Chronicle Editor
Showbiz Correspondent
BEING connected to friends and relatives is very important especially when one lives in the diaspora and being in touch with their culture and build communities is one of the reasons that Thamu okaGwayi Moyo set up the page Asakhane Live.
Living in Canada for most of his adult life, Moyo who is popularly known by his followers as Malume S Fresh saw the need to connect people especially those from Matabelend region living in the diaspora.
The show is hosted everyday of the week expect Saturdays, on the Asakhane Live Facebook page. Topics that are discussed range from drug and sexual abuse at home, divorce, politics, arts, entertainment and raising children and promoting businesses. Each day the show is hosted by different personalities.
Malume, who was in Bulawayo over the festive season, said the reason he set up the page was to help build and unite communities in the diaspora and help connect communities back home.
“There are many people in our region that need help, like children who need their school fees paid or any need that people bring to the fore we are here to help. People who follow the page help us identify and locate those in need and then we drum up support from people in the diaspora to intervene.”
Malume S Fresh attributes the ideas of bringing people together in one big family to his upbringing.
“My father taught me a very important thing that is to accommodate and help people especially your relatives. There was never a time that it was my brothers and I, the house was always filled with people, relatives from my father’s or mother’s side of the family. From that I’ve never looked back. I always want to look after people. There was a problem once with my wife who pointed out that I was being used by people, but I wasn’t seeing that because it was my nature, my upbringing,” said Malume.
Leaving the country for various reasons, many Zimbabweans get isolated and lonely when they are overseas.
For this Malume has a solution with the page, and to help people with their homesickness.
“We recognise that there’s loneliness in the diaspora. As Malume I also created a singles page called Asakhane Emthonjeni Wothando. This page is for the single to mix and mingle. I can tell you that this coming year there’s a couple that met there and are getting married,” said Malume.
“There’s also a page for the over 40s where those who are widowed divorced or even single and a bit mature can meet their age mates and hit it off. These people are lonely and need love and there are a lot of those in the diaspora.”
As a way to empower local artistes, Malume and crew will this year organise tours for them in the diaspora.
“There’s a generational movement to change that mentality of not supporting our own artistes. I can guarantee you this year people will see artistes from this region going to the diaspora. For example, we are organising a comedy tour of North America for Babongile Sikhonjwa and Clive Chigubhu. Enough is enough we must stop crying about marginalisation, we are going to support our own,” said Malume.
Also in future they want to merge some local radio station shows with theirs to connect people in the diaspora with those back home.
“Asakhane has a huge influence especially from those people who come from Matabeleland and Bulawayo, living in the diaspora. So what we’ve done with Skyz Metro FM through Babongile Sikhonjwa is that we shall merge the two on certain radio shows. So that we get a feel from the diaspora on how people back home view certain issues.”
“There are high cases of divorce, but the reason why that is may differ from our home country and those overseas. We want that dialogue,” he said.
In keeping with the tenets of ubuntu, Malume says: “The page is a non-vulgar page. We understand that people do disagree, but they must respect each other. I set the pace as the page where I say we don’t swear; we are here to build each other as a people. There’s no view that’s more important than another,” said Malume.
derick.khumalo