Talk:Chatsworth, Zimbabwe

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This article was written from information gathered over the period 1992-2006. Asher C Mupasi is a Trustee of a children's charity working in the area around Chatsworth, Zimbabwe. He has been advisor to many Zimbabwe businesses on youth training. He has studied many practices in the area with a view to helping the community to set up self help projects to enble them to look after their children better. He also owns an Engineering workshop completed in 1998 for the purpose of training school leavers in Engineering. When the workshop was opened,

BESO (British Executive Service Overseas) 164 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, London, SW1V 2RA, England Tel: 020 7630 0644

BESO helped train the first lot of young people for one month.

The Children's charity (HELP Zimbabwe) currently supports 48 (2008 figure) children placed in homes in the areas around Chatsworth. All the children are orphans, some are HIV orphans.

The charity works with local businesses and the writer has spent years encouraging many important community members in order to work for all children's welfare and education. The charity is currently constructing a children's home at Chatsworth. All information in the article is authentic and can be verified. It was written from extracts from the charity's own documentation by an insider. All the individuals listed are well known. All the activities can be shown.

For any questions about Chatsworth, please Email acmfirst@yahoo.co.uk Asher C Mupasi was born 12 km from Chatsworth and now works in the United Kingdom. He visits the area at least once per year to oversee the activities of HELP Zimbabwe, a branch of H.E.L.P. International. He has led two European groups visiting the area in 1998 and in 2002. In April 2009, he took part in the Fun Zim Ride, a well published charity bicycle ride of 658 km across Zimbabwe in 8 days.

In July and August 2009 he spent 5 weeks in Zimbabwe working with a team of volunteers digging water wells by hand using simple tools. The team digs every year from late July to the first rains. Water wells dug in such a way are limited to around 20 metres depth.

He also provides information to anyone visiting Chatsworth from abroad. Many such European visitors have been charity volunteers.

If you would like to visit the area, and you need information, feel free to contact A C Mupasi.

Famous people from around Chatsworth

This section is moved to talk because it is unreferenced an unlinked. Common standard for being in list of notable people is being notable enough to have a WP article. RJFJR (talk) 15:46, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

There is an effort to gather the names of well known people who contributed culturally to the areas around Chatsworth.

• Mr Jaravaza: He was the agricultural inspector responsible for making sure that local farmers did not contribute to the soil erosion. Soil erosion was a major problem soon after black people were forced to live in tighly packed communities in areas called reserves, later called Tribal Trust lands, which mostly comprised poor soil, leaving the better soil areas for white ranchers. There was an urgent need for tackling soil erosion and the government introduced the construction of water drain designed to slow down water flow during the rain season. All blacks living in TTLs were forced by government to take part in drain construction. Mr Jaravaza was one mean local dictator with absolute powers who would whip men women and children if they did not show him total fear. However he did a lot to stop soil erosion in the areas around Chatsworth. To this day he is well remembers by those in their seventies.
• Mr H Marongere: He was a teacher in the area. He left to be a local businessman owning shops at Gurajena and then At Chatsworth itself. He was one of the first black people to own a house at Chatsworth's Makaure Township and for more than two decades his was the only private owner of a house in Makaure. He owned a book shop which supplied local schools with books and other education supplied. In his later years he owned a shop at Chatsworth and also managed a bakery owned by his son. The bakery is Chatsworth's pride and joy, supplying bread to a wide area even during difficult times.

Mr Marongere served as Chatsworth's council secretary for many years and did a lot to develop the town after its collapse from the time the railway's passenger train stopped its service.

He also was a keen evangeslist and preacher who sevrved in the Dutch Reformed Church, and, together with his wife, did a lot to raise the profile of Christianity in the area.

