Rumbidzai Chitsa 

For me, it wasn't like the destination of it, just saying, well, I found it. But the journey of becoming this person that I am today gives me patience in working with other people. Because I think had I not gone through this journey, I wouldn't be understanding. I think it made me more patient and also more compassionate, because I can understand and relate with a lot of people because of the circumstances that I've gone through. So, I think this lesson and this journey, this is what it has taught me and the fruits that it has brought forth.

Paul Meunier 

Hello, I'm Paul Meunier, the executive director of the Youth Intervention Programs Association, and I'm a youth worker at heart. How lucky am I? I have the privilege to meet youth workers from around the globe and learn their stories and share them with the entire world. I'm glad you're listening because together we'll learn how their life experiences shape their youth work. As you listen, I encourage you to consider how your experiences shape what you have to offer young people. Welcome to this edition of The Passionate Youth Worker.

Paul Meunier 

Hi, everybody. For this episode, we have the privilege of hosting a remarkable individual whose journey from a large, tight knit, extended family shaped her perspective on life. She began her professional journey in biology and bioengineering. However, her passion for creating a positive change in people led her to forge a unique path in community work. Our guest today is Rumbidzai Chitsa from Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Against the backdrop of family expectations, she dared to defy conventional norms, following her heart instead of choosing a trajectory dedicated to lifting up others. Drawing from the opportunities she herself received, she founded a groundbreaking nonprofit organization, the Whole Woman Movement. This initiative focuses on empowering women and adolescent girls, aiming to provide the same opportunities that proved transformative in her own life. Join us as we delve into the inspiring story of Rumbidzai, exploring how her family, education, and community impact have made her into the youth worker she is today. Rumbidzai, I thank you for being a guest on The Passionate Youth Worker.

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Thank you for having me, Paul. I'm really humbled and honored to be here today.

Paul Meunier 

I'm really glad you're with us, this is going to be a fun conversation. And to kick things off, I just want to know, was there a defining moment or experience in your life that caused you to change your trajectory into the hard sciences, biology and bioengineering, into more of a human services area? Can you put your finger on one thing or was it kind of a normal evolution?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

I would like to say it was sort of, maybe we can say, so many events, you know. It was cumulative, one event led to another and officially, it led to the start of the organization and, you know, the kickstart of the passion. For example, before I finished high school, I was already involved in social clubs because I was not able to be in sports. And then after high school and university, I started volunteering with nonprofit organizations and also spearheading projects of community work. And, you know, whilst doing that, I found that I love doing this, you know. I feel at ease when I'm doing this, the work might be hard, but I love it. You know, the impact and seeing people happy. That was me. And after I finished school, I just decided to take a break. And it led me to here.

Paul Meunier 

You're like a lot of youth workers who didn't really think that someday they would be doing this kind of work. What do you think is in your heart and gives you such a passion for helping other people that you decided to make this big change in your life?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, I think for me, the first thing was finding purpose to say, this is what I'm passionate about. So, in my mind I thought if I follow my passion, I will stumble into my purpose and stumble into destiny. And thank God, that's what happened for me. I followed my passion, stumbled into purpose, and I feel like I'm just on the right path. So, I think that was for me, it's the giveaway.

Paul Meunier 

I love that you talk about finding your passion because when we find our passion, we become very good at whatever we choose to do. So, in your early upbringing, did you have people that were in the, I don't know, community building space, people that were in the human services field around you that kind of modeled that career choice for you?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, unfortunately, I didn't have such people. I think that's why I never really considered it when growing up. I actually never thought it existed anyway. I grew up kind of knowing that you have your lawyer, your nurse, your doctor, the teacher, policeman, you know, the ordinary, and, you know, the ones that every child wants to be. And that's what I knew. So, I really never had it modeled in front of me to say, this is what a community worker does, this is the work that you need to do, these are the problems that you go through. So, it's something that I just stumbled into. And because of passion, I got to learn the hard way, you know, when I'm now a young adult, instead of seeing the journey when I was younger.

