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Tendai Rupapa
Senior Reporter
First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa is reviving the culture of safeguarding the dignity of youths and promoting morality through a nationwide campaign that kicks off at the weekend.
Running under the title, “Dzidziso yaAmai munhanga/mugota/ixhiba yevachirikuyaruka”, the initiative is a brainchild of the First Lady that seeks to revisit the cultural norms and values that help retain and restore the dignity of youths who now face a serious threat from foreign influences through globalisation. The initiative draws largely from the traditional African setup where girls and boys were equipped with morals and values at a nhanga, gota and ixhiba, aimed at ensuring that children grow up morally upright.
Youths have been exposed to early marriages, drug abuse and unwanted pregnancies, among other vices.
The inaugural event will take-off in Masvingo Province this weekend, before it is rolled out to other provinces. Effectively, the initiative is a concept that will work for teenage girls and boys, imparting vital knowledge that helps youths overcome peer pressure.
Working with wives of traditional chiefs and renowned cultural experts, the First Lady’s nationwide educational tour will be a critical platform for vital knowledge exchange to rebuild values that identify and resonate with the Zimbabwean culture.
The concept incorporates traditional values through working with spouses of chiefs as well as cultural experts who will help redefine the Hunhu/Ubuntu principles.
The concept will be rolled out to every corner of the country as the mother of the nation spearheads a campaign to protect the country’s future generation, helping build a responsible youth dividend.
It was the role of grandparents, aunties and uncles to advise both boys and girls as they grew up to ensure they developed into responsible adults. However, the system collapsed due to urbanisation which also affected the extended family system as people now live separately and no longer visit each other regularly.
The First Lady’s initiative is a practical and compassionate effort to rescue children from the moral decay associated with drug abuse, intra-child abuse, unwanted pregnancies, baby dumping, disobedience and rebelliousness, abortion, negative influences from social media and juvenile delinquency, among other social ills.
Newspapers and social media platforms are awash with stories, pictures and videos of schoolchildren performing lurid acts, which fall in the category of issues that are discouraged in the nhanga, gota and ixhiba concept.
Dzidziso yaAmai seeks to engage and teach primary, secondary and high school students in order to produce morally wholesome children for the nation.
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