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Yesterday we ran two stories of communities taking matters into their own hands and spearheading development in their areas. This is the spirit that Zimbabweans should exude, taking charge of their own situations and not waiting for someone from somewhere to come and provide solutions to their challenges.
Villagers from Insiza North’s Amazon resettlement area have embarked on an ambitious project to build a primary school. The villagers resolved that each family in the resettlement area should contribute a bag of cement and help in moulding bricks.
The villagers have since completed building two classroom blocks, which were finished late last year.
A block of 10 squat toilets for pupils and two for members of staff have also been completed while work on another block of toilets is under way.
Insiza North villagers have shown great vision and are initiating development on their own. We should commend and encourage such resourcefulness by our people because none but ourselves can drive the development of our areas. Fine the Government and other partners such as local authorities are supposed to be leading the process but there is everything to gain if people take the responsibility to develop their areas.
The Government and other partners would then complement the efforts of the villagers. Given the financial constraints facing our country and the Government itself, it requires enterprising communities such as the villagers from the Amazon resettlement area in Insiza North to trigger development.
After realising that their children were learning under squalid conditions, the community decided not to wait for the Government to build a school in the area.
The enthusiasm of the people of Amazon is amazing as they have set themselves a target of completing building the school as soon as possible.
Having initiated the project, the villagers have been able to get assistance from the Constituency Development Fund, a Government programme under which each constituency is allocated money for development programmes.
A local donor organisation Zimbabwe Project Trust has also chipped in with roofing material and assisted in building the toilet block.
We bet the progress the Amazon community has made towards their goal of putting up a school for their children would not have been possible if they had solely relied on the CDF money or waited for donors to come to their rescue.
This is what distinguishes us as Zimbabweans, we are a hard working people committed to improving our own lives and not wait to be spoon-fed.
We urge other people in the resettlement and communal areas to emulate the people of Amazon in Insiza North. The Government is currently hamstrung by financial constraints and will find it difficult to carry the burden of providing schools and other social amenities. The people of Amazon realised that they could not continue to wait for Government while their children learn under deplorable conditions.
Another good example of people taking charge of their own situations is the Siabuwa Development Trust which has embarked on a development project that is expected to result in the transformation of the Siabuwa rural service centre in Binga district to a town by 2020.
It sounds quite ambitious but where there is a will there is a way.
The trust was also mooted by people of Siabuwa who are keen to develop and industrialise their area and create employment for the local people so that they are empowered.
We hail these two communities in Amazon in Matabeleland South and Siabuwa in Matabeleland North.
We urge the communities to remain united as they have so far shown and their aspirations will be fulfilled through hard work and inventiveness.
Online Reporter
derick.khumalo