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Felex Share Senior Reporter
Chinese First Lady Madame Peng Liyuan yesterday visited the Amai Grace Mugabe Children’s Home in Mazowe and was enthralled by the philanthropic work being carried out by First Lady Grace Mugabe. Madame Peng, a popular Chinese musician, is accompanying her husband, President Xi Jinping, who arrived in the country yesterday for a two-day State visit.

Speaking just before touring one of the houses at the children’s home, Madame Peng said she had been fortified by the love given to the children. “It gives me great pleasure to visit this children’s home and I am so pleased and encouraged to see boys and girls growing so healthily in the care of Mama Grace Mugabe,” she said.

“It is simply great that we have two Chinese teachers here and from the song they (children) sang when we came here, I can tell they are doing well. “Though there is a great distance between our countries, our hearts are always together.”

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Madame Peng added: “I believe that the children of Zimbabwe are the children of China who all have a beautiful dream and I myself and Mama Grace and all the kind people in the world will do what we can to help them realise their dream. There will be a day when you will reciprocate the love the public has given you.”

As a token of appreciation, she handed over a donation of education materials worth 1 million RMB (about $160 000). “We truly hope that with these materials, the children will be at a better level of achieving their dreams,” said Madame Peng, who is UNESCO’s Special Envoy for the Advancement of Girls’ and Women’s Education.

Amai Mugabe thanked Madame Peng for having chosen to visit Zimbabwe together with her husband. “Zimbabwe and China have very strong relations dating back to our struggle for independence,” she said.

“We feel very honoured by your presence and you can see how much people love China and on your way from the airport you saw a lot of people lining up the streets to receive you and show that we really welcome you.

“You have made it to this special place (Mazowe) in Zimbabwe where we look after underprivileged children. We no longer refer to them as underprivileged because they have a home to live in, where they have love and are safe.”

Amai Mugabe chronicled how she set up the Children’s Home and the Amai Mugabe Junior School with the assistance of the Chinese. “I am happy that you were able to come and see what your brothers and sisters have done for the Zimbabwean people,” she said.

“I would not have been able to do that without that assistance. You are the First Lady representing the Chinese people and I am grateful for this wonderful gesture and I shall always cherish it for a long time to come.” She went on: “We started building this place in 2007 and we have 30 houses in total. We started bringing in the children in 2011.

“The pioneers were just about 15, but the number has since grown to 90. The number was 91, but unfortunately we lost one baby a week ago from pneumonia.” Amai Mugabe said seven of the children had enrolled for primary education and 20 more were expected to begin next year.

“We have a house that we have converted to a nursery school as we try to catch them young,” she said. “We also have a primary school donated by the Chinese Government to this organisation with a capacity of 1 000 pupils.

“This is the work I am trying to do in my own small way to ensure those children, not liked by society, have a place to call home. I know you do a similar work in China and you appreciate when you come to a place like this. “I was in China not so long ago and had an opportunity to visit a place where they actually concentrate on developing children.”