A woman of substance: MaGolide’s selfless service

LIKE Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic saint and Nobel laureate known for her missionary work with the poor in India, a Bulawayo businesswoman-cum philanthropist Ms Sazini Tshuma, has founded an organisation that caters for the less privileged members of society.

Inspired by Mother Teresa, Ms Tshuma formed MaGolide Omuhle in July last year and the organisation takes care of 45 people comprising orphans, people living with disabilities, the mentally challenged, and the elderly.

Mother Teresa’s life story taught many people that you don’t have to be rich to be generous but just the richness of love and a sense of caring and justice.

Following in her footsteps, Ms Tshuma said she was inspired to start the project after seeing increasing numbers of people in abject poverty.

Without sharing much information about her upbringing, Ms Tshuma said helping the needy is a gesture that warms her heart.

“I was born from a poor background in St Peter’s, which is just on the periphery of the city of Bulawayo. It’s an impoverished community and there is serious hunger there,” she said.

“Since I managed to attain education and got myself out of that situation, I have always felt the need to assist other community members there. It started when I assisted a mentally challenged man, whom I went to school with. He barely would eat and that is when I decided to help him.”

Ms Tshuma said that is when she later discovered that there was a large community that needed assistance.

“I also noticed that we have the elderly who have been neglected by their children who stay outside the country. They need someone to look after them and provide them with food,” she said.

“Some people were relocated here from Ngozi mine and they say life is hard here because they can barely make ends meet.”

Ms Tshuma said while her organisation has partners and well-wishers, there is a need for more inclusiveness from local stakeholders to assist the St Peter’s community.

“It is not easy and we feed them once every day, which is not enough. Some of these people are on anti-retroviral therapy and are struggling to adhere to medication because they barely eat,” she said.

Ms Tshuma said she also provides the group with clothes.

“I need more donors and well-wishers to help us with food so that we feed them. We have a lot of people who need help in my community and it hurts me when I fail to cater for all of them as I fund the project on my own,” she said.

Ms Tshuma said she only caters for those that are unable to fend for themselves.

“I only look after those that are incapable of fending for themselves. Those that are able-bodied are encouraged to go out there and seek employment,” she said.

Ms Tshuma who is a fashion designer by profession, hopes to make a change, especially among women.

“I think women should stand up and start small businesses and just rely on men all the time. We have rising numbers of suicide cases among women and this is caused by dependency syndrome,” she said.

“Once women realise that they too can play an important and meaningful role and contribute to the country’s economic growth, then we will be able to achieve an empowered upper-middle income society by 2030.”

Ms Tshuma urged Government to empower women, by providing them with land for farming.

“They can assist in the economic development of the country through farming initiatives. They can also ensure that the country is well stocked with food reserves, especially in scenarios such as this El Nino drought phenomenon,” she said.

“We are celebrating Women’s Month and I would like to encourage women to respect themselves and their peers. Let’s change and drive towards development and equal opportunities. Let us also support each other emotionally and physically.”