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Post Correspondent
A MUTARE-BASED charitable organisation, Dave Munos Foundation (DMF), yesterday (Wednesday) commemorated Africa Day by doubling its usual monthly donations to Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital in Mutare.
The Foundation donated 105 chickens and 20x15kgs pockets of potatoes valued at US$1 000 as part of its monthly chicken diet supplementary programme at Manicaland’s major referral hospital.
Dave Munos Foundation has been running the programme since January last year, donating chickens to help supplement the protein diet for patients admitted at the hospital.
This was done in solidarity with the 2022 Africa Day annual commemorations which ran under the theme: “Strengthening resilience in nutrition and food security on the African continent: Strengthening agro-food systems, health and social protection systems for the acceleration of human, social and economic capital development.”
In a speech read on his behalf by Mutare journalist, Ngoni Dapira, the founder of the Foundation, Mr David Munowenyu, a Mutare-born and bred businessman who is now based in South Africa, said they decided to double their donation on Africa Day in the spirit of ubuntu (togetherness).
“In the spirit of individual sacrifice for the common good, we must simply do our best to help grow our continent and empower each other as Africans. As Dave Munos Foundation, we decided to focus on our public hospitals and help supplement the protein diet for patients in support of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2, which aims to “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture,” said Mr Munowenyu.
Given the severe socio-economic impact of the ongoing global Covid-19 pandemic, public health institutions like the Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital which has the capacity to house 250 patients have been grappling to provide extra protein diets such as chickens, which are now considered as luxury meals despite their nutritional benefits.
Mr Munowenyu, however, said for the African Renaissance vision to be a reality, it entails having more African philanthropists.
“We hope to get more stakeholders involved as people hospitalised in our public hospitals are our brothers and sisters. Our public hospitals are grappling to provide medication, what more of decent, nutritious meals given the limited fiscal budget allocations given to the health sector. We need more African philanthropists to help our country and continent out of the doldrums,” he said.
Victoria Chitepo Hospital dietician, Ms Naome Chigonga thanked the Foundation for its continued support and urged more charitable organisations to support such initiatives.
“We are thankful for the continued support by the Dave Munos Foundation. The chicken diet supplementary programme is helping us a lot because chicken is an important supplementary diet, which unfortunately has become unaffordable at the moment to constantly provide for patients,” she said.
The programme, which was initiated in January last year, started in partnership with the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) Mutare Remand.
The Foundation donated capital goods to start a poultry rehabilitation programme for inmates at the remand home as a career skills training programme to help the therapy process of inmates while serving their sentence in prison.
The Foundation then buys the chickens reared by the inmates and donates to the hospital.
The Foundation also started buying chickens from small-scale poultry farmers to support small businesses in the community.
Since 2018, the DMF has also been donating occasionally to Leratto Childrens’ Home in Weirmouth, Zororai Old People’s Home in Sakubva and Zimbabwe New Hope Old People’s Home in Gatsi, Honde Valley.
Online Reporter