Music by Prudence Trailer (2010)

Trailer for the documentary Music by Prudence.

Born with arthrogryposis, a disorder that affects the joints, Prudence Mabhena suffered as a child in her native Zimbabwe, where disabled children are commonly believed to be the result of witchcraft and often neglected or disowned. She was abandoned by her parents and raised by her maternal grandmother until the age of seven when she was sent to live with her father and his new wife. Lacking money for her education, Prudence was kept home, belittled and neglected by her father and stepmother for two years. Yet fortune smiled on Prudence when she received a scholarship to the King George VI School & Centre for Children with Physical Disabilities .There she found acceptance from caregivers and disabled students alike. Soon she was singing, writing and composing music for Liyana, an Afro-fusion musical group she founded with seven classmates - Farai Mabhande, Energy Maburutse, Marvelous Mbulo, Honest Mupatse, Tapiwa Nyengera, Goodwell Nzou and Vusani Vuma, all who live with physical disabilities ranging from muscular dystrophy to hemophilia. Liyana means "it's raining" in Ndebele, the language of an agricultural society that views rain as a blessing from God.