Chronicle Editor
Flora Fadzai Sibanda
GOGO Anna Makone (96) said this year’s Mother’s Day celebration was the best she has had in such a long time because not only did she get time to celebrate the day with love but also got to spend the day with more than 100 mothers from different backgrounds and celebrated with them in a special way.
She was one of the mothers who celebrated Mother’s Day at Mpala Events and Conference Centre where mothers were given the best treat of their life as a way of celebrating the special day.
While nodding her head as old music played in the background, Gogo Makone said she has always been hearing about Mother’s Day celebration but had never celebrated with other women at one place.
The mother of nine children, although two are late, 19 grandchildren and 13 great grandchildren said she was happy her children had all decided to give her this treat so she could feel appreciated and spend the day with other women.
She said; “Being a mother is very easy. You just need to raise your children with love and respect so that they can know between right and wrong. Once that is done it becomes easy to have a warm home. Today is special because all mothers who are raising their children are all being celebrated and appreciated.”
The day started with the beautiful women being chauffeured by two black and white shiny limousines which brought them all in style to the venue where a red carpet awaited the women before they moved on to a photo-shoot at flower booth where a Mother’s Day message had been displayed.
Before taking their seats at a garden outside the venue where the big celebration was taking place the mothers were served cocktails and light snacks which were meant to tinge their taste buds in preparation for the big day which was ahead of or the big day ahead of them.
Many seemed to like entertainment that was offered by KAISA dance group as some occasionally stood up and challenged the group with their own dance moves, as if the dance group was not entertaining enough sound offered by All Events DJs tingled the mothers in the right places especially the old grannies who seemed to be enjoying the old school music that was being played and the master of ceremony Vicky had done her homework because not even a single song passed by without her singing along and dancing the correct dance moves.
After moving into the main venue, the room was filled with loud cheers and ululations as mothers from different ages all came together, some hugging each other to show they remembered each other from last year’s celebration.
Lunch was served while different speakers ranging from doctors, motivational speakers and lawyers had heart to heart talks with the women.
To cap it all they all received special gifts from Impala with treats inside.
As the Chronicle was doing a snap survey of the place, they learnt that as a way of celebrating even the less fortunate mothers in society Impala events picked four women who are vendors and they were all given a free treat for Mother’s Day.
One of the women, Mrs Queen Musariru, said she was a vendor along 6th Avenue in Bulawayo and was surprised when one of the Mpala staff members approached her and told her she was invited to yesterday’s celebration.
“I did not believe it at first as l thought it was a prank and my friends had advised me against coming as they all said l will be embarrassed. But l am glad l got a chance to be here and this experience also gave me a chance to release that there is life outside being vendor and women spend their money just to enjoy themselves. I hope my four children grow up to be able to give me such treats in life. I am really grateful to Mpala l hope they invite me again next year,” she said.
The guest also got to spend the day with gogo Dube-Noku who is the mother to the owner of Mpala events and she said she is happy her daughter and her siblings are spreading the love they got to their people.
She said each year it warms her heart when the Mother’s Day event is held and women from different areas are all brought to one place.
On Saturday Mpala events had an early Mother’s Day celebration at Ekuphumuleni Gastriatic home and at Queen Mary Home where the women who live there were treated with tea and lunch as a way of showing them, they have not been forgotten because they live at home.
One of the event coordinators at Mpala Events Ms Melokuhle Ndlovu said all the Mother’s Day events they held during this weekend were a celebration to the women who all bring life in the world and to remind them how special they are.
She said she is happy all the events were a success and the important people of the day were all impressed with their services.
“This last weekend more than 200 mothers were all treated with love including the ones at the homes. We are happy we were able to make his Mother’s Day special to so many mothers and we are looking forward to doing so next year again,” said Ms Ndlovu.
@flora_sibanda
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