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ZIMBABWEAN youths born or raised in the Diaspora go through a lot in their upbringing.
Acceptance and adapting to the new environment are the two major challenges.
They might come from well-to-do families but fitting in the diaspora community can be a daunting task.
However, this is set to become a thing of the past in Leeds, home to a number of Zimbabweans.
In Leeds — home to a number of aspiring athletes, artists, and academic students — this is set to become a thing of the past.
This follows the formation of the Zim Leeds Community (ZLC), which has a wing for the youth.
The main aim of this wing is to assist Zimbabwean youths raised or born in diaspora to fit well in these communities through participation in a number of activities like sports, art, and mental wellness activities.
The Herald on Saturday Lifestyle got in touch with Ian Guzette, the ZLC youth chairman and Edmond Junior Gore, the ZLC youth champion, who outlined their vision meant to changes lives of young Zimbabwean raised or born in the UK.
Guzette (IG) shares his vision first in the first part while Gore (EG) outlines their vision in the other part in a question and answer form with The Saturday Herald. Read on . . .
Q: What’s your vision as Zim Leeds Community’s youth chapter?
A: Our vision as the Zim Leeds Community’s youth chapter is to create more engagement and interaction between the youth and the broader ZLC community. We have noticed that many young people in the UK, who were either born or grew up here, haven’t fully grasped the importance of being involved in the community. Therefore, our current focus is to gradually create a platform during ZLC gatherings, where we can foster connections.
To achieve this, we are operating as an events team, planning one or two events each quarter.
These events serve as opportunities for us to listen to the youth, share ideas, and ultimately build a strong and proactive youth team.
We aim to empower and inspire others to make a positive impact within our community.
Q: How often do you meet and interact with Zim youths resident in Leeds?
A: Our interactions with Zim youths in Leeds are primarily event-driven.
For instance, during the month of April, we celebrated our independence, and we took that opportunity to host a talent show with an exciting prize at the end.
This event significantly increased the level of interaction among the youth, as many were eager to participate and understand the incentives.
The talent show turned out to be a tremendous success, with even unregistered participants joining on the day.
It was truly marvellous to witness their enthusiasm, and the parents were thrilled with the results.
Our upcoming focus is the family day in July, where we plan to organise a mini sports day with activities like egg and sack races, tug of war, dodgeball, and athletics, followed by a delightful BBQ.
Q: Which challenges are you facing in your campaigns?
A: One of the primary challenges we face in our campaigns is maintaining consistent engagement.
We are still exploring effective ways to communicate the benefits of being actively involved in the community to the youth.
Since many of them were either born or grew up in the UK, they may not feel the same need for connection as their parents who migrated here.
Our long-term goal is to create a safe haven where the youth can openly engage with the larger community and express their concerns. We strive to be a bridge and advocate for their needs.
Q: What are your future plans?
A: Considering the current affairs, we understand that there is a lack of trust in the current system, and our youth often feel stigmatized. Therefore, it is crucial for us to work together with the larger community to address these issues.
We are deeply connected to the matter and believe that by collaborating with others, we can make a positive impact.
We also recognise the presence of racism and the reluctance within our community to involve the police due to fear of negative labelling.
Hence, we aim to advocate for our community and demonstrate that as Zimbabweans, we are capable of driving positive changes. We plan to facilitate discussions and brainstorm ideas to find effective solutions. We firmly believe that by working together proactively, we can create a better future for our community.
In terms of our immediate plans, we are focusing on organising mini events that encourage entrepreneurship and help individuals discover and maximise their potential, utilising their unique talents. Additionally, we aspire to host regular monthly events, such as after-school clubs, where parents can entrust their children to learn more about Zimbabwean culture, heritage, and various other enriching activities. Although we acknowledge that there is still a long way to go, we have already taken the first steps towards achieving these goals.
By prioritising engagement, empowerment, and advocacy, Zim Leeds Community’s youth chapter is striving to make a lasting and positive impact on the lives of the youth and the community as a whole.
