It was only much later when I was an adult did I come to the knowledge that Mbuya Nehanda was actually a spirit who possessed Charwe Nyakasikana. All Along I just thought that Mbuya Nehanda was her name. Charwe became only known for the spirit that possessed her. That became her identity. Which also created a picture in my mind that she had to be an old lady.
Since understanding that Charwe was a medium for Mbuya nehanda it led me to question where Nehanda’s spirit is today? Were her role and purpose only in fighting against the colonial oppressors? Why has she not seen the suffering of Zimbabweans today? Why can she not manifest today and lead a new revolution and chimurenga (uprising) against the current oppressors? Or could it be that Nehanda’s spirit is manifesting in modern-day fighters like Fadzayi Mahere who are standing up to oppressive powers?
From a different perspective, I think Charwe Nyakasikana was not a spirit medium at all but a fearless, bold woman who stood up for her rights and for the rights of her community and people. But because the patriarchs of that age did not want to accept women as leaders they attributed her fighting to spirit to a being possessed by the ancestors and hence became palatable for other men to accept and follow her lead.
If we take we take the idea of the spirit medium then in depicting Mbuya Nehanda we can depict her in any way we see fit and not necessarily as the vessel she chooses to inhabit in the historical case it is Charwe. So no visual depiction of Mbuya Nehanda can be considered to be inaccurate or wrong.
