Zimpapers Logo

Tendai Rupapa in NEW DELHI, India

LEADERS of charity organisations and business executives across India who invited First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa here, yesterday came out in droves to express their willingness to partner her Angel of Hope Foundation as her hard work and all-encompassing empowerment projects continue to touch many hearts across the globe.

They said they were particularly touched by the First Lady’s hands-on approach, energy, humbleness and hard work. 

The level of interest shown by the Indian business community speaks volumes of the philanthropic works being done by Amai Mnangagwa.

Widows, orphans, the elderly, ladies of the night, children and people with disabilities are among the major beneficiaries of the First Lady’s empowerment initiatives, which are open to everyone despite race, political affiliation and gender.

This charmed the Indian business community and charity organisations, thus prompting them to invite her to India and find possible ways to assist in her philanthropic works.

The First Lady gave an elaborate overview of her Foundation’s focus and operations.

First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa addresses business executives and leaders of charity organisations in New Delhi, India, yesterday.

Players in education, health and tourism were well represented at the colourful event as the mother of the nation spearheads efforts of improved children’s education, especially the girl child.

Amai Mnangagwa’s Angel of Hope Foundation works with various stakeholders to pay fees for children in vulnerable communities and run a school feeding scheme to ensure no child pulls out of school because of hunger.

“Allow me to call you esteemed friends after the glamorous welcome of yesterday,” she said. 

“Your presence here is ample testimony of your commitment to Zimbabwe as articulated to me by the Ambassador. 

“Indeed, it is an honour to welcome you to this briefing session on activities of the Angel of Hope Foundation, of which I am Patron. It has been a long road since its inception in 2018. It has not been an easy road ,but worth the while. With committed friends I am certain we will achieve more.” 

To hammer her points home, the First Lady played well-packaged video clips highlighting some of the projects that she is undertaking through her foundation since inception in 2018.

In the video clips were projects and programmes on cancer screening outreach programmes, environmental protection, Covid-19 awareness, the school feeding programmes, child protection, empowerment programmes and working with the marginalised communities.

Also featured were programmes targeting people living with disabilities, tourism and education among many other Angel of Hope programmes.

Most of the organisations and individuals that met the First Lady were represented at the highest level.

Among those in attendance were Mr Vivek Agarwala, chairman for International Affair Committee for Africa PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Col Saurabh Sanyal, the secretary general, Shailendra Jain the trade commissioner for Zimbabwe India Trade Council, Founder chairperson of Human Achievers Foundation Dr Senorita Isaac, Professor (Dr P Tabrez Ahmad the vice chancellor of G D Goenka University, Dr Ajeet Kumar Nedungadi, the director international admission and marketing for GD Goenka University, Mohit Srivastava the director for International Cooperation for Indian Economic Trade Organisation, Hema Agnihotri, a director at Zimbabwe India Trade Council and Jyoti Sawhney, the founder of Bharat Business Connect among other organisations.

First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa receives flowers from Mrs Hema Agnihotri whose husband Mr Shailendra Jain, is the Trade Commissioner at Zimbabwe India Trade Council, looks on in New Delhi, India yesterday.

Dr Senoritah Isaac said she was awestruck by the amount of work the First Lady was carrying out across the length and breadth of Zimbabwe.

“We are very grateful to her for coming here and after watching the videos of the amount of work that she is doing, we are very excited to work with her,” she said. 

“Definitely we want to extend our gratitude to her and I have rarely seen people doing the amount of work she is doing in many areas. Definitely we want to collaborate on cancer and her women empowerment schemes. It is an honour to come to be her to communicate and meet her.”

Dr Isaac later held a closed-door meeting with the First Lady from which they emerged talking about the need for the two foundations – Angel of Hope and Human Achievers Foundation to strengthen ties in terms of health and women empowerment with Dr Isaac expressing her willingness to visit Zimbabwe for the first time.

“I have never visited Zimbabwe and would love to and see the great work you are doing for the people of Zimbabwe,” she said. “As a Foundation, we are willing to work with you such that when you need something you can let us know. 

“I also have some groups of ladies that I work with all over the world who are also willing to support Angel of Hope Foundation in its charity work for the benefit of the people of Zimbabwe.” 

