by Chumile Jamela
-Zimbabwe-

Lisa Kunene’s* path to higher learning has been a painful one. A 20-year-old first-year engineering student at one of the top universities in Zimbabwe, she was born to a poor communal farmer in rural Matebeleland South, one of the country's driest provinces. She has had to endure the worst economic hardships. So it came as a big surprise and relief when she learned that she had been admitted into university. This was supposed to open the way to a very bright future, as well as provide a stepping-stone to the empowerment she had been waiting for all her life.