistant, the incumbent will be responsible for providing ICT technical support to Harare, Masvingo and Midlands Province district offices. Based in Masvingo/Harare s/he will carry user service requests and will also be responsible of the following:

Duties and responsibilities
-IT support and maintenance: the student will provide first line technical support to users on Windows applications and general computer use, install, assemble and configure computers, network infrastructure, peripherals such as printers, scanners and related hardware
-Networking: s/he will assist troubleshoot networking problems including router, switch and ISP backbone problems
-Email and Internet Administration: assist with WAN monitoring to ensure availability and accessibility of IT systems
-IT Inventory: Maintain an updated inventory of the sub offices and district offices

Qualifications, skills and experience
-Prospective candidates should be holders of an IT related degree/ diploma
-Good interpersonal skills
-Hardworking and flexible

To apply
Interested and suitably qualified applicants should submit application letters together with updated Curriculum Vitae quoting the position code on the subject for email applications to:

Human Resources Manager
PS-ITI13
CARE International in Zimbabwe
8 Ross Avenue
Belgravia
Harare

Or email: vacancies [at] carezimbabwe [dot] org

Note: Please indicate the area of preference in your application.

crone is one of these
it conjures up a picture of bent old women with stringy grey hair and warts on their noses
screeching voices and fearful curses

would you want to be that?
PLEASE NO!

it is time to reclaim our authority as elders,
as grandmothers,
as crones
to remember and honour the gifts we bring
as the wise ones
to stop fearing our power as healers and ritual makers and web-weavers and visionaries
stop worrying about our size and shape and number of wrinkles
for it is now when we truly have the freedom to claim our authenticity
without needing approval

how do we connect ourselves into the spirals of life
and live each part true to inner knowing of ourselves
and call the wisdom of women back into our world?

For now is the time for us
to be truly who we are

In their recommendations, they say:

There is a need for civil society to push for the recognition of the informal sector as a source of livelihood for young women and these should therefore set up mechanisms of advocacy both at policy level and economically. For example this can be done by setting up markets like Mupedzanhamo for young women to sell their goods without fear of harassment and intimidation. Secondly, by creating platforms to encourage young women to desist and resist entering risky relationships of exchange through introducing various mentorship programs by either the relevant ministries or non-governmental organizations. Thirdly, by including policies that take into consideration historical gender imbalances for example the current indigenization policy, these policies should also consider gender protocol and enforce gender budgeting to ensure young women claim their space in empowerment. Lastly, the media has an important role to play in helping to address these issues young women face daily because of the current economic environment. It should act as an education tool rather than objectify women; it should be gender sensitive and create platforms for young women to air their views as well as inform them of the various opportunities open to them from various organizations.

Read more

Via poetfire

According to Radio Dialogue:

Magodonga Mahlangu, one of the leaders of the group, in a brief interview with Radio Dialogue, confirmed that she had been arrested and was being taken to Harare Central Police station.

“I am in Harare, I’m under arrest and i am going to Harare central police station. I was beaten as i was climbing into the vehicle. I was thrown in and beaten. I am battered and bruised. It is only the voice that is there,” she said before the telephone call was terminated.

According to a statement issued by WOZA before the march:

Over 400 members planned to march to Zimbabwe’s Parliament to hand over a list of demands. The protest was planned to ‘test’ new provisions in the constitution and to make the voice of women heard around the direction that local and national government should take as the take up their positions. The protest also marks the international day of peace commemorated throughout the world on 21st September 2013.

The theme selected by a consultation conducted is peace must deliver freedom and development for all. Seven thousand WOZA members consulted wanted a theme that spoke to the peace bragging rhetoric by politicians that has for the most part been meaningless chatter. Additionally as the UN convenes and President Mugabe plays his sad old song about removing sanctions, WOZA members also call for him to remove his sanctions on Zimbabweans enjoyment of human rights and freedoms.

