Webster's Story

“I was born in Mutoko in the eastern side of Zimbabwe in 1974. My parents moved to Harare when I was 3 years old to live in an informal settlement that was 30km south of Harare until they were allocated a house 2 years later. I have 3 living siblings, Tichaona, John and Nyarai (the only girl) and Stuart who sadly passed on two years ago. My father worked as a caretaker for a gliding club in Harare. My mother would sometimes sell fruit and vegetables at a farmers’ market. We lived in a small house without any luxury items. When I started primary school, I had only one pair of shoes and one uniform – I got my first pair of socks when I was in high school. During school breaks we used to go to my father’s workplace as he lived there. We didn’t; have any toys and the only thing that would entertain us whilst we were there were our wire cars which my younger brother Tichaona and I taught ourselves to make. I remember one day we were pushing our toy cars along the road and a child of one of the gliding club members cried for my ‘car’. His parents asked me if they could buy it from me, so I sold it to them. Two other members then asked me to make a car for their children too. I was only 10 years old, but I realised I had a talent and could make money from it. I put the money I got from the sale of those cars into a little piggy bank that I made myself.

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