‘Chinamwari’ graduate an unlikely porn star

A young woman from Warren Park in Harare will forever rue the day she filmed herself naked in the middle of a self-satisfaction session as the footage leaked on the internet and has gone viral.

The 23-year-old Chipo Makwara is a recent ‘Chinamwari’ graduate after she went for a traditional initiation session. Chinamwari is where girls and other women are taken for lessons on marriage including how to perform well in bed.

Chipo has become a ‘celebrity’ overnight in her neighbourhood as people turn their heads when she passes through. She confirmed that she personally filmed the video and regrets it because she has been subjected to rude comments in the neighbourhood.

She said she was pracitising what she had been taught at ‘chinamwari’ and wanted to make a tutorial video for easy reference in preparation for marriage. She said she lost the phone that she used to film the self-stimulation session.

“I was surprised to hear that the video footage was circulating on the internet. I took my cellphone for repairs and the technician advised me that he lost the phone and I don’t know how the video found its way to the streets and internet.

“Otherwise it was a private thing for my own use after graduating from chinamwari in Epworth. We trained on the techniques of having sex that satisfies our husbands when we get married. My mother referred me to chinamwari before I got married. Now I regret why I recorded myself, I was practicing what we had learnt,” said the graduate.

Chipo said the initiation process was very important for young women as it increases the longevity of marriages. She said she had mastered the concepts so well, in practice, such that one of her boyfriends doubted her marital status because of the dexterity she exhibited in bed.

“After ‘chinamwari’ I had sex with one of my boyfriends. I later broke up with him as he alleged that I have been married before because I acted like an experienced person in bed. This was after I had put into practice what we were taught at chinamwari and this did not go down well with him, she said.

Asked on why she had not reported her lost cellphone to the police, she replied: “Someone advised me not to file a report with the police because I would be charged for making a pornographic video.”

Chipo, who is a cross-border trader, dismissed rumours circulating in Warren Park that she shot the video for commercial purposes. There was suspicion that she intended to sell the footage in Zambia where she trades.

“I bring goods for sale from Zambia and it is utter rubbish that I made the video for sale. I know the girls who are jealous of me are spreading the rumours,” she said.

However, Chipo’s mother did not regret sending her daughter to ‘chinamwari’ saying it was the normal ‘rite of passage’ into womanhood. Instead, she blasted whoever stole the phone and posted the video and said that was a ‘private video’ meant for her tutorials.

“The secrets in the video are about how she was being trained at one of our traditional customs we go through before marriage,” said Mrs Makwara. H Metro