Webster was the first son of Nicholas and Ellen Francisca Zambara. Born in the then Rhodesia on 29 June 1973 at Gutu Hospital. Dr Zambara grew up in Zimbabwe and was based in south Africa at the time of his untimely death. He was raised by his parents, dad a teacher and mother a farmer. In his own words he describes his mother’s profession as that of a farmer because it is the produce from the land that helped pay for school fees. His academic career started at Chiguhune primary school where he did grade one, he then moved to Driefontein primary school to do grade 2. After which he went to Chindunduma were he did grade 3 and continued until he completed upper six (form 6). He was the first member of the family to pass O-levels and indeed to proceed to do A-levels successfully.

Dr Zambara trained as a teacher at Gweru teachers’ college, now Midlands State University.  On completion of his teaching Diploma, he taught in very remote schools in Mashonaland east in the Mutoko and Goromonzi district before proceeding to Africa University where he pursued a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Again, he was the first member of the family to obtain a university degree.

Africa university marked a turning point for him. While there he became a student union leader and because of his passion to pursue his purpose it was not long until he ignited the same flame in those around him who voted him to become president of all catholic students in Zimbabwe. Around this time, there were land invasion in Zimbabwe and Dr Zambara realized the urgency of youth participation and civic organization. After graduating from Africa university, he decided to move from being a civil servant to being a civil society activist and joined a small civil society organization called Non-violent Action and Strategies for Social Change. Most of his time here was spent training youth on using non-violent strategies in dealing with human rights issues. He then moved to south Africa where he found himself between Durban and Cape Town while training peace monitors working for the Centre for Conflict Resolution CCR in 2009 as a senior project leader. It is this training that gave birth to the Zimbabwe Peace Project.

Dr Zambara went on to work for the Farm Community Trust of Zimbabwe as a conflict management officer working with displaced communities because of the land invasions that occurred in Zimbabwe during that time. From here he successfully applied for a scholarship to Austria where he studied advanced peace studies. This was his first formal study in peace studies. Here he met the late prof Johan Galtung, founder of the discipline of Peace Studies who mentored and re-ignited his passion for the subject.

On returning to Africa, Dr Zambara perused and completed a master’s and PhD at UKZN in the same field. Again, the first member in the family to obtain a master’s degree and the only one thus far to hold a doctorate. We have been robbed of our doctor.

He never really gave up his passion to share knowledge, in 2011 Dr Zambara taught at UJ and in 2018 had a short stint at the University of Cape Town (UCT) lecturing international peace building to honors and master’s students. In March of the same year, he was part of the UN team in New York drafting a report on meaningful participation of women in influencing peace for the secretary general’s report.

Dr Zambara never forgot the village; he was a village boy with global reach and always applied context-based methodologies in his training modules. He was a true son of the soil, raised by the village to go out there. And when he got out there, he never allowed the so called “modern world” to influence him into forgetting his roots. He always came back to the village bearing gifts which he shared generously. We saw these gifts in the form of knowledge, material things, love, smiles and the promise of hope that life can and is getting better.

Our brother’s life is true testimony of what hard work and dedication can do. He taught us to stop using our circumstances as an excuse to limit our potential. How a village boy can grow up herding cattle in a community with no electricity and tap water can end up as Senior Project Leader of Peacebuilding Initiatives is inspiration for many generations to come. I can talk forever about Webster, and I am not surprised at the social media posts from friends and colleagues. Clearly “ @PeaceWebAfrica” left his mark.

It is with a heavy heart and fond memories we mourn the passing of our brother. I cannot believe that I am here today and call out his name in the past tense. I cannot believe I will make a call to his phone, send you a WhatsApp and that he will not be there on the other side of the line. Laughter, joy, hope and as always, an invitation for a drink now is just but part of a memory. Rest easy Guuriro, Shumba, Mhukahuru, mwana wechikara, our leader, trailblazer, pathfinder and l legend.

Love always

Your family