A Girl Named Disaster

Nhamo is a member of a Shona community. Therefore, her experiences in her village are defined by her tribal customs and beliefs. The Shona people, native to South African nations like Zimbabwe, have a complex relationship with the spirit world. The Shona believe in a supreme creator god but also believe in a host of various spirits that can directly influence the day-to-day workings of the human world. When humans die, they become a part of the spirit world. The Shona believe that ancestral spirits and other spirits can sometimes inhabit a living man or woman to convey information through possession. Since both good and bad spirits exist, the Shona believe that misfortunes and illnesses can be caused by the influence of malignant spirits. When the Shona believe that a member of their society is acting in tandem with evil spirits or under their influence, they may accuse that member of witchcraft.

These spiritual philosophies dictate Nhamo’s relationships with her community, the natural world, and the realms beyond it. In particular, Nhamo’s understanding of ngozis, or angry spirits, family totems like the leopard, and the njuzu, or the water spirits, incite conflicts throughout her