Paul Meunier 

Well, whatever you were taught in your early years, it sure seems to be paying off because you have such a passion for helping other people. You can see that and you can feel that when you talk to you. And I know you grew up in a big extended family where might be really different than how we think of families. Like I think of a family here in United States, and you were raised by your grandmother, but your cousins were like your siblings. And can you talk about what your upbringing was like, with all these people around you?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

I think of my upbringing as a fun, interactive, and also, maybe we can say, a learning pathway. You know, because you have every three to four years you have someone introduced into the family. Sometimes you have new family members, like extra extended family members coming into the city and coming to live with you because it's their first time in the city. So, there's always everyone at home criss-crossing, coming in, going out, you get to live with different characters. And I think that was a learning pathway for me to understand how people react to certain things, how people are normally. And also seeing that my grandmother was, you know, hosting these people, showing love to those people, like helping them. I think that also showed me that you can give love to the world, you know, even without thinking of getting something back from it but just because you want to help someone. I think that was a good foundation, like you said, that my upbringing kind of gave me a foundation to understand what I'll be doing and what I'll be dealing with.

Paul Meunier 

I got to believe so. You were given social skills, you were modeled that over and over and over again, by being around so many people, so many positive people it sounds like. And I know you are connected with some people who helped you see the world much bigger than just in your local surroundings. And they showed you and kind of taught you how the world worked. And that kind of inspired you to go on and pursue college and your education. Can you talk about some of those people and some of the lessons that they taught you that helped shape who you are today?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, I think one of those people was my uncle. Yeah, so my aunt's husband, he's a medical doctor, still practicing. And I grew up in the ghetto. And you know, you never had such people around you, you know, you never had to dream so big. Even if you had, you never knew if it was attainable or not. So, having him around, seeing that, you know, I think he was physical representation of a dream that I had in mind. You know, that if he could do it, probably I could do it. So, it meant that even my ambitions had to be extended a bit to say, well, I've seen someone who has done it, he was also brought up in the ghetto under the same circumstances as me. But still, he excelled and did well for himself. So probably, if he can do it, I can still do it. And I think that opened up my world to say there is much more to life than just, you know, the surroundings of the ghetto and the life that we're living in.

Paul Meunier 

That's wonderful that you had that exposure to somebody who could teach you that and give you the confidence that you could do that yourself. And I know we're going to talk in a little bit about your work trying to give those opportunities to other young people who might not have that exposure. But I'm wondering when you went to school and you were studying bioengineering and doing the hard sciences what was school like for you? Did you enjoy that? Did you find it easy? Were you a social person? Did you engage with a lot of people? What was your education like for you?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, school has always been, I can pretty much say easy for me, because I was like, you know, an A-student from the first grade, you know. And from as young as six years, people always said, Oh, she's very good at math, she's very good at math. So obviously, if you're good at math, it means you're good at sciences. That's what people are translate it to. So, I think also that encouragement, even when like you're at your lowest, you just know, I'm good at this so I have to make it work. So, I think that kind of gave me the mindset to say, I'm good at sciences, so nothing is impossible for me. And even when we were writing exams, you know, the hardest of exams, you just know, I have to pass this because everyone knows that I'm good at it. So, school was not hard at all. And socially, it wasn't hard at all, as well, because I'm a bubbly person, you know, I come off as a bubbly person. So, it's easy to make friends. It's easy to socialize with people. So, it's not like I was a loner, I was never a loner. So, I think that was the best moment ever to just know that I had a support system, I had friends, even if I'm not around doing projects, I know that when I come back, my friends will update me this is what has been happening. So, it was good to have a group of people around at school, who walked the journey with you.

Paul Meunier 

That's wonderful. And being that school was easy for you and you were a straight A-student all the way through, I bet those around you had high expectations for you. And also had the expectation you were going to be a doctor, or some sort of chemist, or bioengineer. And when you started feeling like maybe that's not the right path for me, how was that received within your family? Did they think oh, go do what you want to do? Or were they thinking, you're gonna make a mistake if you don't become a doctor?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, I really hoped that they had said, go do what you want to do. But that it wasn't like that at all, you know, everyone thought, since you're good at this, we see you as a doctor, we see you as you know, as a lab scientist, we see you as a bioengineer. And whatever it may be, you know, your job is the lab, the job is to do with the hard sciences. But then when I chose this path, I think to say that they were disappointed in the dream that they had for me. You know, seeing their dream, you know, not come true. Because I believe every parent has a dream for their child. So, I think this was not part of their dreams for me. And it was really a hard pill to swallow for them. But hopefully with time, you know, they got to understand no, this is what I want to do, this is who I am, and now we're on the same page.

