Hello I'm Brian Tinoota(29yrs old)
![img_0.45312921888284574.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmdTjyV5yrxUW2yC9YfQyE22ZPfTJkJZ7q3z2EKrWZEsdj/img_0.45312921888284574.jpg) .  I have decided to reintroduce myself after some advice from the people who commented my last post more than a month ago. I was born and raised at Clearwater tea estate in Chipinge district in the eastern Highlands of Zimbabwe where my mom works. Growing up there wasn't easy being raised by a single parent who earns almost US$60 per month. From a young age I used to leave school to work in the tea fields for me to help boost my mom's earnings. I managed to attend primary school at Clearwater primary school and high school at Chinaa high school. 
I finished high school in 2011 without any dream that I would be able to reach university  because we thought we could not afford the fees as a family.  After passing my high school studies in 2012 I moved to the capital Harare and started hustling in the streets buying and selling vegetables and little snacks. With these little hustles I managed to pay my rentals and the hope was to raise enough for me to get into university. By the mid of that following year I had saved enough to pay for one semester at the University of Zimbabwe. I applied for the August 2013 intake and was admitted for a bachelor of arts  in Theater arts (acting, dancing, directing &sound engineering),  Economic History and German language for beginners.
![img_0.22037327014036012.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmNLwBKxg7vGZLpiQLEGs9szV5o5PJVFWioBuGWPGaj3Q9/img_0.22037327014036012.jpg)

I had my first taste of university life which was a tough experience for me due to my financial status and I had to defer from university after that first semester. In the following year I went to South Africa and started doing illegal gold mining as most migrants do in the abandoned mines around Johannesburg. I worked hard  for one and half a year saving money that would be able to go back and finish my studies. Though it was a life and death experience I survived it and went back to Zimbabwe to resume my studies. I decided to live cheaply in the wooden cabin in the picture below that I could put more finances towards my studies 
![img_0.999083212686756.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmYBrVGrfrQH9dvWbcEMcBeZwhZ7oPKyavLzrB871XYVVi/img_0.999083212686756.jpg)

  Though I studied the fields I studied at the University of Zimbabwe I didn't have passion in them especially theater and German language. For me these were chosen for by the University officials considering what I had passed in highschool. Upto now I don't feel like associating with what I studied. I still associate with Economic History because I have great passion in history and I'm a devoted historian myself. Sometimes I feel like I'm a theologian but this comes from my extensive research in the history of religions. I just take history as part of knowing myself, where I came from and where I'm heading to.

 A tipping point came when I was listening to African History professor John Henrick Clark saying the problem of Africa is we don't have people focusing on building the African community economically. I was really touched and started thinking for myself what was I doing to rebuild the African community that has been torn apart by poverty and the effects of slavery & colonisation.

 After experiencing the same story facing Zimbabwean youths of today, who graduate from schools and universities faced with the great challenge of unemployment, a country wide reality which makes it difficult for youths to put their degrees and certificates into use, I won a scholarship to study a social entrepreneurship program, the 12th generation of the International Youth Initiative Program(YIP) in Sweden in 2019.
This was a great opportunity for me since I was introduced to a holistic type of education where I learned community living
![img_0.20025202157445793.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmeDvaS93HqssMS6oygk2f4ivNpXDJnguF6thUDhJgDAwR/img_0.20025202157445793.jpg). 

In this program I learned what I was passionate about, which is to become a social entrepreneur. I also got a chance to travel to Scotland learning about sustainable community living at an eco village called Findhorn north of Inverness. I  went for my internship in Bayawani City, Negros Oriental, in the Philippines 
![img_0.6574552455553558.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmVZW3o5PQQLMGRbxJ67RRobAE4NPakS2PyUtcT9uo8cfQ/img_0.6574552455553558.jpg)

In YIP I also learned about  capitalism, P2P economics, the commons and finally DisCO taught by Stacco Troncosso, the founder of DisCO.coop and Guerilla Media Collective. This is where an idea was hatched to develop a DisCOLab for youths, inventors, innovators and employment creators of Zimbabwe to come together to harness their individual talents and learn practical skills for them to be able to create their own employment and not wait until employment has been created from above. The Multi-Talented Makerspace (MTM) came to be the name of the initiative.

  There were also other two great lessons I learned in the experience I had in during the YIP program, 1st that the world is not black and white and that home is not a physical place you come from but a circle of people you deeply share ideals with in any physical environment. I found home in DisCO as I found home in YIP. I'm currently in Zimbabwe now struggling to get my initiative up running and I'm also working (dating) with the DisCO Mothership in the NETLABS, DATMENT and STODOC circles. I'm happy to find a new home here in the hive . Greetings