Silent Goodbye a sad reality. (Mom passes on & leaves small Children)

The quiet community of Ngodini, just outside Nelspruit in Mpumalanga, South Africa, woke up to heartbreaking news that left neighbours and relatives in disbelief. Twelve-year-old Ayanda had always been the responsible one. As the eldest of three children, she helped her mother care for her younger siblings, eight-year-old Sipho and four-year-old Amahle. Their mother, Nomsa, worked hard to provide for them, often reminding her children that no matter how difficult life became, they should always love and protect one another. One cold winter morning, the children woke up as usual. Ayanda prepared breakfast while waiting for their mother to get up for work. Minutes turned into an hour, but Nomsa never came out of her bedroom. Ayanda gently knocked on the door. "Mama?" she called softly. There was no answer. She knocked again, louder this time. "Mama, it's morning. You have to wake up." Still, there was only silence. Growing worried, Ayanda tried opening the door. H...

Meet the Zimbabwean sommeliers breaking barriers, one cork at a time

 

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he had never tasted wine.
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The Zimbabwean sommelier who took on 'Olympics of wine'

JOHANNESBURG, July 1 (Reuters) - When Zimbabwean Tinashe Nyamudoka left his homeland to work as a waiter in a restaurant in neighbouring South Africa he had never tasted wine. Now, 11 years later, he is a renowned sommelier with his own brand.

Nyamudoka, 36, stars in a new documentary "Blind Ambition", which follows the journey of Zimbabwe's first sommeliers to take part in the Blind Wine Tasting Championships in France in 2017 and 2018.

The four men left Zimbabwe at the height of the country's economic crisis more than a decade ago in search of work and have become some of Africa's top wine experts.

Since the end of 2017, Nyamudoka has owned his own wine brand Kumusha, which means home or origin in Shona.

"I am going for something which is accessible, which is quality and most of the time which is easy on the pocket," he told Reuters inside a Johannesburg restaurant while opening a bottle of Kumusha Cabernet Sauvignon & Cinsault 2020.

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Zimbabwean Tinashe Nyamudoka, a famed sommelier with his own wine brand, gestures as he speaks during an interview with Reuters in Johannesburg, South Africa, June 25, 2021. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko.

Nyamudoka said his wines were selling out in the United States, Kenya, Holland and Zimbabwe and would soon start exporting to Britain and Nigeria.

Robert Coe and Warwick Ross, the Australian producers of "Blind Ambition", said they were drawn to the story of the four Black Zimbabweans because they came from a background with no history and culture of wine.

"That these guys are out to disrupt in a major way the prevailing wisdom which is that wine drinkers are white, that people with wine knowledge are predominantly white, that fascinated us," Ross, who is also a winemaker, said.

The film, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York three weeks ago, clinched the audience award for best documentary.

During his first live wine pouring event at a Johannesburg eatery, Nyamudoka said he sometimes missed working in restaurants: "It's more like a fix so you want to have more and more of it."

Writing by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Editing by Janet Lawrence

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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