Paul Meunier 

Did that make the decision harder for you to go into community building, helping individuals on a social level? Did that make the decision harder for you?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, not making the decision, I had already made up my mind. So, I had told myself with or without anyone's help, this is what we're going to do. But then I think it made the staying harder. because there'll be days when you would want to just you know, tell someone close to you, oh, this is the problem that I'm encountering. You know, so that they encourage you. But then you know, if you tell them the problem, they'll tell you, you should have gotten a job by now, you wouldn't be having this problem. You see, so I think it's the staying that was harder to say, I just needed some support. Maybe probably someone to just cry to. But then you can't cry because you chose this for yourself.

Paul Meunier 

Rumbidzai, believe it or not, we have to take a short break. But when we come back, I want to ask you a few more questions about this decision that you made and then start diving into how all of that has impacted your work with other people. So, we'll be right back.

Jade Schleif 

No matter how you support our young people, The Professional Youth Worker, powered by YIPA, has your training and learning needs covered. Visit training.yipa.org, that's training.yipa.org to see for yourself and then join the 1000s of youth workers around the globe who learn from our easy to access exceptional trainings. From our blogs to our podcast, The Professional Youth Worker is your go-to resource for tools to help you keep going, keep learning, and keep growing. Members enjoy free unlimited access to Live Online and On-Demand trainings, and a preferred discount pricing for our one-of-a-kind certificate course. Annual memberships are ridiculously affordable for individuals and organizations. Visit training.yipa.org today to learn more. That's training.yipa.org.

Paul Meunier 

Rumbidzai, right before the break, I was saying I had just a few more questions about your decision to move into the social services realm of things, when your family thought maybe you weren't doing the right thing. But you were so clear that you were going to do the right thing. Do you think that they've come around now to understand this is your passion, this is what you should be doing? You're a smart person, you're going to be very successful at it. Have they come to terms with it better do you think?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Yeah, sure. I believe absolutely that they've come into terms with it. Probably they're just, you know, navigating their way into understanding the vision more better, and making it more clear to them and coming into terms with it. But then, saying they understand this is what I want to do, and they are rooting for me now. Absolutely. And also, I think it's because of the results that have started to manifest themselves, you know, along the journey, because probably their fear was this is just something that is going to make you like, take your time. And you know, it's not going to amount to anything or something like that. So, maybe seeing the results and seeing the impact, I'm sure it's, you know, melting their heart and pulling them closer to my side.

Paul Meunier 

Well, I'm glad to hear that and I am impressed with your resolve. I'm impressed with your clarity about what you want to do with your life. And clearly, I believe you're going to have a major impact because you have those key elements that are going to allow you to be very successful. You're obviously very, very smart. And you have such a clear vision of what your purpose of your life is supposed to be. And you seem so wholeheartedly committed to it. And I think that's a wonderful thing.

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Thank you very much, Paul.

Paul Meunier 

You're welcome. And so this transformation that you went through, this finding your purpose and understanding the reason that you exist, how do you think that life lesson helps you in working with other people who might be wondering what their life lesson is or what their purpose is?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, I think the journey, because for me it wasn't like the destination of it to saying, well I found it, but the journey of becoming this person that I am today gives me patience in working with other people. Because I think had I not gone through this journey I wouldn't be understanding someone who says, well I'm struggling with this, I can't do this. Because, well, at school I didn't struggle much you see. So, I had it a bit easier. So, I never understood when people said I am struggling with this, I can't do this and all of that. So, I think it made me more patient and also more compassionate because I can understand and relate with a lot of people because of the circumstances that I've gone through. So, I think this lesson and this journey, this is what it has taught me and the fruits that it is brought forth.

Paul Meunier 

That's a wonderful description of how your life experiences have impacted you. And how much of your life do you put into your youth work, like how much of your lessons that you've learned along the way, have shaped who you are as a youth worker?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Oh, we can pretty much say most of them, most of them because I work with youth in the ghetto. And I was born in the ghetto as well. So, that has pretty much my whole life and the experiences they're also part of them, are also my experiences. Their world is a world that I also lived in, you know their circumstances, some of their fears. We might be different generations but you know, the fears sometimes stay the same like will I get out, will I make it surrounded by so much crime, surrounded by so much failure. Will I be able to make it? How can I pull through? How can I be a first generation graduate? How can I do this? You know, so it makes me relate and also it makes me able to deal with the youth and be able to give them guidance because I've walked the road as well.

