WHILE I always write about shows and people you see on TV, there are people I look forward to seeing every time I go to the studio. One such person is Benjamin Mangenje who I enjoyed having a conversation with just before we shot episode 13 of Cousins. Our conversation went like this:
SS: Benjamin, I want people out there to know about you and the work you do.
How did you get to this career?
BM: Choosing a career is the hardest thing for any man, I mean being able to think that I must do what I am passionate about at the same time providing food for the ones I love without fear of waking up the next morning deciding to quit. It’s been a long journey.
SS: It must have been long. So take me through it.
BM: After high school I had no plans of what I wanted to do with my life while other kids had everything well planned out. I was stuck between too many options and one simple question that I had was: “Benjy what’s next.” Sympathy, that was really hard for me.
SS: …So what led you to a good decision?
BM: Prayer saved me. My late mother was a very prayerful person.
The night I was writing my application letters for the programme I wanted to major in I did a quick but heart to heart prayer.
After that I then started writing the first application for Information and Technology (IT), as I was mid-past the first paragraph I fell asleep. In that deep dream, I saw myself in a room full of cameras and microphones, with big lights.
As much as I was alone in that room I felt whole, happy and at peace. I woke up the next morning ecstatic and confused at the same time as I did not know what the dream meant as clearly as it was, so I finished up a bunch of applications including IT and accounting among others and then placed them in an envelope so that I could drop them later that day.
SS: That’s scary and exciting…
BM: That dream was so vivid and what touched me was the joy and comfort I felt being there. Well, I freshened and went to drop the applications and as I arrived at the gate there was everything I saw in my dream: a big billboard and sign saying “Join our prestigious Mass Communication Department”— the cameras, the microphones I had dreamt about earlier that night were all there and right then I knew I had to redo the whole applications. And up to this day I have no regrets.
SS: I’m in awe. So this to you is a career from heaven? Your achievements to date?
BM: It is. At such a young age I have worked in two major television broadcasting stations in Zimbabwe doing technical operations and technical directing.
SS: Any programmes our readers and viewers have seen?
BM: Yes, I have directed programmes on 3Ktv such as Vantage, Cousins, My Vote, 3Ktv News, E360 and Ngariyedze on the leading independent television commercial station.
SS: Any dream enablers on your journey?
BM: My journey wouldn’t be possible without some people who took their time to mentor and show me the ropes.
SS: Thank you for your time Benjy. Any last words?
BM: Since my story isn’t finished yet and still aiming to achieve more, I will just end by saying, “they didn’t believe in us but God did, 3Ktv did.”