First Lady, Zivhu donate

From George Maponga in CHIVI

First Lady Dr Grace Mugabe has donated school uniforms and shoes to 500 schoolchildren in Chivi South, bringing to 2 500 the number of vulnerable primary and secondary school pupils in the constituency who have benefited from her benevolence over the past few months. The donation by the First Lady was supported by Chivi Rural District Council chair Councillor Killer Zivhu who also donated four tonnes of maize-meal to the elderly, orphans and schoolchildren to mitigate crippling food shortages in the arid district.

Speaking at the handover of uniforms and shoes donated by the First Lady at his homestead in Zunga Village, Chivi South, Clr Zivhu paid tribute to the First Family for their readiness to always assist the people of Chivi South.

Clr Zivhu said Zimbabweans were supposed to continue rallying behind Dr Mugabe because of her relentless desire to improve the welfare of vulnerable members of the society in Zimbabwe.

“I fee humbled that every time I approach the First Lady’s office asking for donations, especially clothes, uniforms and shoes for orphans and other disadvantaged young people, the First Lady always opens her doors to assist people from this area and we must indeed applaud her for her love and commitment to improve the welfare of vulnerable young people,’’ he said.

‘’Dr Mugabe continues to demonstrate that she is the mother of our nation by continuously providing assistance to those in need. We will continue to knock at her door asking for assistance because we know she has the people of Chivi at heart. We also want to thank President Mugabe for continuing to lend a supporting hand to the First Lady to enable her to continue with her charity work that has so far improved livelihoods of thousands of people across the country.’’

Among the schoolchildren who received uniforms and shoes donated by the First Lady were pupils from Zunga Primary and Neruvanga Secondary School in Chivi South.

Clr Zivhu sourced maize-meal, with 400 villagers and school children in Chivi South each taking home a 10kg bag to avert hunger in the wake of the prevailing food shortages.

‘’We will continue to expand our programme to distribute maize-meal in Chivi South to cover remote areas like Shindi on the border with Mwenezi because we want our people to put food on the table. My drive to assist orphans and the elderly is inspired by my own upbringing and I am glad that God continues to give the power and will to assist others.

‘’I get the inspiration to assist those in need from President Mugabe who has repeatedly challenged us that we must make sure that no one starves to death in any party of the country despite the prevailing food shortages caused by drought,’’ said Cllr Zivhu.

Those who received 10kg bags of maize-meal were drawn from Imbayago, Museva, Vurayayi and Jenjere villages.

The Chivi council chair also launched an ambitious water melons production project which will initially benefit 500 women in Chivi South.

Clr Zivhu said he had already sourced water melon seed from South Africa adding that the crop would bring income to villagers and also improve their diet.

‘’We have also imported a special type of containers which beneficiaries of the water melons project will use to draw water to irrigate their crop. Water melons can thrive in arid and low rainfall-receiving regions and it is our expectation that upon harvest the farmers will be able to raise money to send their children to school,’’ he said.

He has already drilled two boreholes near his homestead to enable villagers to draw water for their water melons growing venture while water harvesting courses have been introduced in the area to equip villagers with water conservation techniques.

Several small dams in Chivi South are also undergoing desiltation after Clr Zivhu procured equipment for the project that seeks to improve food self-sufficiency in the constituency in line with village Zim-Asset.

Villagers and school children from Chivi South thanked Clr Zivhu for his selflessness which has seen him empowering them through introduction of money-spinning ventures such as fish breeding and drip irrigation.