Rev Makwasha: The Zim-born clergyman inspiring glo...

Rev Makwasha: The Zim-born clergyman inspiring globally through writing

Edmore Zvinonzwa

Writing in indeed an art, which blossoms where there is abundant passion. It grows out of a gift and has to blossom out of someone at some stage. It is interesting when this writing is coming from a man of God. Many would believe, his confines would not lie further than the biblical verses and scriptures he encounters every day in the line of duty.

Reverend Dr. Gift Makwasha Muendamberi, also known as the Ancestor is not that mould of a clergyman. His writing transcends the boundaries critics may want to draw in their analyses of people’s works.

Currently teaching and ministering in Australia, Rev Dr. Makwasha is an accomplished author, an academic and servant of God, who is married to Kudzai Sibotshiwe and the two have been blessed with four children.

“I descend from Muriel Mine and Raffingora, though for the most part I lived in Raffingora, an obscure farming township about 50km from Banket in Mashonaland West Province,” said the man of God about his background, in an interview with Zim Now recently.

Rev Dr. Makwasha has not limited himself to the pulpit but has put up something for posterity by way of writing, both fiction and non-fiction. He said he draws inspiration from several writers. “The author who has inspired me most is Wilson Katiyo. His novels A Son of the Soil, and Going to Heaven, fascinated me when I read them during my high school years; they left indelible marks on me. I said to myself, ‘one day I must write my own novels’. I have also been influenced by Chinua Achebe’s trilogy: Things Fall Apart, No Longer at Ease, and Arrow of God. Things Fall Apart in particular really influenced my idea to write Mt. Inyangani: The Novel,” he says.

From this inspiration, Rev Dr. Makwasha has penned The Repression, Resistance, and Revival of the Ancestor Cult in the Shona Churches of Zimbabwe: A Study in the Persistence of a Traditional Religious Belief, High School Education: The Key to Your Elevation, and lastly one that is still hot from the press, Njere Dzemuchenjeri/Ubuhlakaniphi Besihlakaniphi (The Wisdom of the Wise).

On one of his flagship books, High School Education: The Key to Elevation, which seems like a stand-alone title as compared to the other three, which share themes on traditional beliefs and culture, Rev Dr. Makwasha accedes it is indeed a different book.

“In a way I was thinking of my own journey, how I broke the chains of poverty, why I believe that your background should not really be allowed to chain the freedom of your future. I realised then that if only I could get a chance to complete high school, my future would be bright. That is exactly what happened. Education elevated me. It gave me the wings to fly.

“That book encourages young people to believe that they can break the chains. Drugs, alcohol, and substance abuse only help to sink you to the bottom pit of poverty and suffering. Even in Australia, many young people don’t realise the opportunities education brings. So, that book is like a personal guide or coach to break the chains of anything that can hold a person back,” said the Australia-based cleric.

For the prodding reader, there appears to be something mystical about Mt Inyangani and the author rightly says that was the intention from the time of the creation of the work

**Rev Dr. Gift Makwasha holds a hard back edition of his latest book**

“It was the intention from the beginning because that is what Mt Inyangani is about, the sacred mountain of the ancestors. The unresolved mysterious disappearances there just go to show how sacred that place is. So, I retold the stories I knew from my own perspective flavouring the book with some hyperbole, otherwise it would read like a boring history book. It is actually a fusion of stories of what happened on Mt Inyangani with mysterious events I witnessed as a boy growing up in both Muriel Mine and Raffingora, for in those days a lot of mysterious things happened,” says the Raffingora-bred clergyman.

Rev Dr. Makwasha hopes the future will allow him to create more while continuing to minister.

“Hopefully, 10 years from now, my ministry as an ordained priest will still be thriving. I work within the school system now as a Chaplain and teacher of Religious Education. I enjoy that. It is my area of calling really. As a writer, there are more books to publish, including a poetry one. There will be another novel and a few others on different subjects. My passion is to write things relevant to my traditional culture and religion. If one day I am to write a book on counselling, it still will be focused on my traditional African context.

Rev Dr. Makwasha says he makes sure he balances ministry work, family and writing by utilising his free time. “I have an office at home, so, I can kill two birds with one stone. I find writing easy because it is natural to me, that’s my area of gifting.”

He believes people, especially the young ones, all over the world must read.

“I encourage young people to read, read, and read. A person who reads widens their scope. Opportunities come to those who are well read. If you read, then you can write. Do not write when you are not well read, you make a mockery of yourself,” says the cleric.

Rev Dr. Makwasha says he has observed differences in ministry work in his home country and in Australia.

“In Zimbabwe, the context is that of mostly struggling to make ends meet. In such a context, religion strives because God is our consolation. People use religion like their lucky charm. They go to church to get something ... it is a bargain like God ... I do this for you, you do this for me, a quid pro quo kind of arrangement.

“So, in mainline churches such as the Roman Catholic and the Anglican Church, where I minister, there is a fusion of Christianity and African Spirituality. Belief in ancestors penetrates the heart of the Christian’s life.

“In Neo-Pentecostal Churches is the extreme of more like buying the grace of God ... people give crazy money to the prophet with the hope to get a blessing, poor people are desperate to get out of their dire situation, while the rich want more prosperity. In the end, the Christian faith is compromised. I doubt how many Zimbabwean Christians understand what it means to be a disciple of Jesus,” says Rev Dr. Makwasha.

In Australia, he said, it is the opposite. “The culture is so secular because people are well-to-do, they see no need for God. They have all they need without God, at least in their minds. Thus, even in churches you don’t get that rich African Spirituality in worship, such as dance, joy, belief in miracles or power of prayer to heal. It’s like a moribund, dying religion,” says Rev Dr. Makwasha of perspectives of Christian worship in Australia.

So, with Rev Dr Makwasha, Muendamberi, The Ancestor, the names seems to say it all. In his works, you cannot run away from traditional culture and religion which has remain a key part of his worldview. And interestingly, in this age, he plans to write a book on counselling but focussing on his traditional African context.