In response, the First Lady chronicled the various works she is doing on health and for the empowerment of womenfolk, especially the girl child.

“We have met as mothers and when mothers meet, we begin to understand each other,” she said. “What you have said about health, is what my foundation is also doing. We are also into women and girl child empowerment because what we have just noticed in our country is that because of Covid-19, most of the girls have dropped out of school. 

“We can’t leave them like that, we teach them some empowerment skills. And coming to health issues, I travel the breadth and length of the country educating our women how important it is for them to know their reproductive health and how they should be checked time and again against cervical cancer because when cancer comes it causes challenges.” 

The mother of the nation said late health checks often resulted in diseases like cancer being diagnosed when it is at the last stage which becomes difficult to suppress.

Amai Mnangagwa is the country’s health ambassador.

Also charmed by the First Lady’s presentation and works was Mr Shailendra Jain, who said they were looking at various areas to partner the mother of the nation for the benefit of Zimbabweans.

“It is really an honour to have the First Lady visiting India and New Delhi being her first stop, we are really glad and we are very grateful for all the great work that she is doing and we are looking at various ways to connect with her in various development programmes,” she said. 

“Her commitment towards human development is really exhaustive, it is very comprehensive. Her hands-on approach and care for women empowerment and access to basic health care for all is unmatched. 

“She is a very powerful model and we believe there is a lot of synergy between what India does and what Africa does, mainly Zimbabwe through Her Excellency, the First Lady. Zimbabwe seems to be really doing like a pioneer in the space we wish her luck and success in her future endeavours.” 

Speaking along, Ms Jyoti Sawhney one of the founders of Bharat Business Connect, said they felt honoured to work closely with the First Lady given that she was transforming the lives of the people for the better.

Indian business executives and leaders of charity organisations follow proceedings during their meeting and interaction with First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa in New Delhi, India, yesterday.

“I welcome the First Lady to India and we are really honoured to be here and we are looking forward to boosting bilateral relations with Zimbabwe,” she said. “She is doing lovely, she is doing amazing work which she is doing through her Angel of Hope Foundation and after meeting her today (yesterday) we now know much more about what she is doing and see how we can be a part of it too. 

“We would like to help the people of Zimbabwe through the Angel of Hope Foundation of which the First Lady is the patron. We are into pharmaceuticals, we are into food products, we are into education, mining so we are getting all people on board to work with Zimbabwe, invest in Zimbabwe boosting our bilateral relations with Zimbabwe and also supporting the First Lady’s works.”

Zimbabwe’s Ambassador to India Dr Godfrey Majoni Chipare praised the First Lady for her works and thanked the various organisations for their willingness to work with her.

“First of all I thank the First Lady for the splendid work that she is doing back home which has captured the attention of all these companies and business executives,” he said. “We wish her great strength to continue doing wonders and we also thank the various organisations for their willingness to partner her.” 

He said the visit by the First Lady would contribute to the deepening of bilateral relations between the two countries. 

The First Lady’s visit, the Ambassador added, came at a time when India was emerging as a hub of global diplomacy and for Zimbabwe to be part of this positive trend, was commendable.

This is not the first time for Amai Mnangagwa to be invited to other countries by organisations and individuals who are charmed by her charity work and willing to work with her. 

Only recently, she was invited for the Eurasian Women’s Economic Forum in St Petersburg, Russia, in recognition of her philanthropic work where the Speaker of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Madam Valentina Matviyenko showed keen interest in exploring partnerships with the Angel of Hope Foundation.

First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has a heart-to-heart conversation with Dr Shilpi Chandra in New Delhi, India, yesterday.

Also the Director of Federal Agency for the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots living Abroad and International Humanitarian Cooperation, Mr Evgeny Primakov was quoted saying Angel of Hope Foundation is the most effective and strongest partner the Russian Federation and Russian Non-Governmental Organisations would want to work with in issues to do with humanitarian cooperation.

She was also invited to China by the Chinese business executives where they held fruitful discussions on investment in Zimbabwe and partnering with Angel of Hope Foundation in its programmes that are aimed at helping the country’s citizenry.

With the volumes of people spellbound by the First Lady’s initiatives across the globe, there is no doubt that she is moving in the right direction.