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Tendai Rupapa in Dande

THOUSANDS of Sanya villagers in Dande this year had a Heroes and Defence Forces Holidays to remember, thanks to First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa who took her educative Nhanga/Gota/Ixhiba programme and rolled out a reusable pad sewing initiative in a move aimed at improving menstrual hygiene and ensure that no girl child misses school during their monthly cycle.

Sanya, is located between Hoya to the south and Musengezi Border Post south east of Chidodo border.

East of Sanya just a few km, is a long stretch of unmarked border with Mozambique.

School girls in the area openly admitted that they absconded school during their menstrual cycles due to lack of resources.

People with disabilities received wheelchairs for easy mobility while the whole community received clothing, food that included mealie meal and rice courtesy of the First Lady through her Angel of Hope Foundation.

Dr Mnangagwa further donated medical supplies to the local clinic, educational materials to all the schools in the area while pregnant women went home with new born kits and baby blankets.

She thanked her foundation’s partners for mobilising resources.

The packed programme, which included an interactive session to curb domestic violence, child marriages and drug abuse among a host of other societal challenges was held with a difference as the mother of the nation built two huts in the area from where she and the elderly will meet with the children regularly for counselling sessions.

Girls from primary and secondary schools in the area were provided sewing machines, materials and all accessories before being taught by Angel of Hope Foundation’s team how to sew reusable pads.

They were taught from laying out, cutting and sewing (hand sewing and machine sewing).

So eager to learn were the child that they beat the ground running and sew hundreds of pads which they shared together with other vulnerable girls. The girls promised to later invite the mother of the nation to see what they would have sewn.

Amai Mnangagwa introduced gardening at Sanya Primary School where she brought her own seedlings and together with the school children and women from the surrounding community set up a garden.

They planted beds of covo, rap, spinach, tsunga, onions, tomatoes, beetroot among other vegetables.

She also led in the planting of fruit trees at the school for the benefit of schoolchildren and the community.

While the First Lady  was in the Nhanga with Primary and Secondary Education Minister Dr Evelyn Ndlovu, Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Monica Mavhunga and elderly women, boys were in the Gota with chiefs and elderly men.

Girls prepared various traditional dishes and where taught to knit and crotchety.

The mother of the nation spelt the need for the elderly to regularly hold counselling sessions for the children.

“I am happy to come to this rural area to see my family. Today we want grandmothers to counsel children in line with your customs here. I encourage you children to ask questions so that you leave this place fully equipped with knowledge. We did not do this so that you rush to get married, but to shape your future. If you combine with your education the skills I taught you today like gardening and sewing pads, you become a good woman for the future who works hard,” she said.

Mrs Lucia Munyuru said, “Amai here in Muzarabani we never thought we would be remembered by a First Lady. Since birth in 1967, I have never seen this kind of love. This place is hot and far from Harare but you have come because of your love. You built a place here, a sign that it’s not a once off visit but you will continue coming here and may God keep protecting you,” she said.

The wife to Chief Kasekete was equally grateful.

Amai we are grateful for your visit. I want to teach our children about respect, respecting elders in the community. Even when counselled by a neighbour, take heed because she too is your mother.”

Chief Muzarabani’s spouse said the First Lady’s programme was essential for the whole nation.

“As wives of chiefs we thank you greatly for this programme which allows us an opportunity to learn together with our children. In our areas of jurisdiction we are seeing a big change in our children’s behavior. We encourage our daughters to preserve their virginity jealously. When its time to get married you must follow the proper channel through the aunt, grandmother and uncle.  It gives your parents honour in the community. The First Lady’s visit shows she loves you.”

Mrs Plaxedes Pango said the First Lady was setting a good example for the nation.

“You are setting a good example because you are not selective and you visit people in various economic and social settings,” she said.

The wife to Chief Chiweshe drilled the girls on the need to perform household chores while the First Lady taught them on menstrual hygiene.

Vanessa Kangono, a school child, described the First Lady’s teachings as an act of empowerment.

“Amai we want to thank you for empowering us today. You have brought us lessons in sewing pads which will help us and our peers in the community. During our cycle we failed to report for school because we had nothing to use but from today we have started making pads on our own,” she said.

Minister Ndlovu thanked the First Lady saying, “On behalf of the Ministry Amai we want to thank you for what you are doing. This school is going to be a production centre from the garden where you planted vegetables and fruit trees to pads sewing because our President wants every school to be a productive centre. As Education Ministry, we are excited that you are adding value to our syllabus, to the curriculum that we introduced as the Government of Zimbabwe, the Second Republic,” she said.

