‘RoilBAA nomination is a win on its own’

Mthabisi Tshuma, Showbiz Correspondent
ARTS practitioner Racheal Voko who hails from Tshankwa village in Bulilima District is basking in the glory of being nominated for the Roil Bulawayo Arts Awards (BAA) in the Outstanding Poet category.

Voko who is nominated alongside Delah Dube, Desire Moyo and Sox The Poet said whether she clinches the award or not, in her mind she is already a winner as the nomination alone is good enough.

“To me, nominations are equivalent to wins so I’m a winner whether I walk away with the gong on November 6 or not. On that note, whoever wins on that night would have done it for all of us so we’ll celebrate them,” she said.
The poet said she uses poetry as an advocacy tool with the hope of changing society’s mindset.

“Poetry is one of the advocacy tools I adopted back in 2016 when I was a peer educator at Embakwe High School under Restless Development. I pursued it till I landed in the hands of Denson Kulube under a programme named Amadramatics Crew (airing every Sunday on Skyz Metro FM).

“I then joined Random Poets where I met poets such as Madpoet, Joel Jokonia, Thandoe, Siboe, Vongai and Sox The Poet,” said Voko.

With more exposure and experience, Voko said she started securing gigs with various organisations and got engaged with radio stations including Heart and Soul, KFM and Memeza.

In 2019 she published a poetry anthology called ‘From these poetic pieces’ and in 2021 she published an anthology called ‘Write the World’ which was a contribution from six poets from six countries.

So good have been her works that her poem “Me and you are the same” was featured at Youth Global Festival in Belgium last year.

She has appeared on stages that include the Loziba Festival, Ecumenical Festival in Harare, Intwasa Arts Festival koBulawayo, Women’s Coalition Of Zimbabwe under their Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) project and Emthonjeni Women’s Forum on Women’s Day.

Other than comedy, Voko who was recently selected as part of eight influential young women in Zimbabwe lined up for the Global African Leaders Awards is a woman who wishes to change the plight of vulnerable persons. This she is doing through community work where she assists those who are not able to put food on the table and also focuses on the welfare of orphans. — @mthabisi_mthire