Christine Mapondera-Talley : African Storytelling

Christine Mapondera-Talley is a wife, mom, and entrepreneur. She is the founder of Global Kidz House where she publishes children's books and a magazine, elevating and celebrating the diversity of Africa and the African diaspora. Centering stories full of humor, drama and inspiration.

Website: www.globalkidzhouse.com

Facebook: Globalkidzhouse

Instagram: @globalkidzhouse 

Twitter @globalkidzhouse

• Resources Mentioned: 

Makanaka’s World* 

Gogo’s Garden* 

Passport Africa* 

ZimKIDSSummerCamp 

My First Book of Shona and Ndebele Words by Yeve C. Sibanda. 

*Special offer: 20% discount on any Global Kidz House products using code zimbo20.

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Transcript

Intro : Yo! Welcome to the party! Hello! Makadini. Salibonani. My name is Vongai and you’re listening to ZimExcellence, a weekly celebration of Zimbabwe’s changemakers and trailblazers. So here’s the secret y’all Zimbabweans are actually DOPE AF and it’s just time that we recognize it. So grab yourself a plate of sadza, grab that Stoney ginger beer and let the party begin! 

Vongai : Welcome to another episode of ZimExcellence. Today my guest is an entrepreneur, wife, mom and founder of Global Kidz House where she publishes children’s books and a magazine, elevating and celebrating the diversity of Africa and the African diaspora. Centering stories full of humor, drama and inspiration. I think she’s an absolute inspiration. 

Please welcome Christine Mapondera-Talley.  

Christine : I am so so happy to be here. Thank you. It is such an honour to be a guest on this podcast. 

Vongai : Sweet stuff. Before we get into the juicy details about your amazing books and your upcoming kids magazine. So you’re a ZimExcellence superhero and every superhero has their origin story. So I wanna find out more about your origin story. So, you were born in Zimbabwe, yes? 

Christine: Correct. So I was actually born in Chinhoyi although I didn’t really live much in Chinhoyi. I was in Mutarashanga, majority of my childhood with grandparents and in between I would be in Harare or Kwekwe where my parents actually lived. So my formative years happened with my grandmother in our garden growing all sorts of veggies and it was just the best time of my life really. 

Vongai : So how did you get from present day where you are now. Christine, the amazing entrepreneur, has publishing house, lives in Chicago, is a mom to these beautiful kids. Doing all the fabulous things. 

Christine: Y’know. I think life just takes you where you are supposed to be. I could have never ever predicted  that I would be living here in Chicago, married to this amazing human being and have these two bubbly, happy, spontaneous little people that just keep the ideas flowing. When I look back at all the experiences I had in Mutarashanga, in Kwekwe, in Harare, in Norton where I went to high school in Sandringham, there is a connection there. I was just evolving into who I was supposed to be and then I look back and I see just the little foot prints that I left that are still with me today. 

Vongai : Wait. So when did you move? Was it for college or high school? 

Christine: Yeah so that was in 1999. I moved for college. My parents thought it’d be great idea for me to come to the U.S so I ended up in Houston, Texas. It was so, so humid and hot. I mean it’s like define hot? Houston, Texas. It’s like I didn’t even know that weather could be this horrible. 

Vongai : [laughs] I haven’t been yet, the most hot I’ve experience was Beijing, China. That was hot! We would have school uniforms and at the end of the day we’re untucking our shirts and you just see the sweat pouring out. 

Christine: So listen, I left Zim…July 24 and arrived in Houston, Texas July 25. The dead middle of summer. So it was winter in Zim, I’m wearing my jeans, my cardigan and I’m really comfy. As soon as I walked out of that airport I was like ‘Oh my goodness! What is happening?’ [laughs’

Vongai  : You were burning! [laughs]

Christine: [laughs] and unfortunately my aunt who I was going to be living with…her house which was a sizable home. It was a 2 story home. The air conditioning system died the day I landed. 

Vongai : Oh no. 

Christine: So it took maybe another day and a half before someone could come and fix this. My god you talk about roasting. That was a smack in the face Welcome to America kind of 48 hours,

Vongai  : And this was your first time in America right? 

Christine: My very first time in America.

Vongai : You’re like welcome, it’s hot. Do you feel you encountered any other culture shock? That you endured those first couple of days. 

