PODCAST: How Tafadzwa became ‘The Educated Waiter’

Author of The Educated Waiter Tafadzwa Zimunhu Taruvinga. Photo: Mosala Phillips.

Author of The Educated Waiter Tafadzwa Zimunhu Taruvinga. Photo: Mosala Phillips.

Published Nov 22, 2019

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Tafadzwa Zimunhu Taruvinga grew up in a township called Tafara, Harare where life was difficult, particularly because he lost his father when he was seven years old. 

He grew up in a household where things were tough but he believes his mother was tougher.

When Taruvinga, a young Zimbabwean, enrolled to study economics at Rhodes University in South Africa, he had no idea his life was about to become a tumultuous test of survival. 

For a foreign student, the fees were exorbitant, exacerbated by the fact that currency became increasingly problematic in the ailing economy back home. This however, didn't deter him. 

With a sharp sense of self-preservation, he pursued his studies while unpacking groceries, cleaning s**t-splattered toilets and waitering for a pittance.

Constantly cash-strapped, Taruvinga went to sleep hungry on many nights. 

His book, The Educated Waiter styles itself is a groundbreaking memoir giving voice to the previously unheard plight of the immigrant graduate and waiter.

“My mother would always insist that even though things were difficult, we had to go through schools. We had to excel in school. It becomes the beginning of me getting educated and I didn’t know what I wanted to become as a young boy. You will see parts where I get to cook for my sisters and get to teach them some of the things I’ve learned.” 

Taruvinga came to South Africa from Zimbabwe to study economics at Rhodes University. He took an unexpected hiatus after his second year to waiter in a restaurant and manage a guest house in Makhanda. He hoped that by the end of the year he would have enough savings to return to his studies.

Speaking to IOL, Taruvinga said it's important for people to learn about one another and be compassionate towards one another in order to live in accord. 

“My hope for young Africans is for them to do as much as they can to try and learn about the other person. I am not a big fan of the ‘otherisation’ of people. That is one of the challenges that we have as young Africans to confront this ‘otherisation,’ in whatever form it comes,” he said 

Otherisation, he reckons is what is going to prevent us as young Africans from becoming global players. 

“But if we start thinking differently, more positively, if we start being more compassionate. If we are now more willing to learn from the other person, than to impose what we think is an ideology, then we are beginning to make progress. And there is a lot of opportunities for us to do that - we have a lot to offer the world as Africans, young Africans, as young authors, actors and entrepreneurs in music, in whatever space we try to occupy.” 

He continued to say that the contribution doesn’t start with the rest of society, it begins with us. 

“Once we deal with the small issues at a micro level, on the train, in the classroom, in the home, wherever we are, then we can become great.”

His story is witty, poignant and multifaceted. It indefatigably confronts poverty, racism, xenophobia and classism with refreshing honesty that gives insight into the reality of the immigrant’s trial and triumph. 

Tafadzwa’s drive to conquer a world steeped in impenetrable hardships and prejudice is inspirational. His spirit shines as he shares his journey of survival. He reminds us that we all can overcome hardship, regardless of dire circumstance. This story is one that we all know all too well, it’s the story of survival and a story of hope.

Podcast edited and produced by Masabata Mkwananzi.

The Educated Waiter is available at all major bookstores.   

Sunday Independent

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