BY KENNEDY NYAVAYA
MUKAI Mahachi, an Advanced Level student at Dominican Convent, was on Tuesday night presented with an all-expenses paid two-week trip to France after winning the “Sing Your Way to Paris” competition in March.
The Bon Marche-sponsored competition was part of this year’s Francophonie Week held from March 13 to 27 in promotion of cross-cultural understanding between societies.
Mahachi (17) told NewsDay on the sidelines of the prize handover ceremony that her performance of a popular French song titled Femme de Couler (Woman of Colour) was part of efforts to fight racial discrimination.
“When I preformed the song, I was advocating for racial tolerance because people should live in harmony despite racial differences,” said the elated Mahachi. She encouraged locals to learn foreign languages as that opened up opportunities in a world that has turned into a global village.
“We are living in a global village now and it is very important to be multi-lingual as it improves one’s life in general and can open up opportunities,” she said.
Last year, another Dominican Convent student Dumisile Mphamba walked away with the grand prize.
French ambassador to Zimbabwe Laurent Delahousse said local citizens should embrace the language to make communication easier as the number of French-speaking people is rising continuously in the continent and the whole world.
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“The future of languages is French and it is important for Zimbabweans to learn the language if they want to communicate with the other side of this beautiful continent,” he said.
The annual fete is organised by the French Embassy in collaboration with the French school in Harare to promote and celebrate learning of the language.
