Interviewing Tash was easy. It was the second time we were meeting her but she felt like an old friend.
We made ourselves very comfortable in her shared office throughout the interview. Maybe we are just the kind of people that feel at home any place we find ourselves? or just maybe she is the kind of person who makes people comfortable around her?
Tash Dowell is the Youth Cordinator at the Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ). GALZ is the association for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex (LGBTI) persons in Zimbabwe. Her response when we asked her to define herself as a Zimbabwean woman makes her even more interesting.
Tash defines herself as an ‘open’ Zimbabwean woman; in a society that she doesn’t really fit because people like her do not fit the norm. She says she doesn’t like the ‘normal’ and more often than not, she finds that she is a misfit or unwanted.
She says in general, Zimbabwean women fall under three categories. These include, The resilient – those who always rise or raise themselves above all that they encounter, The weak– those who could possibly ‘work it out’ but prefer to play the blame game and divide others in the process and The innovative – those who despite Zimbabwe’s harsh economic environment, pull through – send children to school and make ends meet somehow.
Tash says that working with the LGBTI youth is fun, and that she finds working everyday pleasurable. Clearly a woman who values her work, Tash is self motivated. She says that it is important for a person to say or demonstrate that their life has changed, and this should be reason enough to wake up every day.
‘Everyday I remind the youth and try to make them understand that they are more than just their sexuality,’ she says. She notes, however, that it is not just them that need to understand this, but also those around them.
Tash talks about her experiences working with the LGBTI community in Zimbabwe and the different contexts that the LGBTI community they finds itself in daily. She outlines their different concerns, chief among those, their prsonal safety and that of the people close to or around them. She says that it is those safety concerns that have motivated the organisations creativity in mobilising, and working with its members. ‘The progress thas been slow but none the less, it is progress,’ she says, and ….. She commends the opportunities that the members get from outside the organization as another progress indicator or positive.
We asked about her self care routine as a female activist. She smiles and says, ‘Sundays are me days’. She says that both she and her partner try and give each other time as individuals on Sundays. For Tash, it is simple things that mean a lot – from having a glass of wine to taking a stroll in the city centre.
Her final words:
“…Zimbabwean women need to come together. Coming together doesn’t mean that we all must be feminists. I understand that when some people they hear the word [feminist] they freeze up and say it is not for me. Let’s come together for ourselves, for our children, for things we are interested in, let’s come together regardless of sexual orientation, identity and marital status. Let’s just come together. We are all women”
Sistas, Sex and Politics 