Christine: That was like the main one. [laughs]

Vongai  : [laughs] 

Christine: People have culture shock, I had weather shock!  I would go outside and stand under the shade and think I would cool off. I was like ‘Nothing’s happening maybe I  need to go back in the building’. Y’know. I just couldn’t get over it and I honestly actually never really used sunscreen because at the time Zimbabwean weather wasn’t that intense. I know over the last few years the patterns have shifted but I was out a lot. Especially to go swimming just to try to cool off and my skin was so burnt by the end of the summer.

Vongai  : Every time someone asks me what the weather is like in Harare. They’re like ‘Oh is it super hot?’ I’m like it’s like LA and I always said that before I ever went to LA. I just imagined this is what LA weather is like and then I visited LA and I was like ‘This is literally Harare weather’. [laughs] 

Christine: Oh wow. Yeah that’s a good comparison actually cos I’ve been to LA a couple of times. 

Vongai : And so what brought you to Chicago? 

Christine: Y’know my husband and I when we got married, we were living in Michigan and we always wanted to be in larger metropolis and so an opportunity came up for him to do some work in Chicago. And we were like if you’re gonna be there  for a couple of years we might as well just move there. So it was perfect timing, we want to be away from this small town for a bit. And so here we are. And it’s been 7 and a half years since we moved to Chicago.

Vongai : Oh wow.  

Christine: Yeah my daughter was six months she just turned 8. So that’s my marker. She just turned 8. [laughs] She was exactly 6 months old when we moved. 

Vongai  : [laughs] I love that, it’s like ‘What? How old are you again?’ Ok that’s how long we’ve lived here.’ Ok so speaking of your kids. So you have this wonderful book Makanaka’s World that was inspired by your daughter. 

Christine: Yes!  

Vongai : Ok how did that come about? Did the book come before the publishing house or the publishing house before the book? Give us all the magical details. 

Christine: So yeah the book came before publishing house and really what happened is that I was right short stories for her. A little girl going to the playground. A little girl going to sleep or brushing her teeth. Y’know just stuff to help her see herself. And then one day my husband was like ‘Well are you going to write these books in English?’ cos they were short things in Shona. I was very adamant about putting something on paper for her to see. 

Vongai : You’ve always been a writer? 

Christine: Y’know honestly it really came out once I had my daughter. I could have had this in me and just didn’t really tap into it because you know when you’re so distracted when you’re trying to do so many other things or trying to survive so elements of you are suppressed. But when you have that room to explore it just kind of comes out. And it seems like it’s coming from nowhere but it’s truly not. It was just suppressed because there were more pressing things at that time, right? And so within a couple days of him saying that I was like, ‘Hm…he kind of has a point’. He was like, ‘Well you know other families may want this because there’s really a huge lack of diverse books’ and I pretty much knew that because I stopped by a Barnes and Noble frequently and I saw the offerings. I thought ok let’s just go into research mode. This character, if it’s going to be compelling and people are going to fall in love with this character, who is she, where is she going and what is she even doing? I was like ok I need to figure out how to start this company. What’s needed? Because this was a whole new venture but one thing about me is that I love to build things. I love coming up with a team and I had learned that, you can’t succeed alone. And so I just looked for people who were in love with what they do that would compliment my vision. And so that’s how I got Global Kidz House to be where it is right now.  

Vongai : I think what you’re doing is absolutely revolutionary and it actually makes me emotional. As someone who grew up in different countries I see myself as a third culture kid and a global citizen most definitely but if I had the books and the resources that you are currently creating and promoting and just helping produce. Like I can’t imagine what my life would be like now to have that representation and to be able to see the representation of Africa and the African countries in the way that you’re doing. I noticed you do this really cool thing on your Instagram page. You and your children sit down and you do these fun crafts and activities to promote learning about African countries and I think that is like the dopest thing I’ve ever heard of. It’s so inspiring and so revolutionary.  

Christine: Oh my gosh thank you.  

Vongai : I saw a couple episodes but the first one I saw was the painting of the African continent. Because again [leans into microphone] Africa is a continent not a country. [laughs] We have to remind them. 

Christine: [laughs] Let’s clarify that one more time.

Vongai : Africa is a continent not a country. Thank you for listening. So they were painting the countries on the continent and instantly I just had this vision. And I was like ‘Yo Christine, this could easily translate as one of those BBC shows that I grow up watching. I grew up watching Blue Peter. I don’t know if you watched Blue Peter. 