• Mr Moyo: was one of the first few black farmers in the area and owned a 200-acre (0.81 km²) farm 12 km south in the Mshagashe area. He is well known for his efforts in showing other black farmers and subsistence farmers better methods of farming, and for supplying people in his area with vegetables, pumpkins and milk, at affordble prices during droughts. He was also an enthusiast preacher responsible for founding at least 13 Seventh-day Adventist churches in the region.
• Mr A A Botsh: An industrialist whose business acumen saw him rise to become a board member of many national companies in pre and post independence Zimbabwe, Mr Botsh started investing at Chatsworth in the early 1990s, thus giving other businessmen confidence to do the same. Chatsworth grew significantly as a result, and would have continued growing had it not for the onset of recession in 1998. Mr Botsh owns several buildings at Chatsworth. he has, over the years, helped with local employment, thus keeping local people at Chatsworth and generally contributing to its development.
• Mr Morabhai: The Morabhai family gave Chatsworth its town status by building the biggest supermarket in the 1950s. The building is still Chatsworth's defining landmark although the family left for safer Harare during the war of independence. They made Chatsworth a thriving and viable community.
• The Krut family: Farming is the main activity around Chatsworth. The cattle market at Chatworth was built up by local white farmers during colonialism. The Krut family owned most of the ranches and supplied the called storage with cattle. Many black farmers and subsistence farmers alike, found a ready market for their herds on the back of these ranchers. Together the ranchers sort to localise their faming supplies and many of the buildings at Chatsworth, (petrol station, farmers supplies shop, Garage, both schools, the police station, etc.) originate from that effort.
• Mr M Munodawafa: He served for many years as a local teacher, a head teacher, and schools inspector. He is well known for his tireless work in raising the profile of education in the district. He helped found Makomba High School which was necessary for localising secondary education, thus making it affordable for many families. In his retirement, he still works to attract investment into the local schools.
• Mr Magaya: He served the area as an educator in formal schools where he taught and was later a headmaster, in churches where he was a well known preacher and organiser, in the farming community where he demonstrated that high production was possible on a small farm, in politics where he was an activist during the minority government. At Chatsworth he helped many to become recognised farmers who could buy supplies in their own right.
• Mr Gilbert Mapaso: Helped in the land redistribution of the post 2000 era, doing his best as a former combatant, to keep the community calm during the process. Chatsworth did not witness any violence resulting in loss of life.
• Marufu Zikani: Has supervised the construction of many buildings at Chatsworth. Because of his expertise, he was asked to supervise the construction of the children's home under the auspices of H.E.L.P. Zimbabwe. The first phase of the home is due for completion in early 2007 and will house 8 orphaned children. The home will double in size by the end of 2007.

Access and Map

Moved to talk because directions are not standard for this type of article. RJFJR (talk) 15:49, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

Chatsworth itself has been mapped and maps can be obtained from the district office at Gutu Rural council. A detailed map will be published here possibly before December 2006

• From Masvingo City go North on Harare Road. After 60 km take the Gutu turn off and go east for about 8 km. The railway line crossing is the entrance to Chatswoth. The tarred road continues to Gutu.
• By train from Masvingo: The train travels twice per week and is popular with travellers because it is relatives cheap, but it is also slow and unreliable. It takes the shortest route to Chatsworth.
• By Dust road from Masvingo: Take Mutare Road north East, before the Airport, turn left and head north on Zimuto Road. It is tarmaced up to Copota. From then on it is a dust road all the way to Chartsworth. It is very poorly maintained in parts but it is passable in a high vehicle. Some buses use this route.
• From Harare by road: Go south on Beatrice Road. After about 230 km turn left at Gutu turn off, and go east for 8 km
• By Air: Fly to Masvingo Airport and travel by road. Masvingo Airport is not that busy a regional airport for passenger flights.

Threats to travellers

moved to talk because it reads like a How-To RJFJR (talk) 15:53, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

When visiting Zimbabwe, its always safe to carry your own basic medicines for such common ailments like stomach complaints, headaches, simple injuries, and so on. However, Chatsworth has a local clinic with very competent staff. There is no doctor, but the nurse in charge is trained to prescribe.

