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Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter
FIRST Lady Auxilia Mnangagwa will this Saturday host a family fun day in Mabvuku where she will be interacting with women through sport and competitions among various activities that are lined up for the day. A first for the city, the event will be held at Mabvuku N0.1 Grounds and will bring together women drawn from Mabvuku, Tafara and Caledonia. It is expected to spread to other provinces and districts countrywide.

The event, which the First Lady is hosting through her charity foundation Angel of Hope, will run under the theme “Networking for Wellness Through Sports”.

The programme will start with a clean-up campaign in the area in which the First Lady will participate in, before heading to the ground.

Some of the activities lined up include female soccer, netball, basketball, rugby, sack races, tug-of-war, hanging apple eating competition, ice-cream eating competition, claypots head balancing competition, sadza eating, egg race among other activities.

The First Lady said the event was not a political gathering adding that those attending should not wear any political party regalia.

“The Family Fun Day is a day of sports targeted at young women and the elderly in Mabvuku, Tafara and Caledonia. Ndirikuda kunotamba nana mbuya nevese vechidiki zvisina politics mukati. The Ministry of Health and Child Care officials will be there on the day as we want to see how women can maintain their wellness through sports,” she said.

“I want every woman to participate on the day, no matter which political party you belong to. We do not want to see people wearing any party regalia. The event is not partisan, I am going there as a mother saAmbuya, ndirikuvinga munhu wese. The Ministry of Youth, Sport, Arts and Recreation will organise the sporting activities.

“I am hosting this event to enhance opportunities for women to participate in community development through sport and recreational activities without considering age, creed, race and disability.”

She said the event is for women only but men are welcome to come and support their female counterparts.
The First Lady said she will bring a state-of-the-art mobile clinic from the Ministry of Health and Child Care, which would be used for cancer screening on the day.

Family Health Director in the Ministry of Health and Child Care Dr Bernard Madzima commended the First Lady for the initiative.

“The First Lady’s initiative is for women including the elderly to get together socially and network whilst also benefiting from health wellness services,” he said.

“Ministry of Health supports wellness and fitness programmes as we know that this is one of the strategic interventions to deal with non-communicable diseases like hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Exercising together with good dietary habits are critical for people to have good health in all age groups.

“So as the ministry we are very supportive of the First Lady’s initiative to have people aware of the need to enjoy a good lifestyle by exercising regularly.”

The Angel of Hope Foundation’s chairperson Mrs, Chipo Mtasa, said: “Angel of Hope Foundation focuses on the empowerment of vulnerable women and children across Zimbabwe hence the health of these women and children is at the heart of the organisation.

“The sporting initiative is therefore a move to allow women to unwind as they take part in various sporting activities and to educate them on the importance of sporting and exercises in their overall health and well-being.

“The event is also to ensure women get access to information on child and maternal health care as well as cancer screening which is a key thematic area which the Angel of Hope is working on.”

According to the organisers, there will be a number of companies exhibiting and offering their services for free. These services include medical check-ups forr various ailments. There are also lots of prizes to be won.