'A New Life': An Activist Comes Home To Zimbabwe, Hoping To Hold Leaders Accountable

Savanna Madamombe's life is very different than it was a year ago.

Originally from just outside Zimbabwe's capital Harare, Madamombe moved to Manhattan in 2000, where she worked in hotels and restaurants — and watched from afar as her country slowly crumbled under the authoritarian rule of President Robert Mugabe. She felt helpless, like she didn't even recognize Zimbabwe anymore.

So she got on Facebook and started speaking out, talking to other members of the Zimbabwean diaspora. She organized protests with hundreds of people when Mugabe visited the United Nations last year. And she live-streamed all of it on social media.

All of this meant that it was too risky to return to Zimbabwe to see her family while Mugabe was in power. Under Mugabe, who ruled to snuff out dissent, rights groups say. Law enforcement violently crushed peaceful protests and arrested opposition activists. Prominent critics were beaten and .