Mosquitoes are a bother during the summer months November to mid April. The best way of dealing with them is to avoid being bitten in the first place. There are several methods of achieving this:

• Start eating food with garlic in it a few days before you are due to go
• In the evenings break a clover of garlic and rub it on your arms and legs.
• Use insect repellent sprays
• Keep yourself covered up in long trousers and long sleeves at all times between 1700 hrs to say 0900hrs when mosquitos come out to play.

Snakes only come out in the spring and summer but you are not likely to see any if you only stay for a few weeks. If a snake comes out, you will find how much local people hate snakes by how quickly they kill it.

All sub Saharan Africa has a high incidence of HIV infection. The areas round Chatsworth are no exception. Always take your own spouse with you and avoid local sampling at all costs.

Other than these, Chatsworth is a pleasant little hamlet with very friendly people. In the mornings, you are well advised to try the warm fresh bread from the local bakery.

Life skills you can learn locally

moved to talk RJFJR (talk) 15:55, 4 October 2011 (UTC)

• Ploughing with an ox powered plough:
• Fruit and Veg preservation:
• Harvesting crops, usually in May
• Thrashing small grain crops such as Rapocco, Millets, Sorghum, etc. to separate the grain from the chaff. This is an interesting activity.
• Shelling peanuts by hand, which really exercises your thumbs and fingers.
• Rearing free range chickens. There was a time when each home in the area had some chickens.
• Milking cows by hand
• Identifying and gathering wild mushrooms in the summer months, November to February
• Identifying wild fruit. There are different fruits throughout the year.
• Learning about which snakes are poisonous and what to do when bitten by one. Snakes do not come out that much in the winter.

seeching for knowledge

how can i have 41.241.242.110 (talk) 15:10, 18 April 2012 (UTC) enough infometion about bee keeping within masvingo area iam a begginer within masvingo area

references

moved from article to talk

Most of the information in this article was gathered from local community leaders from different walks of life.

• Headman Musundire:   Headman musundire, known in his village as Headman Njiva, has had his headmanship passed onto him from many generations in his family, by inheritance. A headman must be proficient in local oral history. He presides over all aspects of local rural administration down to the detail of giving permission to someone wanting to slaughter his goat for a family party. He knows everything that happens in his village.
• Headman/Councillor Marongere:   Apart from being village head, Mr Marongere was also a town councillor, and local lay preacher. He had extensive knowledge of the area. He was also a local businessman, having owned a bookshop, general store, the Bakery at Chatsworth, etc.
• Mai Njodzi Maturure: An elderly lady who was the village midwife till her death in 2005 at over 100 years old. She delivered the majority of all babies born at home from the 1940s to 2004, all without any formal training. She was also well known in the area for her aptitude in local oral history, and was consulted by many.
• H.E.L.P. International: has been working with the school in the area to improve the welfare of the children
• Mrs Mabiza: Is a school head teacher with interest in local affairs.
• Mr Gurajena: businessman at Chatsworth for many years and councillor
• Mr Bern Gondo: is an elderly local farmer whose family has had a farm since the 1940s when they were allocated.
• The staff at Rufaro Mussion: Rufaro Mission was established during the Missionary years of the late 1900 and has served the area since.
• Mr Cain Maturure: was a Master Farmer in the area from the early 1950 to his retirement in the mid-1990s. Chatsworth was first founded when he was 2 years old and was his local town. He was born in 1917 and worked extensively with the agricultural instructor Mr Jaravaza. He died in 2005 aged 88.
• Mr C Muzenda: lived in the area all his life and died in his nineties. He came from a well known family, his father having been the local blacksmith responsible for manufacturing most hand implement used in agriculture during his time. Mr Muzenda Junior worked in the railways for decades and his team was responsible for maintaining more than 40 km of track with Chatsworth in the middle and as their base. The railway workers' village was one of the first to be constructed and it gave Chatsworth its presence. Mr Muzenda was well known for his ability to narrate and to give detailed information.