Christine: I haven’t 

Vongai : They would have you do different scout-related activities and things. They’d be like today we’re going to learn (how to make) this and afterwards  they’d be like ‘And here’s one we made earlier’. It always really annoyed me, to be like ‘Why did you make one earlier? I’m trying to make it now I’m only 5 (years old) I don’t know how this goes’. [laughs] 

Christine: [laughs] 

Vongai : It is so great to see Black children and African children so enamoured and empowered to learn about their culture.

Christine: Well thank you for sharing that. Well I, it’s really been an idea that’s been sitting in my mind for a while and I was trying to figure out. Video is not my specialty, right but I really want to share this somehow and I’m going to figure out how to make it better over time. The first two episodes maybe just so-so, maybe the fifth one will be better and better. So we’ve just done just maybe three episodes so far and it’s allowing me a chance to look back and see, ‘Ok this went better for this reason but this area could be improved in this way or the angulation or whatever.’ So there are different things that I’m playing around with but I do love using crafts because children love crafts. My kids especially love crafts I always have – 

Vongai : I love crafts. 

Christine: Right! It’s so much fun.

Vongai : I wanna join in and play. I was like how did I not know this was happening? 

Christine: It’s so important and I love that, especially my daughter because she’s older and able to articulate what she’s thinking, she really embraces the idea of being a person of African descent. She thinks of herself as a Zimbabwean, ok? I remember when we used to ask her where she was born she would say, ‘I was born in Zimbabwe’. Even though she was not born there she had this connection to her mother’s country which made me feel so good. I was like this is great. But you know what Vongai, you and I really are in this unique position to bring forth things that we know matter when it comes to passing identity. It’s really important to be seen. When I was younger, I think I was about 14 I remember seeing a cartoon and the characters were speaking in Shona and I was just like stunned. I was like Wait? What’s happening? They’re talking the way I talk! How and when? 

Vongai : What was this cartoon?

Christine: It literally only came on one time. That one day. I never saw it again and I would turn on the television every day waiting for…but it never. I don’t know maybe someone was doing an experiment and they just decided not to do it any further but I was like ‘man that was so cool’ and they were climbing trees just like I did and speaking Shona. I went back to boarding school and asked other people if they had seen it and no one had seen it. I thought ‘I’m not crazy, I know I saw this cartoon.’ Eventually one person was like ‘Yeah yeah I saw it too. It was so great’. And that has stuck in my mind how that felt when I heard those characters playing and speaking in Shona. 

Vongai : I always think about Disney and how the first Black Disney princess came to be in I believe 2009. The Princess and the Frog. Princess Tiana, who by the way I’m tryna manifest playing her live-action. If it doesn’t happen it’s fine because we’ll just create other Black Disney princesses because there doesn’t just have to be one. Anyway before Princess Tiana existed my two favourite princesses were always Sleeping Beauty because I found it was hilarious when fairies were like ‘No it’s pink, no it’s blue’. That always cracks me up. And the other one was Pocahontas and my mom always gets on ‘You used to force me to watch Pocahontas all the time’ and I think it was in my tween years. [makes a funny voice’ Obviously I’m still a teenager.  [laughs] But it was in my tween years that I finally pieced together why Pocahontas was always my favourite. I thought she was Black. Because there was this whole thing about ‘savages’ which is awful and the thing with the corn. Because Zimbabwe our staple food is corn, is maize. And this whole thing about the British planting a flag and the British colonizers. So I was like ‘Oh! They’re treating her differently from the other people because she’s Black like me.’ So that was the closest thing I could see myself in. 

With that said, I’d love to know your thoughts, struggles or what you’ve learnt being a parent who is raising multilingual and multicultural children. Again I see myself as the adult version of your children but the difference is your children have so many more resources and representation and it’s just so exciting. 

