Simon M'zungu

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Simon M'zungu, a Zimbabwean-born Australian is an interesting, multi-talented person whose life to date reads like a novel. He spent his primary school years living at rural hospitals in the south-eastern part of Zimbabwe where his father worked. He attended village primary schools and his mother was his first teacher. Immersed in cultural experiences of one form or other Simon learnt a lot about his Shona culture from these early years. He attributes his late life renewed interest in sharing his culture to his childhood memories of life in rural Zimbabwe.

His cultural and worldly experience was enriched when high school saw him off to boarding school, where he came into contact with students from different parts of Zimbabwe. Upon completing high school Simon worked for the Ministry of Roads and Road Traffic as a civil engineering cadet. Because he spent a lot of time in the field, he saw a lot of his beautiful Zimbabwe, including national parks teeming with wildlife, most of which he would not have seen as an average black "Rhodesian", because of the racial laws of the times that disallowed black people from designated whites only areas, that included major hotels and national parks.

In 1978, Simon won a Commonwealth Governments' scholarship to study engineering in Australia. Switching fields, he has since gained a Bachelor of Commerce and Master of Marketing (First Class Honours) degrees and has more than five years experience as a business analyst in a large financial institution in Melbourne. He also has more than six years of retail sales and management experience as well as more than 3 years as a business studies teacher He is currently a tutor and research assistant at Griffith University Business School, Department of Marketing and will be embarking on PhD studies in early 2008.

For Schools, Libraries, Community Groups etc.

Simon strongly believes that every race on earth has something positive to contribute to the rest of humanity and that cultural value-exchange if encouraged, especially among the youth, could cultivate mutual understanding, peace and co-operation among the peoples of our world.
To this end, Simon is passionate to share African culture especially that of his Shona people of Zimbabwe, with school children and adults across Australia and the world. Simon can speak on a diverse range of topics, to both primary and secondary school audiences around the theme "Sharing the Forgotten Africa", which includes but is not limited to Shona folktales, customs, rituals, music and spiritual beliefs. Simon believes in working collaboratively with teachers in order to design and deliver specific programs that achieve positive educational outcomes.
An accomplished percussion player, Simon utilises drums and exotic African instruments to provide rich educational and entertainment experience and value to his audiences, regardless of their age. Simon authored, narrated, performed and recorded a CD entitled AFRICAN FOLKTALES that was produced by ABC Audio and is available at ABC Shops and ABC online. Simon has presented to primary, middle and senior students to many state and private schools in Queensland. He launched a fund raising project by Trinity Lutheran College, Gold Coast to raise money for a poor sister school in Mozambique. In October 2006, he spent a week presenting to primary, middle and high school students at the Singapore American School and another at the Singapore Australian International School.

Students and teachers in Australia and overseas find Simon's performances informative, entertaining and inspiring. The students love and can relate to him and he receives warm respect and appreciation from the teachers, principals and the parent community.

Simon believes that he has much African cultural knowledge and musical talent to share with children and adults alike. His goal and desire is to share this knowledge and his other natural talents to become a resource of choice regarding African culture. He is committed to the promotion of inter-cultural understanding in these troubled times we live in.

Feedback

"Simon is an engaging and entertaining person who displays excellent storytelling skills. He is also a professional musician who plays African drums and exotic instruments that never fail to entertain. Dressed in traditional colourful African clothing and acting his part well, he very ably interests his audience and quickly builds a rapport which encourages both students and staff to respond positively. His performances have delighted students and people of all ages... I highly recommend Simon to any school or organisation which wants to experience the authentic colour, sound and joy of African culture that he brings to like in his presentations."

Meryl Siggs, Deputy Head of Primary, Trinity Lutheran College, Ashmore.