Florence Masebe plays the role of Elelwani, a young woman who is married off to a king in honor of traditional cultural beliefs as well as to pay off debts accrued during her upbringing and for the support her family has been getting from an elderly king in Limpopo. ‘Elelwani’ is an indigenous film shot in Venda language based on a novel by Titus Maumela and directed by Ntshaveni wa Luruli. Set in rural Limpopo where people are still very much attached to their culture the film reveals the harsh treatment faced by women in a society where men still play a dominant role in decision making. When Elelwani turned down the offer to marry the king this does not deter her father from settling for her youngest daughter as a replacement. This decision makes Elelwani bow down to the cultural demands and later agrees to marry the king so that her young sister can be saved from the forced marriage arrangement.

Such a thought provoking film brings to life some of the stories we have been reading in the press of how the girl child is used as a pay off for avenging spirits or exchanged for a bag of maize when family faces starvation. Premiered at the just ended International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) “Elelweni” tells a story of rural women who are struggling to fight patriarchy and to get fair treatment in the society.

The film festival showcased films, which helped raise awareness on women’s sexual rights and the general human right abuses women go through under the cover tradition.

The women were pushed to protest due to the high level of environmental degradation caused by oil companies in the Niger delta who flared out gas into the air, polluting water and land. As a result farming and fishing was no longer viable for the women. Another factor that brought outrage was the companies’ reluctance in employing their husbands, brothers and sons. In the documentary the women said that the only benefit they derived from Chevron’s operation in the community was the heat produced when they flared gas. They would dry their cassava using this heat; a process, which usually took days, using the sun’s heat, would only take 5 hours. To them, in as much as this flared gas was a major threat to their environment and health, they saw it as the only direct benefit to their community. However, there then came a time when they were not allowed to enter the oil company’s premises so they could dry or collect their cassava.

In South Africa they famously say ‘Wathintha umfazi wathintha imboko’ (you strike a rock you strike a woman). With all these misgivings about the oil company’s operations, the women took it upon themselves to protest at Chevron’s premises. They spent weeks on the site and disrupted the company’s operations. They gained the attention of the company when they resorted to stripping naked during the protests. In the documentary one of the activists said, “Naked I came to this world, naked I leave”, to show how they had removed the shyness of being naked in peoples eyes as well as their determination. In their tradition it is taboo to strip naked, especially an elderly woman. An example was given that if an elderly woman is offended and strips naked in front of their offender they would have cursed the offender. This group of women protesting comprised of women of all ages, and elderly women were also a part of the group. Thus them stripping naked brought the attention of local and international media and the oil companies too who agreed to sign MOUs with the women where they made ‘empty’ promises. Empty as in up to when the documentary was screened in 2011; none of those promises had been achieved.

This documentary shows the power of women coming together. It took a few minutes for those women to decide they were going to invade Chevron’s premises and then when they managed to stop the company’s operations the women would take 12 hour duties to guard and protest within the premises giving each other time to attend to their household chores.

The Naked Option is a great inspiration to women’s activism and to also question corporate responsibility. Often companies come to extract minerals within communities and concentrate on making the minimum operational costs at the expense of the community’s health, environment and development. My mind went to the families in Chiadzwa and I felt that Sheila Mutsenhu, the lady who stripped naked in front of the US Ambassador in Mutare earlier this year protesting against sanctions in Zimbabwe, should have better directed her efforts. Her being a citizen in the Manicaland province where Chiadzwa diamond mines are located, her zeal would be more beneficial if directed to the cause of women’s issues in the area. Maybe one day she will lead a group of the Manica women to protest demanding better living conditions.

This year is the 12th edition of the International Images Film Festival for Women (IIFF) and it will run from the 23rd to the 31st of August in Harare. It will move to Bulawayo from the 5th to the 7th of September. You can download the programme here.

The First National Rally in South Africa to End Men’s Violence Against Women: Men Promise to Act Against Gender-Based Violence

You can access the song online at Sound Cloud here or email products [at] kubatana [dot] net with Sister in the subject line, and we will email it to you (4.2MB).

You can watch Rina singing Sister and talking about her friendship with Chiwoniso here

And, if you like this song, get more of Rina’s music like her new EP via iTunes and visit her website