Christine: My gosh. I think the challenge for me as a Zimbabwean. First of all my husband is not Zimbabwean so not also limits how much information is being passed down because only one person is doing it. At least actively. And we’re not in Zimbabwe and right now we can’t go for who know how long. My goal was at least go every other year and spend as much time as possible so they can truly get to know their family and get hear the language more often. When you’re alone as a parent you can moments of fatigue and you kind of have to work yourself out of it because you’re trying to balance what they need to learn at school and help them with that work, the English-based studies but then it’s like you have this deep desire. You’re like have you all need to learn some Shona and you all need to learn so I can have someone else to talk to. [laughs] 

Vongai : [laughs] I wanna be able to cuss this person out in public without them knowing and you understand. Yeah.

Christine: Yes! We can gossip together but I can’t do it. Anyway it is a challenge but I don’t think it’s impossible. Right? I am so thrilled that I have found people like me that really value this and want to pass this down to the next generation. Having the Zim KIDS Summer Camp. I mean the first time that my daughter was part of that she was so excited and by the time the week ended she wouldn’t stop talking about it. When she sees a new print out from the assignments that we did back then, she’s like ‘Oh this is from the Zimbabwe KIDS Camp’. There are tshirts that say ‘Zimbabwe KIDS Camp’, they love wearing those t-shirts. You know there is just something endearing about it. I don’t know there’s just an extended experience, in a sense. So while there may be challenges, there are also some bright spots and they’re getting brighter honestly. Now we just recently purchased another book that was written by a Zimbabwean that have Shona, English and Ndebele words that’s an additional thing. 

Vongai : Is that Yeve’s book?

Christine: That’s Yeve’s book.  

Vongai : I’ve been reading it too! 

Christine: I’m seeing more and more of that coming up. Last summer there was even a woman doing Shona lessons and I think we met once or twice a week. So these are things that were just not there just 3 years ago. I’m quite frankly excited and I think it will get better. But at some point I will definitely go home for like a solid year with kids so that they can be a part of every day life and I can be there with them. I think it will be crucial for there identity for sure. 

Vongai : To catch listeners up to speed I was a teacher at the Zim KIDS Summer Camp and Christine’s daughter, Makanaka, of Makanaka’s World fame, which we’ll get to was one one of the students at the camp. It is a cultural camp that was started by Tanyaradzwa Tawengwa, a good friend of ours. More information will be in the shownotes. The other resource we mentioned was My First Book of Shona and Ndebele Words by Yeve Sibanda. Yeve is also going to be a guest on this podcast so you’ll be able to check that out. That will be in the shownotes. It’s interesting that you said you’d love someone to talk to in Shona. Both my parents are Zimbabwean but the first part of my life was in the UK and my mom tells this funny story about how. We would go into a shop in London. We’d go into Woolworths and I would pick two videotapes and she said ‘No you can only have one’ and I would have a tantrum. There was this white Zimbabwean who worked behind the counter and my mom go up to him and speak to him in Shona to say ‘Hey can you put stuff away. Just put one videotape and whatever’. And I didn’t understand Shona at the time so I just had no idea that they were scheming .

Christine: Colluding 

Vongai : Behind my back. Like what is this language, what are they talking about it? And we left the shop. Possibly as a child I could tell something was up and so then I pulled my mom down and I looked through the bags and saw there was only one videotape and cried. My mom says that’s when she knew I knew how to count. [laughs] But I did want to say it’s great that you bring up these resources like Zim KIDS Summer Camp and My First Book of Shona and Ndebele words because I was going to ask you how you’ve been able to cultivate a sense of Zimbabwean community will being outside of Zimbabwe. Or staying in touch with that culture and heritage even for yourself as an adult before you had children. 

Christine: For a while when I lived in Michigan there was a significant Zimbabwean population. And so - 

Vongai : Wait? In Michigan? 

Christine: yeah – 

Vongai : Is it not cold? 

Christine: It is ! They’ve all moved away. At leas, majority of them. Now most people are in Texas but some people are in Canada so they’re in more cold, I don’t know how that happened. A lot of people moved away over the years. But for a while I had my people around me, it was amazing. It was just like ok if you wanna go and have sadza party somewhere and eat your traditional meals? No problem, someone’s got that covered. You could hop from place 1 to 2 to 3 and have potlucks all day. 

Vongai : That is so fun! 

Christine: But you know careers change and people get married and life takes them, people start to move away. It gets harder when you only see people virtually or you only see them on Facebook or whatever it is. Just keeping small groups that you can ever get together with on the phone. Even if it seems like it’s a little bit but it’s better than nothing. Before COVID me and three other friends had formed a pact and we were going to have Sunday dinners at someone’s house. We’d rotate Sunday dinners because we actually happened to have kids around the same age and the idea was that we can allow them to hear the language and be around each other as they are learning the language. 

