Zimbabwean Woman Starts Kickstarter to Self-Publish Her Story, Bhindy: Her African Dream

Letwina Fushai, a single mother of two based in Oregon, is a woman on a mission. She recently started a kickstarter to raise funds to self-publish her book, Bhindy “Her African Dream”.

Being from Zimbabwe and having relocated to Portland, Oregon late 2010, she realized that despite living the information age, we still know so very little about each other. She was inspired to not only write a book to share her story with the world, but provide valuable insight on important topics such as gender, immigration, culture and politics. Now she is pursuing her passion and purpose through community building as a writer, performing artist, comedian and motivational speaker.





Letwina explains her story:

Bhindy “Her African Dream” is largely based on the true life story of the author herself. There is a compelling reason for every path taken by every person in the journey of life. Bhindy (full name Bhindauko), is an African spiced (twuzukuru) folklore, inspired by and narrated in an African storytelling style with inescapable originality and humor. This is a story of more than just survival and self determination. Bhindy struggles through the vicissitudes of life piling up on her until she pauses and says, “HEY…THIS IS NOT WHAT I ORDERED!”  She must put in insurmountable effort in every step she takes to prove her worth, determination, perseverance, morality and sometimes innocence. She proves that this journey called life is not so much about what happens to her but how she responds to these events – good and bad. She uses two simple strategies that unravel in the book. Like a caterpillar wrapped in an ugly dark cocoon, she wriggles herself out of political, social and economic injustice in Zimbabwe into a free world to become a colorful butterfly. 

Letwina has started a kickstarter to print the initial copies, market and distribute the books.  If you would like to support Letwina make her dream a reality you can donate to her kickstarter. 

What Letwina is doing is so important for our community. She is using her talent to educate Zimbabweans and other cultures about Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean women. Our community is not well documented or understood, there is not much that is known about us, outside our community.

The choice to self-publish is also very important, through self-publishing comes ownership. If you create a product, you should not be afraid to own it and not allow your voice, your story to be muted, manipulated or censored by anybody.


Useful Links:
Her African Dream
Kickstarter