A Lifelong Quest: Joby’s million Zimbabwean stone project

After the completion of a four year bricklaying apprenticeship which he started at fifteen, Joby Wheatley, went on another apprenticeship in stonework and was trained by master mason, Geriant Davies. During that time he worked as a foreman and was in charge of constructing barrows which were later on featured in magazines, newspapers and on television.

When Joby moved to Zimbabwe from the United Kingdom in 2022, he had the #1millionZimStones vision which consists of four R’s, resurrection, restoration, regeneration and reputation. There are no known stonemasons in Zimbabwe and he is here to train locals whilst working on different projects.

We had a chat with him and this is what he had to say. *^{Chiedza Mukucha (CM), Joby Wheatley (JW)}

CM: Have you worked on any projects?
JW: Yes, I have started a project this week, its building lodges into big boulders, unfortunately I’m not yet allowed to disclose who or where the project is for.

CM: Are you working with locals?
JW: Yes I am working with locals and they are teaching me Shona and we work together (luckily we can always fall back on the international language of football.)

CM: Besides NMMZ are there any other organizations working with you?
JW: I have a meeting this coming week with a very large construction company in Zimbabwe. My discussions with NMMZ are still in the preliminary stages but they are being very supportive of my vision, talks are still ongoing to make a concrete commitment to #1MillionZimStones, but even the help they have given me so far has been a blessing.

CM: How has it been going so far?
JW: I love working here, Zimbabweans are incredible people (the wildlife takes some getting used to as I walked into a troop of baboons on Tuesday and nearly walked over a cobra.)

CM: I don’t know if you have been to Great Zimbabwe, but there is part of the ruins that is falling apart. Can you fix it and also are you looking into fixing things like that.
JW: I have been to Great Zimbabwe and looked at it from a construction perspective after reading lots of academic papers about it. It’s an incredible achievement based on the technology available at the estimated time it was constructed and even with today’s technology would be a great achievement in itself. I would love to be given the opportunity to work on Great Zimbabwe and Nalatale ruins as it would be an honor for me out of respect to the Stonemasons that came before me ( I consider them my elders from a stonemason perspective and I wish to honor their work.)

CM: Where do you work from? How are Zimbabweans receiving your project?
JW: I am Harare based but expect to work all over Zimbabwe in the future. Zimbabweans so far have been nothing but amazing towards me and my vision, it gives me so much desire to repay their trust with the results that Zimbabweans deserve. (I have heard a couple of keyboard trolls but they equate to about 0.05% of responses on social media.)

CM: Does this project also involve archiving?
JW: No archiving with regard to Zimbabwean monuments, I am just documenting my own journey for now.

CM: Are you going to carry out this project in other African countries?
JW: I am fully focused on working in Zimbabwe and as it stands I have no plans to work anywhere else in Africa but I also know to never say never as we don’t know what the future holds.

CM: I have seen pictures of Nalatale ruins, can that be restored, and do you think people will be receptive to restoring the ruins? Do you undo everything or you start from where the damage is?
JW: Every monument would have to be approached differently based on their respective damages, some could be worked on as they are and some may need to have sections started again if the damage is too far gone to be built on and no longer structurally stable. (I can’t speak on behalf of Zimbabweans with regard to how they will receive the restoration work.)

CM: I saw you mentioned wildlife and cobras, was that in Harare?
JW: The wildlife was just outside of Harare but I have had lots of cobras on a project I did in Mount Hampden.

C.M: Which tourist attractions have you been to?
JW: I have been to Victoria Falls, Great Zimbabwe, Lion head rock (lion’s den for steak rolls.) Also other places around Zimbabwe to view quarries Hwange, Chiredzi and Kanyemba.

CM: How many projects have you worked on so far?
JW: This is my 1st project under the vision of #1MillionZimStones. As it’s a new initiative but seems to have gained a lot of gravitas since coming up with the concept.

CM: Thank you and all the best.
JW: Thank you, hopefully my vision works and in years to come there will be lots of modern monuments in Zimbabwe built by a new generation of Zimbabwean Stonemasons.