Vongai : I love that so much. 

Christine: We literally got 4 dinners in and then COVID started. We were like I guess we need to wait because we’ve gotta be cautious. So that was unfortunate because it was a really great plan and I really felt like we’re getting somewhere, we’re giving our kids a community. The first time my daughter went to, one of the girl’s her name is Carol. We went to her house and she was sitting with Carol’s children and they were eating and her kids have also been exposed to Shona and so they were speaking Shona. She went over to me and she said ‘Mommy! Mommy! They speak Shona too! They speak Shona too.’ And I was like ‘Yes honey they do’. But it was like this moment where she realized, I’m not the only one, we’re not the only ones. This is so cool. There was this level of excitement that just surprised me but I shouldn’t be surprised because she needed that sense of community. 

Vongai : You just reminded me. I actually have not thought about this in years. The favourite thing about my early upbringing was I had this whole community from the High Commission,  which I think would now be considered Embassy since we left the Commonwealth. I just remember we would have these BBQs and be friends with all these kids and my cousins would come. It was just this whole Zimbabwean community. I feel like the thing that was lacking was a lot of us didn’t speak Shona. But it was like yeah you’re Zimbabwean, I’m Zimbabwean we’re cool and I was the only Black girl in my class so that was the closest to me having Black friends during the summer time when all of this was happening.  

Christine: Right. Right. 

Vongai : It definitely reminded me of that which is interesting. So Makanaka’s World. So it’s based on your daughter and she goes on adventures all around the world and this first book is An Adventure To Morocco, which is on my bucket list. 

Christine: So um, Adventure to Morocco. First of all let me just quickly describe Makanaka’s World, so she is this girl that is going to different countries to meet her friends to do something fun and unique at each destination. She goes there with her best friend Fari, he’s a parrot that transforms into anything. Which is so convenient. 

Vongai : Which is so cool it should be a TV series. 

Christine: And yes absolutely that is – 

Vongai : [leans into microphone] Netflix you can book her now! 

Christine: Yes! C’mon Netflix. I wrote this down in my business plan four years ago that this would be a TV show so let’s just make this happen. 

Vongai : It’s happening. [leans into microphone] I’m auditioning for one of the speaking roles  

Christine: Hey! Hey c’mon now put it out in the universe. Let’s receive that. So Fari transforms into a jet and that’s how they get to their destination. Makanaka, she’s like this adventurous globetrotting well-versed reader. And Adventure in Morocco, I personally have a crush on Morocco so it felt right to just get that out of the way. [laughs]

Vongai : [laughs] I get you, I get you. 

Christine: I just have a crush on this place and I researched it to death. I learnt so much about Morocco. I had at two dreams of me in Morocco doing something and it was so clear. I knew in my dream I was in Morocco. Nobody had to tell me. I knew I was there. In one dream I was giving my husband, a tour. I was giving my husband a tour of Morocco in my dream! 

Vongai  : It’s your second home! [laughs] We’re manifesting this. It’s your second home, you live in Chicago, you have a home in Zimbabwe and you have a home in Morocco. It’s fine. 

Christine: Yes. When I woke up I was like wait, was I just doing that? I just gave him a tour? [laughs] 

Vongai : [laughs] I love that so much! 

Christine: What’s amazing is that Moroccan’s who have read the book are like ‘Wow this is so authentic and it’s so positive’.  Right? And how does she cover this level of authenticity without having been to Morocco. It was like they just couldn’t even figure it out and I was like that’s a major compliment. Thank you, I just want to honour our people in whatever form or shape. So this is my little sprinkling of that. So yeah Makanaka, I do intend on taking her stories to different countries but mostly African countries. I have other places outside of Africa that I definitely would want to explore but the next destination is definitely Zimbabwe. I’m in the queue to have the book illustrated. My illustrator is quite busy so I am the next person in the queue, so Makanaka’s story to Zimbabwe is definitely going to start by June of this year. It’s gonna start. 

Vongai : Oh that is super exciting. When I found out the premise for Makanaka’s World it made me think of. Is it called ‘The Flying Schoolbus?’ What’s it called?  