Paul Meunier 

I'm reading this wonderful book about leadership and they describe leadership as your life story is your leadership style. And I think the same is true for youth work. Your life story is your youth work presence, it's what you bring. And you bring so much. You bring such a rich tapestry of life lessons with you, and are just pouring that into other people. And I'm wondering, do you ever, I mean, here's the thing, I think you could have been pretty wealthy. You probably could be doing pretty good with your life, from a financial point of view, maybe a status point of view in your community. But you decided to just give other people. And do you regret that at all?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, I don't, I don't. At first I used to, before I grew up, you know, I matured, let's say I matured. I used to, in the early days. I used to have, like, you know what, I can drop this and go and apply for my job. I'll get a very good salary. You know, and live large. But then when you look at the, you know, the lives that you have impacted, when you look at the people that still need the exposure, when you look at, you know, the calling to say, there's so many young girls, there are so many young women that still need help that might not get this opportunity to get out because I was not there. Because I believe if there was not so many people in my life, I wouldn't have even made it this far. So, like I usually told myself, if I'm not that stepping stone, maybe they won't have had that stepping stone. And I think that's what like has kept me. And also knowing that this work is not just for myself, but also for other people. And to make sure that we all get out and we all get this purposeful, get to live this purposeful life together.

Paul Meunier 

Beautifully said. Thank you for answering it. Now that you're full steam into this, you started this organization, you're doing wonderful work, inspiring women and young girls to fully embrace who they are as people and have confidence in themselves and to accomplish what they should be in life. And now you're kind of in the middle of it. If you could go back to your earlier self and talk to you say, when you were deciding, you know that you should be a doctor or a lawyer, but you had this kind of inkling, maybe I should do something else, what would you say to your younger self about what you know now about youth work?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Well, I'll just tell her to brace yourself. That, you know, it's not as smooth road as it sounds, you know. When you think of helping people who just think I'll just go from point A to B, and help people and it'll be so smooth and so nice. And you know, the impact will just make me smile. But there's a lot of work in between. There's a lot of work that goes into the programs. There is a lot of work that goes into delivering them. And there is a lot of work also to ensure that those projects and programs they are impactful and they are sustainable. So, I'll just tell her to just brace yourself and keep learning.

Paul Meunier 

That's probably very sound advice. And that's very accurate advice, I would say. That's a wonderful answer. We learn so much from young people. Has there been a young person who really taught you an important lesson about life? Or just in general, have you learned things about yourself from young people that have helped you grow into your own person?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Yes, I've learned so much from working with young people. Because, you know, sometimes their worldview is just so innocent. You know, they just think I'll just pass and be a doctor and do this, you know. There are no obstacles. And also, I've also learned so much about myself as well, to say, I thought I was very patient. But when I started working with young people, I didn't realize no, my patient tolerance was next to zero. And I had to start working that out you know to say we moved from zero to somewhere. And I'm glad that now we are somewhere and that was a very like good lesson because it also translates to all my other relations outside even of work to say okay, so now I'm growing my patient tolerance, and I'm growing this and that. And it was all exposed during my work with young people. So, I'm also grateful for that.

Paul Meunier 

Well, thank you so much for sharing your story. And on behalf of the listeners, I would just like to say thank you for taking your analytical training, your training to think linear, to solve big problems, and bring that into the community space of helping young people. And I gotta believe your organization is going to do wonderful things with you as the leader. And I can't imagine the number of young girls that are going to benefit from being able to be in a program like yours, where they're given the confidence, and the skills, and the vision that they can be something bigger than maybe what's immediately in front of them. So, I am just impressed with you. And I want to thank you for being a guest on The Passionate Youth Worker. And I would also thank you for being just so committed to the work you're doing. You are making a big change. And thank you for being a guest on The Passionate Youth worker podcast.

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

Thank you for having me, Paul, and giving me this platform to share my story, and also get to inspire other youth and also youth workers around the world as well as we journey together to making it possible for everyone.

Paul Meunier 

Well said. But before we go, I would like to ask you what words of wisdom or inspiration would you like to leave with our listeners?

Rumbidzai Chitsa 

To everyone that is listening, I would just like to encourage them to say, follow your passion no matter how hard it seems or no matter how unrealistic sound. Because I believe when you start following it, it'll just start opening doors for you to see it more clearer and clearer. And you never know, one of those days you might stumble into purpose and you will lead a fulfilled life.

Paul Meunier 

If you would like to share your passion for youth work, we'd love to spotlight you as a guest. If you have feedback about the show, please let us know. Just visit training.yipa.org, that's training.yipa.org and click on the podcast tab. This podcast is made possible in part due to a generous contribution from M Health Fairview. I'm your host, Paul Meunier. Thanks for listening to The Passionate Youth Worker.