NB: Here is what Edmond Jnr Gore, The Youth Champion has to say:
Q: What’s your long term and short term goals for ZLC youth residents in Leeds?
A: Our long term goal is to increase engagement and interaction between the youth within ZLC and beyond integrating different cultures and nationalities.
We have noticed that many of the young people find it hard to be involved in the community however the causes of this are far much wide spread than just the lack of activities in general.
We are fighting an increasing addiction to social media, drugs, alcohol and other factors that limit participation from the youth. We want to create a platform that serves continuity, this is a major factor. Most of the youth even when they participate they are aware that the activities are short lived and amount to very little in the long run as communication seems to end as soon as we depart from the venue.
Therefore, they turn to something they can be a part of on regular basis be it clubbing or social media just to name a few.
To tackle this, we want to create a proactive environment that can serve the community and one of the ways we can to do this is through sport. We are going to introduce a basketball program that will run continuously every month and have contests in between.
We are pacing towards approaching organisations that can facilitate in aiding us with relevant facilities and equipment to make this possible.
We want to cater for the less privileged, disabled people, the mentally ill, people tackling addiction and those turning to idleness as well because it’s important to us to include everyone in our community.
We aim to have a mentally strong, physically fit, confident, safe and vibrant community that is united.
Hopefully, this process from within ZLC can also impact other communities as we are living in a multicultural society we want to explore all these cultures, but it all starts with us being able to share an environment and shine as one.
Our short term goals include being able to come together as a community on a regular basis so as it to increase interaction among ourselves as a community.
We already have events that facilitate this and we have seen a significant growth in appearances at these events. We want to create a posh environment, a classy atmosphere and more rewards to the youth who participate at these events.
Q: What efforts are you doing to unite Zim youth residents in Leeds?
A: We have events that run each year especially on holidays that facilitate youth engagement.
Whenever there is a Zimbabwean holiday, for example Independence Day of Zimbabwe, we gather and celebrate.
In the midst of the celebrations we host various competitions for the youth and we incentivise them to increase participation.
There has been a significant growth in numbers of young people coming to these gatherings which we praise ZLC members for, everyone has been managing to spread the word and increase awareness of the community’s existence and goals.
It’s always an amazing scene to see Parents and children share their talents with the rest of the community in various ways like dancing, singing, acting and sharing stories that help bring out the best of every member in the community. We have a basketball program we are working towards that will have youths more engaged with each other promoting fitness and well-being.
We have exciting opportunities for youth interested in photography, videography, choreography and editing just to mention a few as we are going to have a page and channel showcasing all the programs we are going to initiate in our future. There are social media groups that keep us in touch however there is room for improvement in terms of interaction and we think by increasing the number of times we interact in person this will make it much easier.
Q: What are some of the challenges you are facing in your campaigns?
A: lack of consistency is one the primary challenges we face. We acknowledge the importance of upkeep in our households, people are busy working and schedules do not always support some of the plans presented by the community.
People also turn to engage in other things which appear more desirable. We also have an issue whereby every event is sponsored by the ZLC members themselves as there are no regular schemes to ensure ZLC has proper funding. Lastly,
Teamwork and unity has to be top priority from within the organization itself as we all aspire for a greater and brighter future.
Q: What efforts are you doing to fight drug and substance abuse among young people in Leeds.
A: We are raising awareness of the effects and challenges that arise from drug and substance abuse. We want to be able to tackle what we believe are influencers that direct the youth to a life of self-destruction by diverting the youths attention to something more engaging activities and righteous. Our organization’s core solution to the problems are education and awareness, engagement, and counselling in short. We are looking to partner with state institutions so that professional counselling will be given to our youths who need it.
We are working towards having regular sporting activities, dance practices and fitness groups that discuss and share wellness tips. We are looking for various collaborations with our efforts to promote engagement through acquiring relevant facilities and equipment for the chosen disciplines.
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