Fungai Manana Chiwawa is a qualified plant biotechnologist who from Masvingo in Zimbabwe and currently resides in Harare. From as young as seven, Chiwawa knew that and practiced storytelling but along the way she stopped. Finally, a chance encounter and a nagging call towards her passion led her back to her love of storytelling and has led her to release four books (three children’s books and a Christian book).

Since her first publication, Chiwawa’s books are now available across various online distribution sites and she has had them stocked across various bookstores in Zimbabwe. A gifted illustrator, she now releases animated children’s stories on her YouTube channel ‘Story Time With Fungai’ the first episode titled ‘Amazon’.

We sat down with Chiwawa to speak about her artistic endeavors and the growth of her artistic expression. ^{*KM – Kudzai Mhangwa, FC – Fungai Chiwawa}

KM: I’m truly glad to speak to you. Please tell us about yourself Fungai.

FC: My name is Fungai Manana Chiwawa. I was born in Masvingo and I went to study in Algeria to attain my two degrees.  I am a mother of one amazing three year old girl and I am an identical twin. I love music and I am definitely also a foodie. I started writing when I was seven years old and I always had a fascination with plants growing up, which is why I went on to study Plant Biotechnology. 

KM: You describe yourself as a creative and story teller from a young age. How did your creative flare show up in childhood?

FC: It happened one day when I was drawing a girl in my old homework. I was seven and in the 90s kids had an obsession with Ariel. So the moment I drew a mermaid on the page I felt like I was falling into the page or the page was coming to life. There was an odd sense of relief I would get when I would fill a page with something. I also would have my school mates gather around me after school and I would tell them made up stories. Stories just kept popping up in my head, I would even tell my twin cringe worthy stories on long bus rides and seeing her reactions to plot twists would make me very happy.

KM: Somewhere along the line you ended up majoring in the sciences at tertiary level, how did you end up doing that? Had you ever thought about doing something more artsy for university?

FC: I actually wanted to study arts, I even gathered history, literature and divinity books from older school mates. But for some reason I listened to a teacher’s advice and I told myself that studying sciences was not the end of the road. Instead I saw it as an opportunity to have more knowledge about another field and have more things to write about. I did spend numerous hours listening to YouTube videos on how to write a book, character psychology, identifying the conflict that drives the story and at times I would watch ‘Breaking Bad’ with a notebook and scribble everything I could learn about storytelling. I also study novels to learn about authors’ writing styles too. Maybe I will go to university and study more, but I think I would be more fascinated with animation. I just find it cool to bring characters to life.

KM: I recall that a chance encounter with an Arab man reminded you of your creative self. Would you retell that story for us please?

FC: I was actually on my way to get the exam timetable for a business module I was doing. We had this strict invigilator and I often avoided him. Then one day as I was going to the reception he was sitting on the staircase and he was blocking my way, I couldn’t avoid him. He asked my name and replied ‘My name is Fungai’ and he said ‘Oh, aren’t you a writer?’ I had given up writing, I would write for fun but not to share with people because I was really anxious to share with people, but this was confirmation that this was something I should pursue. This man did not know what Fungai meant in my language but he seemed confident and people can look into your soul and tell you messages from God.

KM: What plan of action did you have to get back to your writing?

FC: I got a notebook and started learning from movies and YouTube. I gave myself a deadline to give any draft I had written to a publisher. Literally gave myself an ultimatum.

KM: What was your first ever published piece?

FC: ‘Zuva’s Playtime Stories: Volume 1’. My first book was named after my daughter, isn’t that poetic?

KM: Since you embarked on your story telling journey you have already published four books (Children’s books, ‘Zuva’s Playtime Stories Volume 1 & ‘2 and ‘On The Go with Sipho’ and self-help book ‘The Extraordinary Mile’) How was the process of getting published?

FC: It wasn’t as hectic as I thought it would be. I actually enjoyed the journey. With children’s books I just let loose, I did not hold back on the metaphors and catchy phrases. My editors had their questions, but in the end we crossed the finish line with big smiles on our faces.

KM: Tell us a bit about your children’s books.

FC: ‘Zuva’s Playtime Stories’ are different children’s stories based on our heroes growing up like the hare and the tortoise. I decided to give a modern twist to them so they have rhyme words so that kids can actually be hooked to the story as the parent reads. Each story has moral lesson for the child to learn and it’s defiantly character building. One of the stories is about building a business so it gives fundamental ideas about business. You’ll find this in Squirrel’s story who’s very innovative and also very streetwise.

‘On the Go with Sipho’ it’s about vocabulary and how children learn the names of objects and learn about the outside. When I was nine I was admitted to the hospital I didn’t know half the things they were doing to me; why they weighed me, why I was put on a drip, why I had to stay in the bed or get an x-ray, but this book can explain to kids what happens at the clinic and what to expect at a supermarket and family time. The girl ‘Sipho’ is also interactive and you feel like you’re on the journey with her.

KM: I just finished ‘The Extraordinary Mile’ which speaks on people pursuing something higher and their life purpose. Where did the idea for this book come from?

FC: I can actually write a book explaining this book. I had been writing lots of drafts and I felt I was playing with rubble but I couldn’t find a diamond, then I told myself the being who knows what I can write about is God so I went to him and I said ‘God I’m going to meet you at mid-night and you’re going to tell me what to write.’ So I began listening to this still voice inside me and began writing down notes. So for the next six months, once a week I would meet with God and expand those ideas until I had a book. But what inspired these ideas mostly was my walk in the wilderness; what to expect, what you’re going to go through, what happens before and after and all you’re going to meet in the wilderness.

I call it ‘The Extraordinary Mile’ because in life you live like an unsharpened pencil but God cannot use you because you’re blunt so when you work on yourself (such as me with my writing), God could work through you because I had sharpened my skill. We are like paint brushes but the enemy told us we’re broomsticks so some of us spend our lives ruining our gifts and future, we’re so tired and finished because we are trying to polish a floor but we were made to make portraits. God knows what is meant for you. Aren’t a dozen beautiful portraits more beautiful than a shiny floor? The book is about you; know what you’re made to do and your life becomes easier and your reward will be easy to attain because you’re now working with God.

KM: You are also an illustrator and you just released the first episode on YouTube of ‘StoryTime with Fungai’. How was that process?

FC: I’ve always been an illustrator from a very young age. I would actually practice one part of the body like how to perfect an eye, how to put the eyelashes and how the eye lid should look then I would move on to the nose and the lips. It was a whole process and when I could complete a whole human body I started working on objects like pencils or buildings. As for animation, it was something I discovered I could do and absolutely felt the need to bring my characters to life and tell my story in a different way. The process was amazing but also very tiring because to make a video it takes a lot of time with stop motion to make a character speak a sentence is a lot of maneuvers but it’s so exhilarating when you finish. More is coming I believe.

KM: What more can people expect from your creative well?

FC: Yes I do write other genres! I love writing romance. (Laughs) Like I mentioned I would tell my sister romance stories while we were on the bus and she would cringe. But expect more drama from the stories now that I’m thirty-two. I also aim to write books for teenagers, I really didn’t enjoy my teenage-hood it was a lot to figure out and I felt I needed someone or something to help me figure out what was going on. My stories will focus on peer pressure, substance abuse, narcissism and family dynamics.

KM: Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to us. Any advice for aspiring writers?

FC: Be yourself. The world will catch up. Study as much as you can, you can learn so much from observing people and your life. Find something you are passionate about and write about it, have fun.

Chiwawa also illustrates her own books. Her books are now available on Amazon (Amazon.com) and other online book stores.