My name is Kudzai Nyoka, born on the 20th of November 1985 and I stay in Eastlea. I am the 2015 StarBrite non singing category winner.
Growing up was not so gloomy; some days were tough and some days were easy going but through it all God has seen me through to where I stand today. I was born in a small high density town of Zengeza. I grew up and was raised partly in that small town. My father abandoned my mother whilst she was pregnant with me and my mother was left to feed me and my two brother’s single handedly. It was not an easy road for my mother and at a very tender age I could tell that my mother was struggling and finding it hard to go by.
My mother had no formal education when my father left her and she started going to school at the same time trying to make ends meet so she could send us to school and put food on our table. We also had no place for our own to stay so we moved from place to place to another looking for cheaper accommodation, it was not an easy road at all for my mother cum father who had to play two roles in one and still bring the best out of it. I saw my mother sit for her ordinary level exams right up to her degree in marketing. I saw her rise from ordinary shop assistant to a group buyer of Africa’s most leading departmental store. I saw her rise from a no place to stay to owning a lavish house in a low density suburb. All this she did to give life to her children.
As all this was going on, my mother managed send me to one of the best schools in Zimbabwe. I was a boarder from grade 5 right up to ‘A’ level. I did my primary at Karoi Junior School, my ordinary level at Xloyazura High School and then my A level at Sandringham High School. Seeing how my mother was struggling to give us a decent life, I did my best at school and I always came out with flying colors. I then proceeded to go to University of Zimbabwe to pursue a degree in Psychology but there I started making bad choices which reaped regrettable consequences. I dropped out of university in my second year and got myself entangled with bad friends.
At some point I would relent find myself a job and months later abandon the job. All the years of turmoil and pain of my mother came crushing right in her face. I ended up in prison where am today but I have learnt that bad choices have their own consequences. I now see life from a different angle and am now in pursuit of happiness which requires hard work. My mother has suffered enough and it is time she enjoys the hard work she had done. I have brushed the dirt of my shoulders and I have started over. I am trusting in God to rearrange the bad choices I have made and work them out for my good. I am moving forward forgetting what lies behind. Thank God, ZPCS and StarBrite has given me a new hope and am rising from there they have opened an opportunity for me to start over my life and be able to raise my children. I am a great woman in making and shall be celebrated in this country and beyond am hoping to go back to university and inspire my peers who are in the same predicament I was. It’s never too late to start over. From the ashes I am rising. It is indeed my time to shine.
