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Lives in a Landscape

Factual: Life Stories

Documentary series telling original stories about real lives in Britain today

Lives in a Landscape: Series 8

Lives in a Landscape: Series 8: Episode 3: A Zimbabwean in Belfast

Episode 3

Episode 3: A Zimbabwean in Belfast

Series 8

A Zimbabwean in Belfast

BBC Radio 4 - Lives in a Landscape, Series 8, A Zimbabwean in Belfast

Alan Dein meets Zimbabwean refugee Wilson Magwere in his adopted home of Belfast.

Alan Dein meets Zimbabwean musician and political refugee Wilson Magwere as he carves out a life in his adopted home of Belfast, a city with its own set of political complexities.

It was a chance encounter with the President himself which saw Zimbabwean musician, Wilson Magwere, become a well rewarded propagandist for Robert Mugabe's regime. While he and his fellow musicians from the band Storm were asked to perform at pro-government rallies and events, all around them they witnessed their friends, neighbours and family members suffer at the hands of the same repressive regime. It was soon too much for Wilson to bear. Leaving his wife and baby daughter behind in Harare, he ran away from the band, from Mugabe and from Zimbabwe. Eight years later, he has found himself living alone in Belfast, a city synonymous with its own set of political complexities. There he continues to wait for his political refugee status to be reviewed and prays that one day his wife and child will be able to join him. But for now Wilson has been trying to make a success of 'Magwere,' the new band he's formed with a disparate group of Belfast based musicians hailing from a hotchpotch of different countries around the world. Alan Dein meets Wilson as he attempts to carve out a life for himself in Belfast and Magwere prepare for their next big gig. 

Producer: Conor Garrett.

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