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Masvingo Bureau
Journalists and members of the business community operating under the banner of the Masvingo People to People organisation, have donated food hampers worth more than $15 000 to families that are staying at Mucheke Bus Terminus.

The families, whose members are visually impaired, stay in shacks and have been struggling, especially during this Covid-19 lockdown period.

The organisation intends to expand its humanitarian work and assist more vulnerable individuals and families to ease their plight under the economic environment that has been worsened by Covid-19.

The food hampers comprising sugar, cooking oil, mealie-meal, soap, salt, flour and other items were handed over by the organisation’s patron and Masvingo acting town clerk Engineer Edward Mukaratirwa and its chairman George Maponga.

Speaking after handover of the hampers on Sunday, the organisation’s vice chair Dr Richard Makoni said they were committed to making a difference in the lives of vulnerable people in the province.

He said the Government alone could not afford to meet the needs of vulnerable people under the lockdown period.

“We saw it fit to pool the little resources we have to help our fellow compatriots, particularly the vulnerable who are living with disabilities,” said Dr Makoni.

“This gesture is our small way of complementing the work being done by Government and other partners to ameliorate the plight of our people during this lockdown period.

“We want to thank all those who donated towards this cause and look forward to more assistance so that we continue to assist our fellow disadvantaged countrymen during these difficult times.”

The organisation’s motto is, “In serving each other we become free”.

Eng Mukaratirwa said the donations to the visually-impaired was a sign of good citizenship, which should be applauded and replicated to help more people in dire situations across the city and beyond.

“I want to applaud what Masvingo People to People members have done by pooling their resources together to assist underprivileged members of our community and my appeal is for them to continue with the programme so that more of our people get assistance,” he said.

Eng Mukaratirwa promised to make sure Government was engaged so that the visually-impaired families staying at the bus terminus were relocated to a more habitable place.

The families are staying close to the public toilets at Mucheke bus terminus from which they draw water, which is putting their lives at risk.

A representative of the families Mr Lovemore Sahi thanked the association for the assistance, saying the donation was going to limit their movement in view of the Covid-19 pandemic.