The comb is the podcast from the BBC World Service

that seeks out stories and voices from across Africa

that might otherwise go unheard.

It was a moment that was filled with hope.

It was emotional.

I had to sit down and put myself in other people's shoes.

Catch up with the whole series now by searching for the comb.

This is the comb.

Wherever you get your BBC podcast.

The comb.

Welcome to the documentary from the BBC World Service.

I'm Tawanda Muzonga, a writer and journalist

based in Harare Zimbabwe.

And in this episode, I'm looking at the women authors

who are putting Zimbabwe in fiction on the map.

I have always turned to reading to understand where I come from,

to understand my country's complex history

and the ways that has shaped me.

So many of our stories, though, they are maybe rooted in Zimbabwe.

They are world stories and their stories about people.

To some extent, we're trying to inform about the Zimbabwe in specifics,

but in some ways, we're just trying to talk about the struggle of being human.

...