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Tendai Rupapa in NEW YORK, United States

FIRST LADY Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa yesterday joined other African First Ladies on the sidelines of the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York where they sought to clarify the current state of the Organisation of African First Ladies for Development (OAFLAD)and to discuss various health and social issues affecting the continent which needed their attention.

The meeting also sought to align on a vision for the next five years and strategic priorities for the next two years.

It also, among other things, sought to adopt the proposed strategic priorities document and map upcoming key milestones.

A moderator at the meeting gave a brief background of the First Lady’s tremendous works in Zimbabwe before inviting her to speak.

When she rose to give her presentation, Amai Mnangagwa received a thunderous applause from other First Ladies and dignitaries as she gave her peers a glimpse into the work she is doing in the country while looking radiant in her national dress.

Dr Mnangagwa took the opportunity to formally invite other First Ladies to a conference in Zimbabwe on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

The conference will involve local and international partners who will provide technical expertise.

Most of the issues discussed by the First Ladies intended for the continental campaigns including fighting child marriages, eradication of gender-based violence, improving menstrual hygiene, health, increased girl child access to education, women empowerment, women in leadership positions and climate change among other areas are already being undertaken in Zimbabwe by Dr Mnangagwa under her all-encompassing programmes which are leaving no one and no place behind.

Thus, this shows how Amai Mnangagwa is a hard worker and a woman of action. 

She highlighted to the meeting the various efforts she was undertaking to improve girls menstrual hygiene, curb gender-based violence, end juvenile delinquency and empower women, including former ladies of the night.

“I am mostly interested in the health issues for women and girls. We have had a lot of diseases and women are the most affected. So they have to know their reproductive system more. They will then impart the knowledge to the girl child in the family. I have been also looking at the girls especially those who are underprivileged. I have been working tirelessly for them to access hygienic and life-saving reusable pads so that they will not miss school during their menstrual cycle. 

“It is so disheartening to note that some girls who are under age would resort to having boyfriends in anticipation that they would give them money and buy sanitary wear,” she said.

Dr Mnangagwa shared a story of a 16-year-old girl who was engaging in love affairs because of the need for sanitary pads.

“In one of the provinces that I visited in my country, one girl told me that ‘Mama I am doing this because I do not have money to buy sanitary wear and my boyfriend is in South Africa, and when he comes he will bring me this and that. 

“This girl is only 15-years-old and from our discussion I noted that she is already thinking of marriage, imagine getting married at 15 years and we all know what that means. It comes back to the family, mostly to the mother. 

“So I introduced a project of training them to make re-usable sanitary pads. I gave them some machines, material and all needed accessories. 

“Now they can lay out, cut and sew. Those that do not have machines, I have also trained them to hand sew,” she said.

Dr Mnangagwa spoke about the national GBG call centre she introduced in her office as part of measures to curb GBV.

“I have a GBV call centre in my office where people are phoning in before we refer them to relevant departments for further management and most of the calls I do receive them myself.

“The predicament with women is just but huge. I then introduced male engagement sessions in my country where we discuss various issues because we have found that men are the most perpetrators of issues like GBV and child marriages. So through my engagement with them they have now realised that they have a role to play to protect women and their families,” she said.

Amai Mnangagwa said she was pressing ahead with the programme because she was seeing good results.

“I am also looking at women empowerment and my fellow First Ladies, we are the voices of our countries, we are the voices of women, the girls and even the boy child. What a mother says in a family builds it all. So we have a huge task of looking after the whole family. 

“On women empowerment I have also looked at the ladies of the night to remove them from the streets and be engaged in working with other women using their hands and not their bodies. 

“I am promoting women to be in decision making positions in my country Zimbabwe and not to be stuck in the kitchen or in the bedrooms, but also in the boardrooms. Education of women, I have partnered with one of the universities- Zimbabwe Open University and I am encouraging women to go to school for short life changing courses regardless of their age,” she said to thunderous applause.

Amai Mnangagwa further hammered on the issue of communication among the First Ladies and to visit each other to share notes.

She called for the visibility of OAFLAD for the benefit of the continent.

“We need to communicate more to each other as First Ladies. Lack of communication hinders the work we are doing in our countries as mothers of our nations. I feel we should do more and get to know what our countries are doing. We need to see OAFLAD going from strength to strength,” she said to applause.

OAFLAD president, the Namibian First Lady Mrs Monica Geingos said the objectives of the meeting was to clarify the current state of OAFLAD as a regional organisation and a force for change.

The meeting, she said, also sought to appreciate the urgency and interconnectedness of each of the strategic priority areas and to allow the First Ladies to discuss and share their works.

