THREE feminist poets Rachel Mabela, Ropafadzo Charleen Majuru and Adelaide Ganyani have emerged the judges’ favourites in the SHE Speaks Poetry competition, SheDevs community manager Thandeka Munyaka has said.
She said the three would receive their accolades at a colourful event whose date and venue are yet to be announced.
Munyaka said the SHE Speaks Poetry competition was birthed out of a desperate need to give women in technology a voice that highlights the bridging of the digital divide in Zimbabwe.
“The name ‘SHE Speaks’ is giving women that voice to speak out about their challenges, likes, dislikes and what they want to be done differently in the world of tech,” she said.
“On the mission, we came back to stand up for women to be seen as capable partners in the tech ecosystem.
“It is consistent with our mission as a community, to empower and inspire women in technology by providing access to tools, resources and opportunities to develop their skills, creating a safe and supportive community and increasing diversity and inclusivity in the tech industry.”
Added Munyaka: “Our founder Precious Bondokoto, a woman who has always been fond of standing up for other women, saw a gap in our tech culture in Zimbabwe.
“She then came up with the idea to build a community exclusively for women to give them a chance to gain competitive skills that enable them to take up high paying jobs in the industry and the poetry competition came along later as we had witnessed another gap and we decided to use it to give hard-working women the spotlight.”
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She said as the SheDevs community, they had a committee made up of “seven beautiful and talented” women.
“Among the seven of us, we have different roles and responsibilities, although we all contribute towards brainstorming ideas for topics,” Munyaka said.
“Our events co-ordinator then creates a flyer that we post on all our social media platforms. Interested persons send their submissions to our email address.
“Currently, we do not have funding to source external judges. The community is being funded by us, so this task falls upon us as a committee.
“When judging, we assess whether the participant stuck to the topic and we check for relevance. We are impartial in our decision-making and very thorough.
“We have never faced any challenges with this decision-making process and we look forward to it staying the same.”
Ganyani, whose stage name is Segan, came third with her poem Quantum Leap.
She said Quantum Leap is a poem that imagined a future where quantum computing transforms our world, driving innovation, progress and sustainability.
It explores the possibilities of human-artificial intelligence collaboration and the potential for breakthroughs in medicine, space exploration and more, Ganyani said.
Majuru, whose winning poem is entitled Cybersecurity Saga, pointed out that women need to do studies to fully explore and gain resilience in the ever-evolving world of computers, where information security has been an issue for some time.
Mabela, through her poem Her Trust, Their Gain, lamented that women are cheated each time they make online transactions, white collar crime is rife, with women being the most vulnerable.
The three agreed that women need to be educated in computers and technology so that they execute their duties free from harassment and cheating.
Munyaka expressed satisfaction for the positive impact that the SHE Speaks Poetry competition has made.
“People have received it well and I can attest to that there are people who look forward to it, although some are reluctant to participate in the competition because they feel they’re probably not good enough,” she said.
“I can speak for one of the current winners, Ropafadzo, who went on to participate in another poetry competition and came first.
“I believe the She Speaks Poetry competition gave her the visibility and the courage to participate in another competition.”
Added Munyaka: “We do not want to limit ourselves to Harare. I believe with proper funding, our community can gain brand recognition and become widespread in Zimbabwe.
“We can reach out to girls all over the country and from all backgrounds. Currently, we are working on applications for funding and a book tour for Python Mastery Workshop, a handbook that was published in November 2024.”
Challenges and lessons learned
“The biggest challenge we have faced is coming up with topics. Our committee is made up of brilliant women with brilliant ideas and it’s always hard to choose the best three topics.
“To resolve this, we open up our poetry competition to three different themes.
“We need to stay relevant so we should probably advertise our competition for a whole month and boost these advertisements.
“Fortunately, we have run this competition twice and we have never faced any backlash and we hope to keep it that way.”
Future plans and partnerships
“As already mentioned, our plans for the future of the competition and the community as a whole is to gain recognition throughout Zimbabwe and to increase our participants’ pool.
“We are currently open to any form of partnership that benefit the women in the SheDevs community.
“We do our best to reach out to well-known organisations and apply for funding.
“The competition can and is definitely creating the stage for women in the tech industry to use their voices and be seen, which is a crucial element in bridging the digital skills divide in our country, that sees only 25% of women having basic computer literacy.”
Conclusion
“If you are a woman, come and support fellow women. Let your voice be heard. Do not shy away from the competition just because you think you’re not good enough, you may surprise yourself.
“We want to share your ideas with Zimbabwe, so look out for the She Speaks competition.
“The most important thing we have learned is choosing topics that align with what is currently happening in tech spaces worldwide and how tech is shaping the future of everyone’s live.
“Doing this helps us to spread information about what is happening around us that other people may not know.
“If you feel inspired by the competition and you want to promote women’s empowerment and maybe collaborate with us, feel free to reach out, we are always ready to hear new ideas on how we can improve the livelihoods of women in tech.
“If it’s something you’re thinking by yourself, start it, start now because tomorrow never comes. It’s a day in the future.”
