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Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter
ZHOMBE has witnessed a massive drop in child marriages, domestic violence and juvenile delinquency due to First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa’s educative programmes that include Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba and Nharirire Yemusha programmes, traditional leaders in the farming and gold mining area have said.
The First Lady has been traversing the length and breadth of the country holding interactive sessions with communities in the search for a lasting solution to challenges affecting them including drug abuse, teen pregnancies, domestic violence and child marriages among many others.
Chief Weight Gwesela said his area of jurisdiction, Zhombe Joel Mission, had the highest number of child marriage cases which stood at 56 percent but the figure had dropped to 13 percent.
Amai Mnangagwa has also been visiting various places including hard to reach areas with her Angel of Hope Foundation’s mobile clinic and health experts to screen people for cancer and other non-communicable diseases so that they can be placed on treatment early to save lives.
The Zhombe chiefs and village heads said their community was faced with cases of women dying of cancer, but this will soon be a thing of the past as the First Lady, who is also the country’s health ambassador, has been rolling out cancer screening for women and men as well as other health checks in their area.
Chief Gwesela said his area of jurisdiction, Zhombe Joel Mission, had the highest number of child marriage cases which has however dropped with great hope of further reduction following the mother of the nation’s intervention.
Wherever she visits, Amai Mnangagwa holds a heart-to-heart interactive session with the community to address various social issues affecting them.
She is also on a mission to put a stop to child marriages and teen pregnancies hence she has been educating youths through her Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba programme on the dangers of having sexual relationships before the time is right while at the same time meeting with parents and guardians through Nharirire Yemusha programme and educating them on the dangers of marrying off their children before time.
The First Lady who has a passion for the economic empowerment of the girl-child, has been going around the country listening to all the challenges being faced by teen mothers as she considers how best she could extricate them from poverty and empower them.
Chief Gwesela said; “The First Lady’s visits here have been very helpful. This district had the highest percentage of child marriages and her Nharirire Yemusha and Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba programmes have been a game-changer.
“We managed to reduce the numbers which were at 56 percent and now there is only 13 percent.
“My area of jurisdiction also had high cases of deaths of women due to cervical or breast cancer. Cancer was high here and the screening programme being undertaken by Amai throughout the country and in my area will ensure that the women protect themselves from the disease. Domestic violence was also high as women here were actually the ones beating up their husbands, but the First Lady has managed to correct this trend through her teachings.”
Chief Gwesela said during an earlier visit to Zhombe, the First Lady gave women vegetable seed and they were now managing to sustain their families and be self-reliant through gardening projects.
“May she continue with her programmes and every chief must embrace the teachings because we are seeing best results. May she continue with her good heart of caring for every citizen,” he said.
Chief Milton Ntabeni, whose area of jurisdiction is Zhombe Ngingeni, shared similar sentiments, saying the mother of the nation’s visits had helped promote culture and instill good manners in children.
“The First Lady’s visits are helpful to us as chiefs because they promote our culture and instill good manners in our children. This new generation has lost morals.
“The Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba concept she is bringing back had died down. She is reviving something that is beneficial to the nation and we are fully behind her. Daily we were having these issues in our courts but because of Amai’s programmes things are changing. We are also grateful for the cancer screening programme she rolled out in Zhombe.
“Most women did not know the importance of being screened for cancer. That she has brought the programme here is beneficial because there is no more need to travel to faraway places for screening something that was stopping women from getting screened,” he said.
Chief Ntabeni said they were faced with many challenges because they were in a gold mining area which attracted people from many places who misbehaved.
Some businesspersons, he said, were also to blame as they sold illegal alcoholic beverages deep in the forests where people engaged in morally reprehensible behaviour, including unprotected sexual intercourse.
“This is a gold area and we have so many people coming and at night people misbehave with men ending up luring our young girls with money and impregnating them,” he said.
Chief Samuel Samambwa, whose area of jurisdiction is Zhombe Empress, said he was grateful for the First Lady’s visits because they had helped reduce violence in homes and had promoted good morals.
Bowing to public demand, Amai Mnangagwa agreed to continue with her educative programmes amid calls by impressed citizens for her to ensure everyone benefitted.
Online Reporter