Addressing the same meeting, Botswana First Lady Mrs Neo Jane Masisi said First Ladies were affected in their work during the Covid-19 era.

“We should look at the fact that we had a window of inactivity or a window where we had to slow down primarily because of Covid-19.We had to change some of our priorities and to fast track on some of our priorities. 

“But Covid may have been a blessing in disguise in some areas because it highlighted our weaknesses. I suppose it gave us time to say where are we as African First Ladies. What have we achieved? Let me just go straight on to the four points the first one being how do we strengthen OAFLAD, what do we want to achieve. 

“In terms of priorities on the continent I concur with my sisters in terms of the two that were listed here maternal reproductive, maternal and child health. I am very interested in gender-based violence and we know why and we know what happens as GBV continues. We know what happened during Covid, statistics increased. Gender equality and empowerment are also important issues. 

“I come from a country where out of 62 parliamentarians, only six are women. For me in that area of gender equality and empowerment I am saying to the legislature lets have these women who are there who make the laws that actually favour other women. Lets have the women who will understand what another woman is going through and lastly lets have more women out there and I know there will be more peace in this world,” she said.

Sierra Leone First Lady Dr Fatima Maada Bio said; “What we are discussing here is music to my ears because when you talk about gender issues Africa is one country that should focus on gender issues because our limitations in Africa are huge. 

“So I would go with my sisters here to say we should focus on gender issues. I have a campaign that has gone beyond my country that is now a global campaign for girls, we campaign for everything that makes a woman safe and give dignity to all women. I believe that the issue of women, we have to priorities that,” she said.

Dr Maada Bio said she wanted to ask the United Nations to make November 18 a day that will allow rape victims to congregate and communicate. 

“When we talk about early marriage in Africa, it’s a very smart way of legalising rape and I think we need to look at it because early marriage is basically having sexual intercourse with an underage child who cannot give decision herself because she is forced to be in a marriage. 

“As first ladies, our first responsibility is to protect our women and children because when it goes wrong it comes back to us. I would say please let us concentrate on gender-based violence because under gender-based violence you have so many things that we can address collectively. 

“We can deal with fistula, we can deal with cancer, we can deal with infant and child mortality because all of these are under gender-based violence. I am appealing to my sisters to take this as a global campaign because when all the African First Ladies channel their voices on one direction they will treat us seriously. If we are speaking from the same hymn book they will treat us seriously,” she said.

Kenya’s First Lady, Mrs Rachel Ruto said she felt privileged to learn from other First Ladies since her husband assumed office recently.

She chronicled that her predecessor promoted maternal health to ensure no woman dies while giving birth and she held the same vision.

“Whatever the first ladies of Africa decide to run with I am ready to walk with you in this journey. Issues of gender-based violence are everywhere in our continent and sometimes we may think that its just women that go through gender-based violence but I have seen men that have come forward just to complain about issues of GBV so I will be waiting to see what we decide on that,” she said.

Mrs Fatoumatta Bah Barrow, First Lady of The Republic of Gambia said reproductive, martenal and child health must be among the priority areas.

Ghanaian First Lady Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo said she wanted women to fill leadership positions.

“I am encouraging women to position themselves to take leadership roles in all sections of society. I am also delighted at the prospect of putting women in the centre of climate change and development. I believe I may not be the only one who wants clarity on how exactly this would be translated into action,” she said.

Mrs Akuffo-Addo added her voice against cases of violence against women which were widespread across Africa.

Another First Lady, Mrs Dominique Claudine Ouattara née Nouvian of Cote D’ Ivoire threw her weight behind yesterday’s meeting which she said enabled First Ladies to discuss important issues beneficial to their respective nations. 

“There are many areas of interest that we discussed that we can adopt as First Ladies. On public health, I fully support it because good health leads to development. On women leadership, I personally want to support my sisters in informal positions to be in key positions hence empowering them. We can help our young women to be empowered and develop Africa. GBV is regrettable and it became serious during covid-19. There is need to fight and eradicate GBV in our countries. As First Ladies there is need to speak with one voice,” she said.

Democratic Republic of Congo’s First Lady Mrs Denise Tshisekedi and Zambian First Lady Mrs Mutinta Hichilema also shared their sentiments.

Mrs Tshisekedi who is the OAFLAD Vice President thanked the First Ladies for dedicating their time towards a common goal.

The Rwandan First Lady Mrs Jeannette Kagame also addressed the meeting.

The First Ladies reached a consensus to extend the OAFLAD’s two year strategic plan to 2024 as implementation was affected by the covid 19 pandemic.