Papers, Please: Canon Collins 2026 Essay Shortlisted Finalist

This piece was a shortlisted finalist for the Canon Collins 2026 essay competition. The annual competition invites essays that demonstrate thought leadership and offer fresh perspectives on issues affecting southern Africa. Some of my earliest memories are not of places but of words. One of those words was kwerekwere. I heard it long before I understood it. It drifted through school corridors and playground conversations, sometimes wrapped in laughter, sometimes sharpened into an insult. As a…