WHY WE LEFT THE GHETTO : CHARAMBAs

Mai Charamba with the children Pastor Charles Charamba has revealed that they had to move out of the ghetto because of security concer...

Mai Charamba with the children

Pastor Charles Charamba has revealed that they had to move out of the ghetto because of security concerns as well as the need for more space.

“Our music did well and we thank God that he blessed our careers in the very first days. We bought a big set of music equipment. It was actually bigger than most sets that were being used by established artistes.

“Unfortunately, we became a target of burglars because of the equipment. We moved from St Mary’s to Zengeza and we faced the same problem. Every time we returned from shows and offloaded the equipment the attention we attracted was overwhelming.

“It was in 2001, when we were working on our album ‘Exodus’, that a miracle happened. Someone heard that we were looking for a house to buy and offered assistance. We never thought we could get a house in Gunhill.

“Our budget targeted other areas. Through that person’s assistance, we managed to acquire our Gunhill house where we have been staying since then. We saw God’s hand in all this,” he told the Herald.

The four-bedroomed house has been extended to include the Fishers of Men Studio where they now record their music. They have been recording music in this fully-equipped studio since they did the album “Pashoko Pangoma”.

“We did not choose a glittering life. We are investing in other things that will make a bright future for our children. There is nothing wrong with driving posh cars. There are facets of showbiz that call for such assets, but we just chose a different route. We are not saying we will never drive posh cars. It is just a decision we have made, for now, to focus on other investments.”

The Charambas have a farm in Goromonzi where they mainly specialise in livestock. “We go there once every week. We have cattle and poultry projects. We are also starting to keep Boer goats and we do a bit of crop farming.”

The family have a Nissan Teana, Toyota Estima, Toyota Hiace and Toyota Dyna.

The Charambas were blessed with five children. They have daughters namely Shalom (21), Eternity (17) and Tagamuchira (13) and two boys, Timikudze (10) and Aveneni (8)