“From the time I was young, fighting was my thing. I envisioned myself as the president’s bodyguard, that was my dream. I watched Jackie Chan Movies and practiced his moves faithfully, sometimes I would pen the moves down from memory. In primary school I was a fluent reader and read books in class, I remember reading ‘Karikoga gumi remiseve’ at school in Gutu. I loved the book”

You will fall in love with her at first sight. She is a breath of fresh air, filled with blissful euphoria, her smile enchanting. She has big dreams and has given thought to how to achieve them. When she was younger, she opened herself up to explore and dive into everything that presented itself her way. To some they were challenges but for her it was a walk in the park.

Her name is  Dephine Makura but everyone calls her Keira, all thanks to her father. 

“My dad gave it to me. I used to do comedy at home, rehearsed on my own and entertained my family. When I watched the animated movie Barbie and The Popstar, Keira’s character was exactly just like mine, very active, fun-loving, and carefree. So my dad liked my passion and named me Keira from then on. I also loved Tiffany Haddish when she acted a movie where she played Keira. She is my idol and so there were more reasons for me to like the name Keira. So my dad even gave me permission to remove Dephine from my Identification Documents if I so desired. Most of my family members call me Keira” she said.

The second born in a family of four, Keira lives in Gweru. She briefly left for the rural areas for her primary school education in Gutu. Even in a new place, she naturally stood out as she imitated the Jackie Chan moves she watched on television in Gweru.

“Rural folks loved it, and I loved how quickly I became very famous. Back then, students were encouraged to help clean the teacher’s rooms. So one day, my friends and I went to fetch water at the borehole, which was a distance away from the school. When we arrived, there was a roadshow. I felt right at home since I enjoyed roadshows and other such activities while I was in town” she said

There were white people, and they invited the children to join a dance challenge. The winner would get a packet of candles, books, pens, rulers, and everything for school. Keira and friends took up the challenge for fun, since their school had donor funding for school stationery. It was the four of them, and when the music was played, she began to dance. She was the winner and received books and dolls. 

After the organisers of the show had given the prizes, they asked to see the school where Keira learnt.

“I think the organisers talked with the headmaster because that following year they began music, drama, percussion and many other activities at the school.

“I was a good reader and read in class, and I thought to myself how I could try singing, I didn’t think it could be very hard. So I joined the percussion and drama club, both rehearsed on the same day and since I enjoyed both, I made sure I balanced the two. During these days, there had been an outbreak of cholera, so there was a call to create an awareness play. Surprisingly, I wrote the play  and directed it, giving instructions on how the play would go. As the main actor, I explained how cholera affects the body, as well as its signs and symptoms.

“As usual, I gave it my all, and we won the competition, and it opened up another opportunity. This time, it was a poetry recital. The organisers wrote a poem for us, which we rehearsed daily. The event was scheduled a month later, so I was expected to master the poem by then. I worked hard and I won the competition,” added Keira.

Donor funding sponsorship to develop worse off rural schools and communities was expected at the poetry competition.   At Mutombwa primary school, Keira received a prize. She also remembers how her prize was; a mere t-shirt, but she was grateful her school received a fitting face-lift. She applauds the head at that time who was able to channel the funds  appropriately.  

From that experience, Keira discovered she enjoyed poetry, drama, music, and engagement even in sports. She confessed how she didn’t want another student ‘eating’ her sports fee. So she made sure that each school term, whenever there was a sporting activity, she would be there engaging in at least one activity. And so her primary education was filled with her participating in all sports and arts activities. She did confess her desire for attention, well who doesn’t?

In primary school, she did not forget her dream of becoming the president’s bodyguard. During acting, she discovered she was very flexible and made sure people knew she could flex really well. It was also a way to impress the white visiting folk who seemed to enjoy it. After primary school, she moved back to town for high school. There, she joined the martial arts class in Form two. She remembers qualifying for a martial arts tournament and did exceptionally well at the competition. But as her passion grew, her parents became concerned about her. They felt it was becoming dangerous for her. But in Form three, she decided to join cadets, signed up, and was amongst the few who went for mock trials at Antelope Park in Gweru. Although she had worked hard to be where she was at that moment, Keira valued her parents’ approval, and she laid low for a little while. She ran and exercised on her own, taking 10km runs in the morning daily before school.

During her upper sixth year, she began to write poetry, short stories books which were unfortunately never published.

“I started writing in 2017, when l was in Form five, all the happy memories, the fun one, I even wrote online books. When I felt life challenging, I became angry, frustrated, I wanted to cry, but l couldn’t, I started to pen down my pain, tears, fears, and troubles. I learned to share my troubles with my diary.”

The child in her continued to dream and wish for more out of life. More exploration and adventure, throughout her young life she pushed herself to the limit and tried new things. As she went through self-discovery, her paths presented new exploits coupled with unforeseen circumstances of life. 

After high school in Gweru, Keira met a boy and fell in love, and at the age 20, her life seemed perfect. She was engaged to be married and had finally enrolled to study at Bindura University. Keira’s parents, family members, and relatives made a trip to the rural areas to visit relatives in Mvuma, intending to proceed to Bindura University thereafter. But they never reached their destination as the vehicle carrying the eight family members was involved in an accident. 

