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Tendai Rupapa in NEW DELHI, India

BRITISH parliamentarian, House of Lords, Lord Diljit Rana Obe, who has an extensive business empire and charity organisations in India, is keen on partnering First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa’s Angel of Hope Foundation to empower the needy through scholarships.

So busy was the First Lady’s schedule yesterday, but she managed to share notes and hold in-depth discussions with representatives of several organisations and individuals who poured in to meet her.

With high profile supporters expressing eagerness to advance the Angel of Hope Foundation’s vision of uplifting livelihoods of vulnerable members of communities, it’s a sign that Amai Mnangagwa’s charitable works continue to touch the world.

Lord Rana told the First Lady that his organisations, the Lord Rana Foundation and Cordia Education Campus were ready to support students from Zimbabwe through scholarships.

“We would like to invite students from Zimbabwe through your Angel of Hope Foundation for studies, that is, from high school to tertiary and also for international cultural exchange programmes,” he said.

Lord Rana said he felt honoured to meet the First Lady.

The First Lady described their meeting as fruitful.

“I would like to extend my warm reception to you, coming to meet with me is very important and what you have talked about, the scholarships, your targeted group is the group that I am also eyeing to help and I am working with them already,” she said. 

“Because that is the young age that we want to remove from the vices of drug abuse and all the undesirable characteristics. So your joining hands with Angel of hope foundation will see this programme growing to heights. 

“Lord Rana, I want to thank you very much that you came to meet with me and to have such a discussion and also telling me briefly how you worked in the UK and up to now you are still serving. I am very grateful that you formed the foundation thinking about the children and the vulnerable groups. They need our love, care and support.” 

Lord Rana was with his business partner Mrs Urmil Verma the director of Cordia Group who also pledged their organisation’s support.

Mrs Verma described the philanthropist Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa as the pride of Zimbabwe and Africa at large.

“As mothers, because of the instinct that is in us we feel for the children and you cannot just look but you try and think what you can do,” she said. “What can I use, how can I help. Its in all mothers throughout the world. I do not take this lightly to me it is very important and to my country Zimbabwe. They are going to appreciate this more.”

Also present to meet the First Lady was Mr Vijay G Prabhakar from the United States of America who said he travelled all the way from Chicago to find how best he could partner Angel of Hope Foundation to ease the plight of the less privileged in Zimbabwe.

“We have a New York-based associate who will be able to donate dialysis machines for kidney patients in Zimbabwe,” he said. “We have noted that the First Lady, Dr Mnangagwa has a passion for the welfare of every citizen in her country and also access to healthcare for all is her priority as the ambassador of health and child care. 

“We would like to come to Harare with our partners, we will bring a delegation to meet the First Lady so that we fulfil our pledge and find other areas were we can partner her Angel of Hope Foundation.” 

Mr Prabhakar is global ambassador of Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition (USA), national chairman of American Association of Multi Ethnic Physicians (USA), president of the Indian American Business Coalition, Inc, (USA), founder chairman of US Congressman Danny K Davis’ MEATF, and chairman of the Global Eye, a digital monthly magazine and TV.

He spelt out the need to create synergies between Zimbabwe and the United States.

“We are part of the US congressional multi ethnic task force. I am also the global ambassador of Reverend Jesse Jackson’s Rainbow Push Coalition for we bring greetings from Rev Jesse Jackson and from Congressman Danny Davis,” he said.

He chronicled the various works his association has done.

The First Lady expressed gratitude for the efforts to meet her. 

“Thank you very much for coming to meet with me here all the way from America,” she said. “When we talk of health issues, this area is close to my heart and the dialysis machines will go a long way in helping the people of Zimbabwe. 

“What we are also doing as Angel of Hope foundation is raising awareness in people mainly on cancer and encouraging them to know their status, get tested for HIV, hypertension, diabetes and get screened for cancer. We encourage men and women to access these services. 

“We have seen our people flock in their numbers for screening and testing. We have referral hospitals in our country and if each hospital has a dialysis machine of its own that will help because these are in provinces which are not close to each other.” 