Christine: Oh! I think that’s The Magic Schoolbus.

Vongai : The Magic Schoolbus! 

Christine: Ok 

Vongai : When you said that Fari can turn into anything and turns into a jet. It made me think [gasp] this is making me think of the Magic Schoolbus or a kids show I see it. 

Christine: Originally I had defined him as he transforms into a jet and I revised that to allow the flexibility because who knows 10, 15, 20 years from now. It can be parlayed into something else that involves outer space or the ocean or whatever. So just leave that door cracked open a little bit and you never know.

Vongai : I love that, I love children’s books like that. I loved growing up reading stuff like The Railway Children and The Magic Carpet. So it’s just super fun. Now Gogo’s Garden is based on your relationship with your grandmother which I think is so beautiful and that’s coming later this year.

Christine: Gogo’s garden is. You know I thought I was so in love with Makanaka’s World and I am and I couldn’t even see myself loving something else and then it happened. Right? Gogo’s garden is so so close to my heart because I spent most of my childhood with my grandparents. My grandmother is almost like my first mother to be honest even though she didn’t birth me but that’s who I was with from when I was a few months old. We lived in this garden and we grew everything in this garden. I remember talking to one of my aunts when I was researching and she said ‘You guys sometimes would wake up and go straight to the garden and forget to eat breakfast’. Like this is how committed we were to our garden. Nothing else mattered. Life was good as long as we were in this garden. I enjoyed writing it because I was able to add some really funny, silly things in the story that are not necessarily realistic but they’re relatable. So I added some sugar and spice in there. Things about snakes and other creatures that may show up in the garden. Because really there were snakes in that particular part of the country. They didn’t always show up in the garden but I had encounters with snakes that were not exactly pleasant. So I threw that in there and I found some really unexpected funny moments to add in there. It just made the story, more than expected. I’m looking forward to sharing that especially with Gogo because I don’t know that she’s even imagined herself in a story in this way. So it’s going to be amazing.

Vongai : You get to memorialize her in print which is just so powerful. Now you can share her magic. 

Christine: And there are Shona words in the story, right? The Adventure in Morocco book there are Arabic words. That are in the story. So Gogo’s garden is the same way there are Shona words in this book and I did not make it a point to explain what they mean because really the context of the story should help you understand what I’m communicating. But really I was like we’re just going to put these Shona words and people are going to stretch their brains a little, their imagination and you know it’s all good. We do it all the time when we read Spanish-infused text. It’s no different. 

Vongai : That’s so awesome. So Passport Kids Magazine. No it’s called Passport Africa, I apologize. Passport Africa. 

Christine: So Passport Africa, this actually came about initially as a newsletter. I was going to put together a newsletter for elementary kids and then over the months it morphed into ‘Maybe it needs to be a magazine’ but I didn’t want to do a magazine that sounds like a lot of work. [laughs]

Vongai : I was like wait? I wanna do a podcast? Damnit. [laughs] I’ve got work to do. 

Christine: [laughs] Will it be good? And then I had to go back to the reason why I wanted to do Passport Africa to begin with, even though it wasn’t a magazine but it was in a format that was forever changing. Because when you have a newsletter it’s not the same every time you put it out. Every, whether it’s every week or every two weeks so really I knew I had to do it because it’s something that had been sitting in my mind for probably I don’t know a year or two years or so. I just hadn’t figured out how to put it out to the world. My first thought was a newsletter but then maybe it was always supposed to be a magazine, right? So I just said, Ok go for it. Interestingly enough, one of my editors has a very strong magazine editing background and I actually totally forgot about it until I was just sharing with her one of my struggles. She was like Well you know you can do this, you can do this, you can do that. I was like ‘Wait, a minute. Why didn’t I call you again to ask you?’ [laughs] But do you see how the Universe has a way of giving you the resources you need before you even know you needed them because me and her have known each other for some time. I even hosted a Zoom webinar with her as my guest to educate other people on how to enter the magazine space. Like how does my brain forget these things? I don’t even know but nevermind. I have her email, phone number, house address and she’s more than willing to assist, guide and so forth. So definitely there are many more moving parts to creating a magazine but the idea is to allow kids and families to engage with the continent from present going backwards. Because there is this tendency to put out content that celebrates African kings and queens in history. While that’s wonderful that’s not the only aspect of African lives we should be celebrating because there are people doing amazing things every day. There are innovators popping up left and right. Just two years ago the global teacher prize was awarded to a Kenyan teacher. £1M or $1M? It’s a million, ok! 

