Tourists in love hunt at Hifa

Melissa Mpofu Showbiz Editor
IF ever there is an event which unites people regardless of race and colour, it has to be the Harare International Festival of the Arts (HIFA). Every year, tourists from all over the globe and locals from different parts of the country flock to Harare to attend the annual event which rarely disappoints as it is always well organised. During the festival, people party for a week like no one is watching as there will be countless activities lined up for enjoyment.

Interestingly, the reasons why people flock to the event are as diverse as the culturally rich itinerary. While others go there entirely because they are passionate about the arts, research has shown that there is more to HIFA than meets the eye as some people actually attend the festival just to look for lifetime partners.

Interestingly, some have successfully found love and eventually, marriage. A number of marriages have sprung up and some locals are now living in marital bliss abroad. The trend had been mostly common in Victoria Falls were most sons and daughters in that town are said to have relocated to mostly Germany and Australia but it seems to be spreading to other cities.

Saturday Leisure, after a tip off, bumped into a couple which met at HIFA two years ago and are still together. The man is from Australia while the woman is from Chitungwiza.

Asked how their relationship started, the woman, Chipo Tavengwa, said her husband Simon Atkins had asked her out and she initially turned him down.

“Our story is just a funny one. Simon asked me out two years ago at HIFA and I said no but he persisted. For fun, we then became close friends and he actually extended his stay in Zimbabwe after the festival was over.

“I then realised he was a very nice guy. He travelled back to Australia and invited me over which I did. Now we are happily staying together in Australia,” she said.

One tourist who declined to be named said this was her fourth year attending HIFA.

“Each year I and my friends travel from Germany to attend this festival. This is my fourth time here and I still haven’t found a person. All my friends I’ve come with have since found their people and these ones I brought now are new. I will keep coming till I find my person” she said.

Asked why they travelled all the way from Germany to search for men, the woman said most German women preferred African men as they believed they were better in bed compared to Germans.

Though they travel as a group, they strategically split when they get to the festival so as to seem lonely and attract potential men who go up to them and start conversations. If they are not interested in the men, they simply ignore them, but they open up as soon as the potential ones come. Before you know it, the tourists will now be hanging out with their targets daily at HIFA and one would swear they had known each other for a long time. Locals also seem to enjoy being in relationships with the foreigners as they are big spenders because the women are usually those with high paying jobs in their countries.

What is more interesting is the type of men they look for. They are not interested in the typical Harare man who is smartly dressed in suits, but the typical Victoria Falls man who has dreadlocks and is not so smart. To white women, that is the “real” African man and those are the men they travel to get.

A further research also showed that most tourists did not fancy uptown clubs in Harare like Skyy or Mekka but prefer less glamorous joints like Book Cafe as they know they are likely to get their targets there. And indeed, most Book Cafe patrons are the typical African men who smoke the illegal stuff like mbanje, are carefree and those who just want to have a good time.

It’s not only foreigners who are known to look for partners, even locals; especially those who work at banks are known to do the same. Interestingly, some who met at HIFA are still together either as friends or partners, showing just how HIFA unites people.

One person once said if you see yourself not attracting anyone at HIFA; know you are beyond repair as different people go there to find love. Though others will be seriously looking for lifetime partners, others will just be merely looking for someone to satisfy their sexual needs during the festival, and drop them just after the festival ends so one needs to be careful before transacting.