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The name “Tarryn” has so many meanings, but the two most outstanding meanings of Tarryn are “She will sing, or she will be full of happiness”, and “From a high rocky cliff”, being of Hebrew and English-Welsh origins respectively.
Indeed these two meanings are an apt description of an up and coming self-made urban socialite, Tarryn Mtombeni of Nkulumane in Bulawayo.
Born on 5 December 1990, in a little obscure village of Jena in Mberengwa, in the Midlands Province, Tarryn has defied all odds and ends, from a little village girl to being a trendy and fashionable young lady, who safely boasts of speaking seven languages, namely, Shona, Ndebele, English, Tswana, French, Chinese and Afrikaans.
She was born in a family of four siblings, of which she was the second born child.
Mtombeni grew up as a shy, slim, diminutive and modest village girl who kept to herself most of the times and was not to be found in the crowd of her friends. Behind that seemingly placid facade of hers, lay a very intelligent and razor sharp brain.
She attended Jena Primary School from 1997 up to 2003, and from 2004 to 2007 she attended Bayayi Secondary School where she passed her O Level with flying colours.
She proceeded to Mbuya Nehanda High School for her A Level studies where she majored in History, Literature in English, Accounts and Geography.
She recalls her early childhood village life which was full of hard manual labour like tilling the fields from as early as 4am up to 12 noon, on an empty tummy, and then straight from the fields the girls would proceed to Muchingwisi River to fetch water.
The water containers would be pushed on a sub-standard wheel barrow whose wheel was loose and had to be tied by a thin rusty wire.
It was a cumbersome process having to push the shaky wheel barrow on the sandy terrain. Mtombeni and her friends would spend almost about two hours at the river and would only go home around 4pm, to have their first bite of the day, which was mostly dried maize mixed with beans, “inkobe” or “mtakura”, washed down by water or a thick homemade beverage made from maize, millet and water, “amahewu”.
Mtombeni, from an early age watched life “from a high rocky cliff”, as her name denotes.
She was determined to transform her life to greater heights from the lowest rungs in the society ladder to a high society life.
She reckoned that as long as she stayed in the remote Jena Village she would forever remain an unknown and unnoticed element and just be another village static who would remain an oblivion to history.
The fire of determination finally led Tarryn to migrate to Bulawayo, the City of Kings, “ko Ntuthu Ziyathunqa” in January 2010.
In no time, the young and determined Mtombeni landed herself a job as a trainee Bank Teller in one of the local banks where she worked for close to two years before she moved on to join a well-known Accounting firm company as a Tax Consultant.
During her tenure with the Accounting firm, she enrolled for private studies with a South African College, and in 2013 she graduated with a Diploma in Social Studies and a Certificate in Afrikaans. It was in 2013 that Tarryn had her first child, a beautiful daughter by the name, Kelly Jinjika.
The fiery passion for success in Mtombeni, led her to register with an American International Distance Learning College to study Languages. Come 2014, she was a proud holder of a Certificate in Languages and Culture in French and Chinese.
In 2015, she, ever hungry for success, moved on to Gaborone in Botswana where she worked as a Junior Accountant for Motsamayi and Partners Accountants.
During the same year she enrolled for evening classes with the Dazzling School of Finishing and Modelling.
She did well and passed the modelling course and she proved that she was a natural model whose inborn talent had never been tapped hitherto.
It was at this school that she learnt the skills of being a well-groomed high class socialite.
She was indeed now climbing the ladder of success in Botswana, and this was evidenced by her close association and friendship with Botswana socialites, the likes of Seneo Paige Mabenango and Nicole Lisa Gaelebale. Seneo Paige was crowned Miss Botswana in 2015, while Nicole Lisa was crowned Miss Botswana in 2017.
On both occasions Mtombeni was on the VIP high table and was seen mingling with famous Botswana, Namibian and South African models and actors and actresses.
After having travelled as afar as Kenya, South Africa, Tanzania, Egypt, Cameroon and Liberia, Tarryn came back to Zimbabwe in 2019 as a totally changed young lady. Tarryn had now undergone a complete metamorphosis.
No longer is she that shy and tiny girl from Jena Village in rural Mberengwa. Instead she is now a beautiful and sophisticated young lady, well cultured and well groomed, always dressed immaculately in expensive designer clothes.
In 2020, Mtombeni gave birth to yet another beautiful daughter, whom she named Yong Qi Hang Wemming.
The daughter’s father is a Chinese national. Tarryn, who still remains insatiable for success will be headed to Dubai in a few months’ time where she intends to settle for a few years.
Her ultimate aim is to make it as a Hollywood actress in the United States of America.
According to Mtombeni, nothing is impossible to achieve.
In her own words she had this to say “Never expect, never assume, never ask, and never demand. Just let it be. If it is meant to be, it will happen.”
They say “You can take away a wild animal from the bush, but you can’t take away the bush from the animal.”
Such is Mtombeni, when it comes to food. She is still the village girl who loves sadza and offals, “amalusu” mixed with “mfushwa and idobi”.
Till we meet again, enjoying reading about Tarryn Mtombeni the “makhaya” girl who rose from obscurity to become a shining urban socialite.
n Feedback: Clifford Kalibo/ Email:[email protected]/ WhatsApp: 0779146957/Phone: 0783856228 / 0719856228
Online Reporter