Vongai : It’s a lot of money. The point is it’s a lot of money.

Christine: Right? And so stories like that. We need to share these things. Maybe like a month ago, this Nigerian girl she got this math prize, she won this math competition and just knocked it out of the park. Wow this is so cool she is lik 15 years old. All these stories but even the foods that we eat, the musical instruments that are unique to different places. The mbira instrument that’s a special thing that we have so much pride…for the mbira instrument. At least I love watching and listening to people playing mbira. So it’s just to be able to engage with African countries in a different way because things are forever changing. Then there are also activities that I’ll incorporate whether it’s a word game or word search or it could be a colouring activity. I don’t know. Anything that will help kids have fun but also learn at the same time. So it’s fun with a purpose. 

Vongai : I love that so much. Again these are resources I wish I had when I was growing up. I mean my parents still did an amazing job raising me but it just would have made a huge difference I believe.  

Christine: But then there’s so much that we’re creating because we see the need. 

Vongai : Yeah the need and the gap

Christine: Yeah and I think we can still enjoy the results and especially enjoy them knowing that we took part in this. We directly affected the existence of the thing. That is something to be proud of. 

Vongai : What is one thing you wish more people understood about what you do? 

Christine: It’s not quick. Being a creative is not an easy thing at all but for me particularly there’s another layer that’s challenging. It’s switching from my creative brain to my CEO brain. Those roles don’t always like hanging out together. They just don’t and they can undo each other you know if you’re not careful because the CEO brain is you need to be analytical. You need to organize, create structure, create systems. You need to manage people and you need to do quality control. I mean you need to do all of these things. And your writing brain is just trying to explore different ideas. You’re philosophical, you’re all these things that you’d not necessarily using when you’re running a company. [laughs]

Vongai : [laughs] Yah you don’t need it then and there. Let’s put that away for a sec. 

Christine: Right! Let’s put that on the shelf for a minute. So that can be a challenge and really I have lots of moments of insecurity. When I’m creating this thing and  I really believe in it and I really think people are going to enjoy it but then when it’s all over I’m like. Does this really matter? Does this even matter? But the thing that brings me back is that self-belief. That because this thought came, not only the thought that came but it is the amount of energy that is poured into creating. The hours are obscene. If I had to count the hours I put into something. I would even tell myself I’m crazy. I don’t have to do that because I am willing to put all these hours into this thing because I truly believe it matters. I truly believe it’s needed and I truly believe it will bring pride to my fellow Zimbabweans. Pride to my family. I’m ok with that. I’m ok with spending 100 hours on the thing because I just believe you’re going to be proud and I’m going to hold on to the faith that it’s going to make a difference. You’re going to enjoy it. You’re going to be proud and you’re going to want to share it. And you’re going to want this to be a part of your life and a part of other people’s lives, 

Vongai : I love that. Ok it’s time for our lightning round. You ready? 

Christine: Ready! 

Vongai : First things first what is your zodiac sign? I’m a Capricorn

Christine: I am a Gemini 

Vongai : My mom is a Gemini. May Gemini or June? 

Christine: May. May 29. 

Vongai : My mom is a Gemini, she’s the 23rd May. If you could have any superpower what would it be? 

Christine: Teleport. 

Vongai : Yes. That is the best power. Any other answer what are you doing? You can travel for free. Do you have a favourite Zimbabwean childhood snack?

Christine: Mhm. So I definitely loved the chocolate mint crisp. I don’t remember the company who made it. Maybe it was Nestle but it was a chocolate mint crisp, you just can’t find that kind of flavour anywhere. Yeah .

Vongai : I don’t think I know that. I’ll ask about it. Slightly sounds familiar but also unfamiliar at the same time. 

Christine: And I also like the lunch bar. 

Vongai : OH. I loved Flake, the Flake chocolate cos you can put it in an ice cream. Ok Mazoe Orange or Mazoe Green? 

Christine: You know I never had Mazoe Green.  

Vongai  : It’s probably really bad for you. 

Christine: I know right. That stuff has to be bad for you. Mazoe Orange I guess it is. 

