Thirty years ago, my grandfather, the first person in my family to have acquired university level education, came to England to work for the Angolan Embassy. In doing so, he opened doors and created opportunities for my mother, and now myself, to have a high-quality education.

Following on from the ‘Proud to Be’ assembly, I would like to share with you and inform you on my Zimbabwean heritage. Zimbabwe is a country in the South of Africa typically known for its beautiful landscape and wildlife. The main languages spoken in Zimbabwe are English, Shona and Ndebele but there are 16 different official Zimbabwean languages. The name “Zimbabwe” itself, stems from a Shona term for Great Zimbabwe, a medieval city named Masvingo whose remains are now a protected site in Zimbabwe. “Zimbabwe” derives from dzimba-dza-mabwe, translated from the Karanga dialect of Shona as “houses of stones”.

Sometimes, it’s all too easy to fall silent. But when the discussion strays into issues of injustice, when we hesitate to voice our concerns for fear of conflict, or we silence the questions we are uncomfortable to hear, we lose sight of what’s most important: the power of speaking up. It is precisely that strength of character and unapologetic commitment to equality that earned Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie worldwide recognition for her championship of feminism and human rights.

‘I understand the horror of what I am going to do; but anger, the spring of all life’s horror, masters my resolve.’ – Medea, from the play Medea, deciding to kill her own children. Horrified? That was exactly the response of the original audience over 2500 years ago – when it was first performed in competition, Euripides’ Medea came last.

The tales of King Arthur and his knights have been a favourite for many over thousands of years and have been reworked and re-interpreted by multiple different groups and cultures. Thought to have originated as Celtic, Welsh, and Irish legends, Arthur appears as either a great warrior defending Britain from both human and supernatural enemies, or as a magical figure of folklore. Though the tale was well-known, the story’s international popularity largely came from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the King of Britain), Thomas Malory’s Morte d’Arthur and most importantly Lord Alfred Tennyson’s poems.