Dr Mnangagwa said health issues were close to her heart and the group’s intervention would make her work easier. 

She said her foundation was empowering women in a big way.

“In our foundation we are also empowering women through skills training to use their hands because I cant go with bread everyday to give them,” she said. “It creates laziness in them, so its best to give them a fishing rod to fish rather than giving them fish. 

“So, we are giving them some skills where they can make detergents among other things for their families and for resell, by so doing there is no woman who should be left behind.”

Amai Mnangagwa also had a fruitful discussion with Rotarian Mrs Usha Poonawalla of Rotary International District 3131 who promised to collaborate with the trailblazing Angel of Hope Foundation in seven areas of focus.

“As you know that Rotary is the biggest NGO around the world, we are doing a lot of initiatives,” Mrs Poonawalla. “If I may give you the seven areas of focus we would like to join hands with your esteemed foundation, Angel of Hope Foundation, and if we can make a difference in people’s lives in Zimbabwe.

“And the seven areas that we would like to collaborate with you are water and sanitation, economic and community development, maternal and child health, supporting the environment. I think I heard that you are supporting the environment in a big way in Zimbabwe, basic education and literacy and disease prevention and treatment. 

“I got to know that cancer treatment is needed in a big way so we could help with sending a team of doctors and experts and see what best can be done in that area. And also peace and conflict resolution preventions and resolutions. These are the seven areas of focus that Rotary International is concentrating on this year. We have come here to help your foundation your excellency.” 

In response, the First Lady said the Rotarians could not have come at any better time because Angel of Hope Foundation was concerned about the transformation of people’s day to day lives.

“We are concerned about the day-to-day living in people’s lives and I welcome you with my hands open and a warm heart because you are coming with to save lives in Zimbabwe. You are welcome to Zimbabwe,” she said. 

“The areas that you have mentioned, I am also very active in those areas, it is my passion. I am also in go-green, the planting of trees, all that is done by me and you know when women do their thing, they achieve it. 

“I am so grateful to partner with women. The motherhood instinct is in us, so given the opportunity, women can make the world habitable. So when you come to Harare I will host you and then we will do everything possible as mothers and I think its going to help a lot.” 

The Rotarians said they were looking at coming to Zimbabwe very soon and the First Lady expressed willingness to host them.

“I will make sure that we clear the diary so that when you come I will be waiting for you,” she said.

Another Rotarian Mrs Tejashree Patil, who was accompanying Mrs Poonawalla, said they were

working hard to ensure women across the world had access to most things they needed to live decent lives.

“We are empowering women and girls in a very big way everywhere and we are adopting villages as well and the overall development of the village, so everything from sanitation, to health to education to vocational training skills, sustainable livelihoods until a woman is able to deliver the best,” she said. 

“We are also into empowering the women financially so that she has a sustainable livelihood by giving her an occupation or some kind of training skill. Under happy villages we also have happy schools where we have students enrolling. 

“Many girls drop out of school at a certain age because of puberty and we are trying to inculcate the habit of cleanliness with washrooms, clean washrooms in schools and ensure that the girl child is not dropping out because she is not having access to a washroom so we are trying to encourage more and more girls. We would also want to introduce wash rooms in schools especially rural schools in Zimbabwe through your foundation.”

The highlighted areas dovetailed with the work Amai Mnangagwa is doing back home through her Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba programme where girls are taught culture, menstrual hygiene and the importance of valuing their education.

Said the First Lady: “The problems are the same everywhere. Covid-19 also brought some problems. In our country we saw so many girls dropping out of school because of pregnancies and we are saying what do you do after that? 

“Now you have a baby, you didn’t finish school so come and we train you some skills for you to sustain your live together with the baby. There is a lot that as a mother I am looking at. I am also having a programme where I am training married women, those who are in marriage already, but they didn’t make it during their time because of several reasons. I am saying to them come back to school.”

The mother of the nation shared notes with other women on challenges affecting women in various communities, showing that challenges confronting womenfolk the world over were similar.