First Lady hailed for world-class projects

Herald Reporters
First Lady Amai Grace Mugabe’s philanthropic projects in Mazowe are incomparable and of world class, visiting Ghana former First Lady Nana Konadu Agyeman-Rawlings has said.
Mrs Rawlings made the remarks yesterday after touring the Grace Mugabe Children’s Home and primary school and the Gushungo Dairy farm in Mazowe.

Mrs Rawlings, husband Jerry and children were in Zimbabwe to attend Bona Mugabe and Simba Chikore’s wedding over the weekend.

She said although she was carrying out a number of empowering projects back home, she found Amai Mugabe’s projects incredible.

“What I have seen here is phenomenal,” Mrs Rawlings said. “I use a multi-faceted approach in empowering women and in empowering women, children also come along.

“So, they do their education, but there is nothing like this. I have little schools taking 50-100 children with two or three classrooms, but this shows a lot of vision.”

Mrs Rawlings said it needed passion and patriotism for one to fully serve his or her country.

“My sister (Amai Mugabe) has passion and if you don’t have support along the way it is very frustrating,” she said.

“Yes, the Chinese helped you, but without your passion and your ideas you will not have realised this vision. I just plead to you to support my sister. I will support my sister, the First Lady of this country to achieve what is in her interest.

“As the first ladies we don’t just sit and enjoy our lives. We move into the rural areas. We move around to see what we can do to make things better in Zimbabwe and Ghana.”

Turning to Bona’s wedding, Mrs Rawlings said: “We really appreciate the invitation to come to Bona’s wedding. When we looked at our time table, my husband said it is tight, but I said I will go. At the last minute he said no, I cannot do this to my friend President Robert Mugabe.”

Amai Mugabe explained to Mrs Rawlings how she mooted the philanthropic projects after acquiring a farm under the land reform programme.

“The farm was allocated to my Trust, the Grace Mugabe Foundation and I had the idea that if I get a farm, I would accommodate abandoned children and if there is space, do a school for them,” she said.

“We wanted to do 75 houses for the Children’s Home, but we stopped at 30 and it is not an orphanage, but home for our children. We want to make them grow and become self–reliant.”

She revealed her plans to set up a secondary school, skills training centre, a hospital and eventually a university.

“It is not easy here, especially with the caregivers,” said Amai Mugabe. “They think that being the First Lady you have lots of money. It is not easy to put the money and resources, but one day we will be able to pay them much more than they are getting.

“We depend mostly on donations both in kind and in cash. I found out that Zimbabweans are so infatuated with education and that is why I decided to set up a school and make parents from outside bring their children. That way we get money to keep us going.”

Amai Mugabe added: “As a way of appreciating the Chinese who constructed this school, I said Chinese would be taught at this school and that has been happening.”

The Amai Mugabe Junior School has an enrolment of 135 children from the initial 74 at inception in January last year.

The children’s home has 74 children, six of whom were temporarily brought in by the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services, while their mothers serve their jail terms.