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Tendai Rupapa in Mhondoro-Ngezi
HEALTH ambassador First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa yesterday fed close to 2 000 children from Early Childhood Development (ECD) A to Grade Three through her school feeding programme in Mhondoro Ngezi and officially opened four classroom blocks at Turf Primary School.
The classroom blocks were built with assistance from the School Development Committee, the community and the local leadership.
Through her Angel of Hope Foundation and its partners, Dr Mnangagwa brought reusable pads, soap and foodstuffs which she gave to 500 girls in Grades Four to Seven.
Traditional chiefs and the elderly received blankets and food hampers that comprised rice, sugar, cooking oil, salt, sugar beans, flour and maize-meal.
Also everyone present was given maize-meal, courtesy of the Angel of Hope Foundation.
For schools, Amai Mnangagwa through her foundation donated maize-meal, rice and noodles for continuation of the feeding programme.
In addition she donated stationery to the schoolchildren.
Dr Mnangagwa also held an interactive session with the community touching on the whole family setup promoting good morals, fighting child marriages and drug abuse among many other social ills.
The mother of the nation humbly requested Zimbabweans to observe peace and vote President ED Mnangagwa and Zanu PF in the forthcoming harmonised elections slated for August 23.
The school feeding event attracted a Namibian delegation which is in the country for the Mashonaland West Agricultural Show.
Mashonaland West Province has a bilateral memorandum of understanding with Kavango East in Namibia.
The Namibians showed interest in replicating the First Lady’s feeding programme in their home country.
Amai Mnangagwa was joined by other women from the community to prepare healthy food and feed the children an array of dishes including rice in peanut butter, sadza, beef stew, dried vegetables in peanut butter, tripe, chicken, vegetables, salad, water and Maheu.
Dr Mnangagwa said she was happy dishing healthy food to the children and thanked women from the community who helped her prepare the sumptuous dishes.
“I am happy to be here today and for spending the day giving our children healthy food. I thank mothers who came so that we could cook for our children showing that you are in support of feeding our children healthy food and monitoring their eating habits and also that of the whole family.
“We gave the children a variety of vegetables, beans, sadza, rice in peanut butter, chicken, beef and that is why I am saying as women please join Agric4She and do Livestock4She, rearing chickens, goats, cattle and growing crops to feed the family. It is essential that every woman has a granary at home where they store a variety of crops. Healthy eating keeps diseases at bay,” she said.
The First Lady also spelt out the need for couples to assist one another in looking after their families.
“We want women who assist their husbands in looking after their families and do not spend time gossiping. We say no to parents who frown when their child is counselled by others because a child belongs to the whole community.
“If someone corrects your child, that person means good for your family. I was gratified when our children from IYASA brought out through a play the effects of drugs. In my travels around the country, I heard that there were some women who are making cakes and scones laced with drugs and selling these to children.
“Is that good? You are destroying the children’s future yet we are supposed to protect them as parents. Let us be the police in our communities and report all the bad things we see happening. You should also police yourselves and stay away from bad things,” she said to applause.
The mother of the nation said parents must have time with their children, especially after school so that they monitor them closely.
“As parents, let’s have time with our children especially when they come from school and check their books. We must not leave everything to teachers, but we must help them in raising our children in the proper manner and training them the value of education.
“If we do not do this, that is when we start seeing girls falling pregnant before the time is ripe. Let us take our positions as mothers while vanababa speak to boys so that we do not hear issues of drug and substance abuse. But as wives and husbands, how are you living in the homes? Where is the violence coming from? If there is violence in the home, it is the children who will suffer so let us do good for the benefit of our children. We are our children’s role models and they copy from us. No one is perfect but gatherings like these make us teach one another the correct way of living,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa said people must not fight ahead of elections slated for August 23, but work together for the good of the nation.
“With the forthcoming elections, it would be a puzzle when people get to the extent of fighting. Why pelt each other with missiles when we are gracefully co-existing like this. We should never fight because of elections.
“We must grow up in terms of politics and national governance. We should always maintain peace. When election day comes, let us go and vote in our numbers peacefully. Be part of the voters and not to wait for results when you would not have voted,” she said.
Honourable Victoria Mbawo Kauma, a Member of Parliament and vice chairperson of the national council who is also the councillor for Rundu Urban constituency in Kavango East Region in Namibia could not hide her excitement and said she would definitely ensure the programme was replicated in her home country.
“My visit here is a very great opportunity because we have a twinning arrangement with Mashonaland West Province. I had the opportunity to come here to join the First Lady in her school feeding programme. We heard that she is having a feeding programme and we chose to come and join her in this noble cause. It is a very good opportunity and the programme is very nice because we learnt a lot. It is a lesson to me as a constituency councillor to see the First Lady feeding 1 600 learners so that they have healthy food in their stomachs. It is a well thought-out programme by the First Lady that I will take to my country. We will share with our leadership that this is a very good thing that the First Lady of Zimbabwe is doing. We appreciate and thank her for this kind of love. I am very happy to be here,” she said.
Chaplain Christine Phiri from the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service hammered on the First Lady’s teachings stressing the need for children to shun drugs and early marriages, saying they must put their education above everything else.
“Our mother has said children must eat well cooked healthy food but we have a challenge with some children who are taking drugs. Our mother is saying children must eat well and after that they then pass in school, isn’t it so? When our children pass, they make good where we failed and make us proud. But now the children are being hit by drugs.
“Let me tell you young people, Amai is saying you are destroying your future. You are the leaders of tomorrow. The girls on the other hand are now after goodies like they are carrier bags having love relationships with old men.
Our mother through her Angel of Hope Foundation is busy paying fees for vulnerable children. She is busy giving sanitary pads for the girls not to be troubled and focus on their studies but the girls will be serious running after men when they are still in school. Our mother the First Lady is saying do not rush to get married. Amai is saying wait for time, it will come. When you eat well and healthy your brains will be in the correct place for you to learn well. Pursue your education up to university level,” she said.
Chaplain Phiri decried that cases of drug abuse where also now affecting men, resulting in them reneging on their duties as heads of households.
She touched on income generating projects being spearheaded by the First Lady and encouraged women to embrace them for the good of their families and the nation.
Evangelist Nelly Gwatidzo highlighted the need for married women to be submissive to their husbands and respect their inlaws.
She encouraged women to sow the seeds of love everywhere they go.
“Amai vana baba are complaining that your daughters do not respect them and their relatives. We were so lucky as a nation to be given a concerned mother who gathers boys, girls, mothers and fathers to hear their challenges and find solutions as a mother. Our mother is always teaching us to respect our in-laws and our husbands. Men also said they are being shouted at in the homes by their wives where they are spoken to like little children.
Amai is saying madzimai vana baba need respect as heads of households,” she said.
Mashonaland West Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Mary Mliswa Chikoka thanked the First Lady for her benevolence.
“Amai we are happy for your coming here to Mhondoro-Ngezi. We are also joined by Namibian delegation who are in the country in fulfillment of the MOU signed by Namibia and Zimbabwe particularly Mashonaland West and Kavango.
“We are exchanging notes in farming and they are grateful for the lessons they are learning from Zimbabwe which are increasing their yields. We want to thank you Amai for commissioning our school blocks and feeding our children which enhances the children’s health and ensure they do not abscond from school,” she said.
A grade Seven learner, Jacqueline Mahembe, thanked the First Lady for giving them reusable sanitary pads and for the gifts she gave to the elderly.
“I thank our mother for what she has done today. The elderly were struggling without blankets in this cold weather. These elders are mostly being neglected by their children but they can no longer work on their own but Amai has remembered them.
“Her love is unmatched and I am lost for words. Some girls were also failing to attend school during their monthly cycles as boys would laugh at them when they spoil their uniforms due to lack of proper sanitary pads. All that has been done here shows that our mother has great love for the people,” she said.
Sekuru Admire Njanji thanked the First Lady for remembering him and his peers in this cold weather.
“Our mother has done something that is very great. She gave me and other elderly men and women some blankets to beat this cold weather. Most elderly people also did not have food and are facing many health challenges because of their advanced ages. It can only be God who is doing these great things through the First Lady,” he said.
Similar words were echoed by Gogo Tracy Muvirima who said she was touched by the First Lady’s humility and kind heart.
“The First Lady is a very caring mother and she teaches families from the bottom of her heart. Subjects like drug abuse and child marriages which she hammered on are quite pertinent because we are facing these challenges everyday. I personally wish her more strength to continue with her successful programmes with which she is touching many lives,” she said with a broad smile.
Online Reporter