For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to understand how things work. I was the child who, a few hours after receiving an electronic gift, took it apart and then failed to put it back together again. Maybe going to medical school was a form of subconscious penance for having wrecked so many functional gadgets. Doctors get to fix bodies that aren’t working well - in theory anyway. Whatever the reason, my medical career did not last long. During my internship, I found that I was much more interested in understanding the socio-economic and political reasons behind illness than I was in its pathology, pharmacology, or epidemiology.
Since moving to Ireland in 2006, I have written several opinion columns for the Irish Times on development, immigration, world affairs and politics more broadly. I also authored the blog OutsideIn, for which I was twice among the finalists at the Irish blog awards: ‘Best Newcomer’ in 2009; and ‘Best Blog from a Journalist’ in 2010. In addition, I have written for the Irish Left Review, and I occasionally blog on South Africa’s Mail & Guardian ‘Thought Leader’ platform.
Besides my medical degree from the University of Zimbabwe, I have a master’s degree in Public Advocacy and Activism from the National University of Ireland, Galway (NUIG), and another in Political Philosophy from Queen’s University Belfast.