Yamikani Tracy Ndovi
Experts by Experience
I was born in Harare to a Zimbabwean mother and a father whose family were from Malawi. They had a flower farm, growing roses for Holland and Canada. Even now when I’m unhappy I just have to look at a green plant or a flower and it cheers me up.
I studied electrical engineering and worked in the electricity industry as an engineer. My parents were assassinated in 2001 because they were considered ‘collaborators’ with white Zimbabweans. Shortly afterwards I was imprisoned and only released when the authorities thought I was about to die. Luckily one of the army doctors had been my father’s friend and kept me alive. I was helped to escape from Mozambique via Malawi to the UK. However I was refused asylum and deported back to South Africa. After I managed to return to the UK, eventually I was given asylum and, after nearly five years, I was reunited with my daughter.
Since then, I first re-qualified as an electrical engineer and more recently have done a degree and a Master’s in social care. I continue to study and meanwhile work with survivors of domestic abuse.