“The accident occurred on June 13, 2020, and I was only able to walk unaided on  January 26, 2021. Other family members sustained minor injuries. I was in hospital for months, but not even once did I see my fiancé. When I was finally discharged, I anticipated his visits at home, but he never came, no word, nothing. I really loved him and needed him to at least comfort me or tell me everything would be alright. But he never came.”

The pain and betrayal dampened her spirit, but she saw a flickering hope. A dream surfaced, maybe it was still possible.

“The accident left a deep and ugly scar on my left knee, and when it had totally healed, the only thing on my mind was running. I started to run even though I was still limping, just so I could get back on my feet. I had enquired about my dream job, being the president’s bodyguard, and I was told to join the police force or the army. And so I applied at both organizations. My parents encouraged me to pursue my dreams since I had already recovered. So my morning runs became religious and helped me fully recover,” she said.

A guy next door who saw her leave every morning for her run suggested, she not strain herself but small morning runs and brisk walks. A week later, they ran together and soon joined by a few individuals. Intense training began since they were also training for the police and army intake, with a goal of 10km each day. Despite the injury she knew she focused on meeting the target.  

As days turned into months, the guy next door became friendlier and frequented her house. Besides, he was her brother’s friend. It so happened that the guy next door had knocked on her door since she was in Form One in 2013, but Keira who felt she was too young to be in a relationship adamantly denied his advances. She only agreed to date him eight years later in August 2021.  They were in love until she fell pregnant and he showed his true colours. When her mother found out, she instructed her to go to the ‘owner of the pregnancy’. She packed her bags and at around 8pm was accompanied by a woman from her neighborhood. On arrival, the boyfriend, his family as well as their pastor chased her away while throwing insults of her being a liar, a prostitute and a witch. The woman who had accompanied her disappeared at the sight of humiliation and danger .

“I was alone, chased away, didn’t have a roof over my head, no food, and I was now seven months pregnant. Yet deep down, l knew my worth. I didn’t say a word or comment or cry. They made a fool of me, and I was alone with no one on my side to defend me. No evil word was I spared, they said I was ugly, not educated enough or beautiful enough. He said he couldn’t live with a woman yet, they even boiled oil to pour on me but I didn’t move, I didn’t run away.”

After the vile atmosphere became heated and no one showed any remorse, Keira left, aimlessly roaming the streets of Mkoba because she didn’t have anywhere else to go. She had no plan, her mind was all over the place, she was heartbroken and at that moment pools of tears fell from her eyes. She was tired but kept on walking from Mkoba Village 7 until she reached Woodlands low density suburbs.

As she sat down to catch her breath, the woman she had been with called and told her she had convinced the baby daddy to take her back, so she walked back to Village 7 but he was nowhere to be found. Keira now in Mkoba roamed the streets, waiting for hope, a way out.

In her anguish, she remembered her solace, and words began to flow from her soul, filled her broken heart, her broken spirit. In that moment she remembered a sisterhood, where she felt safe to be vulnerable. When she posted the poem into the WhatsApp platform, a few people loved it, commending her for a touching piece. But some saw her inner pain, asked after her, whether it’s from memory or she was going through it at that moment. There was a brokenness in the poem, so deep you could feel her pain. Then an angel decided to step in, opened her home to her, took her to the hospital, made her feel loved again. Contributions from the sisterhood began to pour in for her and the unborn child.

One act of selfless kindness triggered communication, concern, remorsefulness, apologies, forgiveness, restoration of relationships and mended bridges. However, a son was born, the son who recently turned three years old brought family much closer.

“After all had been said and done, I owe my life to my family, family sticks together. However sometimes, when I feel like a failure, I quickly snap out of it because of my son. I love my son more than anything. He is the reason why l get up and fight my demons everyday. He is the reason why l want to be better, the reason why l won’t give up. My desire still remains in achieving at least one of my dreams,” she said.

Keira’s set of skills include singing, poetry writing and recitals as well as dancing and martial arts. Recently, she worked with a local production company and was part of the movie ‘Tanganyika The Bloody Kingdom.’

“Sometimes life gets hard, even worse but l can’t give up. Not yet, I am still praying that God hears me. I try to make ends meet the best way possible, but it seems like I’m fighting a spiritual battle where I lose. The scar is a reminder of where I’ve been but my knee only hurts when I kneel for too long.”

“I think a lot about my purpose, why I’m going round in circles, why nothing seems to be working out. I don’t know, but I remain hopeful, something good will come out of my life, I am certain,” said Keira.

Regardless of all she has been through she finds strength in keeping herself busy, being actively involved in her life, she remains very athletic and looks for ways to express herself in the arts industry. It took a fitting dress, a hairdo and make up to bring out the beautiful woman she truly is. Someone once discouraged her of being a model because of her scar, I guess he doesn’t know there are more than five types of models.

Keira believes she can be everything she puts her mind to. The deep scars within her heart have opened her eyes to varied circumstances of life. The people who took her for granted propel her to never give up so as to prove wrong. Her dream since she was young was to be the president’s bodyguard and she has not given that up. As long as there is breath in her lungs, there is still hope. Hope she can be the president’s bodyguard someday.

Keira’s lifelong aspiration to become the president’s bodyguard remains steadfast.