THE POET’S HAVEN – ‘What Happens Now?’ By Wadzanai Mbengo

In this piece of THE POET’S HAVEN we have the amazing young, rising star called Wadzanai Mbengo. She is a young female poet aged 15 from Masvingo.

Zimbabwean poetry, poems, and poets Wadzanai Mbengo What Happens Now Masvingo child rights activist and writer

Rising Star is her poetic name. She prides herself as an altruistically-driven Child Rights Activist, author, public speaker and she is also the founder and president of Teenagers With Purpose Organization.

At such a young age, she has already performed at various platforms; the likes of Harare International Arts Festival, Inzwimabwe Poetry Slam, Starbrite, Buddies for Luv Drama competition, World AIDS Day 2020, to mention just a few.

She is also a nominee for the Masvingo Achievement Awards (Outstanding female poet and People's choice poetry award). She has always had an innate hunger towards social justice and awareness that protects children, especially female ones. She also has learnt to speak up and voice out contentious issues of abuse through poetry and that has motivated her to become a rights activist.

This is through helping out other children out there to speak against their abusers and anything that disturbs children's peace. She hopes to make a massive change for a better community, city and the country at large.

As a young poet and advocate against child abuse, she has come to the fundamental realization that a society that shuns its children has no tomorrow, it is a love-less and strife-stricken society. Hence, she has taken the opportunity to point out that everyone should participate in the development of the nation with the motto *let the power be given to us*, and she exudes confidence that one day freedom will reign supreme. Below is her poem: