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Tendai Rupapa in KIGALI, Rwanda
EFFORTS by First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa to mitigate the effects of climate change, empower women and curb gender-based violence (GBV) through her 575 toll-free centre, earned her plaudits on the sidelines of the Kigali Global Dialogue 3 underway in Rwanda.
This comes as the world is warming up to traditional grains which, apart from possessing high nutritional and medicinal value, are also tolerant to drought and other adverse weather conditions.
Dr Mnangagwa has been spearheading the production of traditional grains by providing seeds, participating in the planting and harvesting as well as promoting consumption of traditional grains.
Last month, she held a regional traditional meal cookout competition which attracted participants from the SADC region and beyond where traditional grains dominated the dishes.
The First Lady, a champion of girl child and women empowerment, on Tuesday had a heart-to-heart discussion with Mrs Susana Malcorra, president of Global Women Leaders (GWL) voices, an advocacy group of multilateralism and gender equality.
She is also the former Foreign Affairs Minister of Argentina.
Amai Mnangagwa also met with Mr Ozonnia Ojielo, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Rwanda who paid her a courtesy call and paid glowing tribute to the work she is doing through her Angel of Hope Foundation.
During the seperate meetings, the two highlighted that the work the First Lady is doing, is not just impacting women and girls in Zimbabwe, but cutting across the divide regionally, continentally and globally.
Mrs Malcorra said empowerment of girls and women through the First Lady’s national GBV centre, the 575 call line is not just a good example for Zimbabwe, but she should export it to the region because GBV is a topical issue within the region.
They spoke about Dr Mnangagwa’s drive for the girl child and women to return to school and earn life skills to be able to fend for themselves and personally contribute to the development of the country’s economy.
Speaking to journalists afterwards, Mrs Malcorra enthused: “We discussed matters related to women and women empowerment. She explained to me her projects which I have been following closely; her efforts to bring girls and women back to school. We talked about Covid-19 and how it affected the girl child and women, how significant is education which enhances the possibility of women empowerment and that means freedom,” she said.
She commended the First
Lady’s efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change which is a threat to all countries of the world.
“We talked about the efforts she makes towards mitigating the effects of climate change to traditional ways of cooking that women can keep and that is so significant these days when crops are being affected by climate change. Traditional crops are the way to go if we are really to move forward. She is against all forms of gender based violence against women. We applaud her for that. Our group also focuses on the same to double the voices, work and advocate, so we have a very good connection with the First Lady,” she said.
Mrs Malcorra said her organisation had strong plans to work with Dr Mnangagwa’s trailblazing Angel of Hope Foundation, through which she has made a significant difference in the lives of most people.
“We have overall, discussed matters that can be done at the level of the United Nations. We are very operational at the United Nations so we have already some ideas in that regard. I implored her to take the programmes she is implementing in Zimbabwe to the United Nations General Assembly to inspire others and we will go about supporting her to bring that story to the United Nations,” she said.
Dr Mnangagwa thanked the organisers of the Kigali Global dialogue for inviting her to the conference where she was able to highlight the work that she was doing back home.
“I have had so many partners willing to work with the Angel of Hope that have come to me for meetings and listening to what I am doing which has brought a lot of interest in these representatives from other countries. The most topical one was the regional cookout competition that I recently held and promotion of traditional grains which I started earlier on as a pilot project working with the chiefs’ wives after I had given them seeds for them to cultivate in their fields. This led to the cookout that spread to other regional countries and others that are not in the Sadc region.
“Because of climate change that we are experiencing as the whole world, traditional grains have come in as a form of food security to many families and this has become a topical issue here in Kigali to promote traditional grains to mitigate the effects of climate change. People have now realized that what I am doing back home is not for Zimbabwe alone, but for the whole world because climate change is now everywhere. I urge all women around the globe to go into the fields and plant these traditional grains. Every woman must have a granary at home where we have these crops to avert hunger and it also brings food security,” she said.
Traditional grains, Dr Mnangagwa added, helped people recover quickly from ailments as they were nutricious and medicinal.
“As mothers we should encourage our children to consume this food. They start small, but in the end they will like it more,” she said.
Mr Hojielo described Zimbabwe as a country on his heart and paid glowing tribute to the work Dr Mnangagwa was doing for the country.
“Zimbabwe is a country on my heart. I first went to Zimbabwe in 2001. Since then, I have visited Zimbabwe twice so it is a real honour for me to meet the First Lady of Zimbabwe Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa. The First Lady is doing fantastic work through creating opportunities for girls, women and children and that is work in the context of Africa, in the context of Strategic Development Goals is work that we need to cherish and acknowledge. Many people do not have the opportunity to be able to transform their lives so when you have a champion like the First Lady, who is keen to provide the support, the skills, the facilities, the financing that enables the transformation of many people’s lives, is something we need to acknowledge. Not just to acknowledge, but to document and share and disseminate it widely but also to encourage her in that work because not all prominent people in our countries are doing the same kind of work,” he said.
Amai Mnangagwa partook in the millets themed dinner “Celebrating millets” where some of the food was prepared using traditional grains.
Online Reporter