Douglas Muzawazi is the ‘talkative one’, from the Shona tribe of Zimbabwe. He works at Sheffield Hallam University. He remembers about the games he played as a child like hopscotch and cricket, which were popular because of colonisation in Zimbabwe by the British. His parents worked in the prison and health services in Zimbabwe. Culture and heritage is important to him, but there have been certain things that he questioned. As he has got older, he has come to value certain parts of the traditions – there is a story and meaning behind everything. Understanding where he comes from is very important to him because of the experiences he had at a time when resources were scarce and believes this made him work harder and resilient and grateful for life in the UK where there is an abundance of opportunity.
Douglas’s story is part of the ‘Displaced Migration: Living Histories project’ – a project by Element Society, in partnership with Storying Sheffield at University of Sheffield, and funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. Element Society is a youth charity based in Sheffield delivering development, social action and enterprise programmes to young people and vulnerable adults.
These stories and the learning resource can be found at:
Element Society – www.elementsociety.co.uk
Storying Sheffield – www.storyingsheffield.com
Sheffield Archives – www.sheffield.org.uk/home/libraries-archives