The new curriculum, Minister Ndlovu said, recognised the heritage of the country hence the introduction of heritage studies in schools.

“Heritage studies cannot be separated from Nhanga/Gota/Ixhiba. Amai you have made us proud. We are proud of you. You have visited all provinces doing what you are doing. Even in Bulilima near Plumtree boarder where I come from you went with the programme and today you are hear near the border of Mozambique showing that you are not leaving anyone and any place behind. We want to thank you. Today I have come to support you and help you teach the children. We want these children to value education and become doctors tomorrow. We are now doctors because we treasured our education,” she said.

A Form 5 pupil opened up and confessed to be in a love relationship.

“Mama I want to say the truth, I have a boyfriend who is in Form 6. We are not sleeping together and we want to treasure our education up to university level. You have given us a valuable lesson here which is important for our life,” she said.

In response, the mother of the nation counselled that it was not advisable to be in a love relationship at this time.

“My daughters when in school why do you want a boyfriend? Will you get time to study while busy thinking about the boy? In most cases the boy will bed you and find someone else at university. As a mother I suggest that you shelve this and focus on your studies. I am discouraging you from having boyfriends before time. If you say you haven’t slept together, you will do so one day because of peer pressure,” she said.

Chief Muzarabani, Mr Alfonse Chuzu, who was in the Gota with the boys, paid glowing tribute to the mother of the nation for coming up with her educative programme.

“I am so thankful for the programme brought by Amai here in Muzarabani. It helped us a lot especially for children who have lost morals because of drugs and lack of counselling because as grandparents we are going away from the children. What Amai has done will help children. In the Gota, were discouraging children from marrying at a tender age and they should stop taking drugs in their lives. We told them against rushing to have sexual relationships. We asked the children to have time to enjoy bachelorhood which will make them come up with the right choices. It will help them build stronger marriages which do no collapse easily. We spoke against early pregnancies. today we stood as uncles to assist the children and we asked them questions which showed they were lost. This programme must be replicated in all places so that children grow up morally upright,” he said.

The pupils were all smiles and thankful for what the First Lady had done for them.

Janet Musinyare (15) from Chadereka Secondary School quipped: “I want to thank Amai who brought us sewing materials to make reusable pads. We shall teach others in the communities. We never had something to use in our monthly cycles and because of her intervention we now have something to use and won’t miss school. This is something which had never happened here, Amai has remembered us and we are grateful as a community,” she said.

After the session with the children, the First Lady went on to address the thousands of people that had gathered.

“Children are important to their families and in the whole country because they are our future leaders that’s why we are here today to teach them our cultural norms and values. Our children have lost morals and they can no longer greet elders properly. They say ‘ndeipi momz’, ‘maswera sei muchembere”. Is that the proper way of greeting elders. They say ‘Takayenda takayenda’ kuyendepi nhai vanangu, ndiko kwabva kwayenda tsika dzenyu here? Nhanga and Gota have always been there but had been forgotten. In the Gota and Nhanga that is where boys and girls were groomed, preparing them for tomorrow. It was taboo to see a child holding a cigarette but nowadays it’s the order of the day even girls are getting drunk. Girls are walking in the nude at the same time boys are walking around wearing the whole wardrobe and dropping pants. I heard they are destroyed by illicit brews called Tumbwa. When drunk they fight, kill and steal. Nhanga and Gota help our children appreciate our culture. Value the teachings you received today and not the current state of affairs where a nine-year-old falls pregnant,”she said.

“we want to discuss the way we are living in homes and communities. There is so much violence in the homes nowadays and I am saying let’s go back to nhanga and gota to learn our culture. What are the qualities of a respectable mother or father? Who is starting violence iin the home and why?”

In response, an elderly discussant said men were to blame.

“Men are starting violence because after harvesting they spend the money on illicit brews. When a woman asks, violence breaks out.”

A woman contributor concurred.

“True, men are starting and we are troubled by these beers. There is too much crime being committed because of this tumbwa beer. We are losing our valuables to people who are stealing from us and selling the stolen goods so that they buy illicit beer,” she said.

However, one man differed with these views.

“Women are making our children rush to get married before the time is ripe. They are conniving with our daughters and accepting niceties from boyfriends. If I try to counsel them as a father, I am ridiculed on the grounds that I did not carry the pregnancy.”

The First Lady implored communities to live in peace and solve their differences amicably without fighting.