When the parents of Tawanda Chabikwa gave him his name, they may not have dreamed how far he would carry it. In the Shona Language of Zimababwe where he was born, "Tawanda" means "we are now many." It celebrates the strength and continuity of large families in a country where infant mortality looms and where the AIDS epidemic has orphaned nearly a million children.
Tawanda is 20 years old. He paints. He's a graphic designer. He dances. He has a marketing plan. He also has a vison. A sophomore at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, the "many" in his name points not only to talents he is cultivating and professional skills he is honing, but also to the ways he wants to reach and serve the stranded children of his country.
Last summer he started Project ndini wako, a non-profit organization designed for grassroots promotion and sustainability of the arts with the mission of helping Zimbabwe's AIDS orphans. "I call it social entrepreneurship," Tawanda says. "This is not about what I can become. It's to take what I can do and make use of it."
Next Teusday and Wednesday nights, Tawanda is taking what he can do to the Criterion Theatree in Bar Harbor, where he and a troupe of dancers from the college will perform "Ngano Nhatu: 3 African Tales" at 7:30p.m. All proceeds go to Project ndini wako to begin supporting 10 young AIDS orphans his organization has identified with the help of a retire schoolmaster in Gutu, the rural region where Tawanda spent holidays with his grandparents.