MBARE artistes will on Friday hold commemorations in memory of Elizabeth Maria Ayema, the late Rhodesian feminist and social worker popularly known as “Mai Musodzi”.
BY BRIAN PENNY
Mai Musodzi — after whom the Mai Musodzi Hall in Mbare is named — is regarded as one of Zimbabwe’s 100 most influential women of all time.
Event co-ordinator, Tendai Fulukia, told NewsDay yesterday that artistes in Mbare have decided to use music and dance to celebrate the work done by the social worker.
“We are saying as the young generation and crop of young artistes, the foundation that was laid by Mai Musodzi cannot go unnoticed. This is one way of educating the youths about our history and how best we can conserve it,” Fulukia said.
“Our mothers and grandmothers benefited from Mai Musodzi’s initiatives and today we are enjoying the fruits of the work done by our heroine.”
Mai Musodzi Hall has become a hive of artistic gatherings and events including women’s clubs, artistes’ meetings and festivals.
Several groups have been lined up to perform on the day set to be punctuated with traditional dances, music, choir, theatre, aerobics as well as art and sculpture exhibitions.
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Mai Musodzi was born Musodzi Chibhaga in 1885 under Chief Hwata in Mazowe, but was orphaned following the 1896-1897 uprisings against the British colonialists.
A niece to the spirit medium Nehanda Nyakasikana, she was later baptised Elizabeth Maria at Chishawasha in 1908 and married a Zambian British South African Police sergeant, Frank Kashimbo Ayema, the following year.
After relocating to Mbare, then known as Harare Township, she became involved in community empowerment initiatives and charity work which benefited many women through an organisation she founded, Harare African Women’s Club, in 1938.
She lobbied for a maternity clinic staffed by Red Cross-trained women and supported women during stints with the Native Advisory Board and the National Welfare Society’s African Committee, fighting the eviction and arbitrary arrests of women and humiliating examinations for sexually transmitted infections.
In 1947, Musodzi was awarded an MBE (Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire) and was among guests invited to dine at the Government House with Queen Elizabeth I. She died on July 21, 1952 and was buried at Pioneer Cemetery in Mbare.