Vongai : What is the last book you read? 

Christine: I read this middle grade novel called Ice Cream Summer. I like reading kind of kiddish, pre-teen stories are fun for me.  

Vongai : Last show you binged on a streamer. For example, Netflix. 

Christine: Bridgerton. Yeah. 

Vongai  : It’s so good. It is just so good. I mean I love Pride and Prejudice so give me some Pride and Prejudice mixed with Gossip Girl and some Black people…I am THERE. Subscribe! 

Christine: Hah Ha you’re there. 

Vongai  : Also Shonda. Shonda, my dream producer

Christine: Can’t go wrong. 

Vongai : If you weren’t a writer, publisher, mother, all the fabulous things what do you think you’d be doing. Alternate life in an alternative timeline. 

Christine: I think I’d be a farmer. 

Vongai : Oh! Yeah that makes sense. Gogo’s garden. All the magic is with the veggies.

Christine: True I didn’t think about that. 

Vongai  : See the subconscious mind just knows! Ok you are ZimExcellence because. Actually you have to fill out the sentence. So you have to say ‘ I AM ZIMEXCELLENCE because ______’ 

Christine: I am ZimExcellence because I represent the pride and the legacy of Mapondera. Chief Kadungure Mapondera. So I live to pass that on. I am ZimExcellence.

Vongai : If you nominate for the award of ZimExcellence, who would it be?

Christine: Someone alive or? Does it matter?

Vongai  : Let’s go with someone living. In other words who would you nominate to come on this show? To come on our show because it’s not my show it’s OUR show. It’s FUBU. For Us, By Us. [laughs] I told you it’s a party. 

Christine:  You know that’s a tough one because there’s so many amazing people right. If I had to pick a person I would have to say…I call her sister-in-law for the sake of not complicating the English language.

Vongai : Translations [laughs] 

Christine: I know the translations are rough laugh]

Vongai : This is the cousin of the brother of the..wait who are they? You call them mainini and they call you Amai. And I’m like ‘Wait, what?!’ [laughs] Anyway as you were saying. 

Christine: So her name is Gamu Kaseke and she is this person that is just in her foresight is incredible. Her background is in the sciences and she’s just so in-tune. I don’t even know how to describe her. I’m like how do I describe this chick. Like she’s just super intelligent and she’s just such a forward-thinker. She’s just ahead of her time and I think sometimes that can create conflict with certain people because they’re just not at her level and it can be tough. It can be tough for her.

Vongai : Gamu Kaseke you have officially been nominated for the award of ZimExcellence by Christine Mapondera-Talley. Ok so this was really really fun, as we wrap I would love it if you could share a message with our listeners. Any message that you have on your spirit as well as a way that they can continue to follow your journey, Global Kidz House, Passport Africa Whether it’s a website, Instagram, Twitter, all of the wonderful things.

Christine: So my message is that please use your gifts. Please use your talents because we need them. Because your talents are going to enable me and Vongai and anybody else listening to just excel because you’re equipping us with your talents. So please don’t allow imposter syndrome to take over, to take hold. I’m literally am just coming out of a phase of fighting with that thing called Imposter Syndrome. Don’t let it win. You are more than capable. So let’s continue to show the world. Our ZimExcellence.

You can find me @GlobalKidzHouse. Kids is spelt with a Z just fyi. GlobalKidzHouse dot com on social media, twitter, instagram, Facebook it’s all GlobalKidzHouse. Yeah.  Please follow, share, reach out and ask any questions if you just want to say hi. Please do that. 

Vongai : That was so dope. Thank you so much Christine, she also has a special offer for our listeners which I will pop in the shownotes. 

Christine: Thank you so much Vongai for having me, I really had a blast. I’m looking forward to your future guests and learning from them.

Vongai : Awesome, thank you so much.

 Outro : Mazvita. Tatenda. Siyabonga. Thank you so much for tuning in to this week’s episode of ZimExcellence.  If you found value from this episode please share it with a friend and go ahead and subscribe, rate and review. 

If you send me a screenshot of your review I’ll make sure to give you a shoutout on future episodes. Feel free to tag us on Instagram. @zimexcellencepodcast

And if you identify as Zimbabwean I want to hear your story so go ahead and email zimexcellencepodcast@gmail.com. Til then have the best week and stay ZimExcellent!