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Bernard Muchemwa Correspondent
TAWANDA Karasa is a young man of high ambition and an achiever in social justice. He is of slight stature but has a heart of an elephant when it comes to fighting for social justice and social transformation in communities.

His specialty is in uplifting the disadvantaged in the communities wherever he is not forgetting Zimbabwe where his umbilical cord is interred.

Karasa, popularly known as T1, is a founder of Young Achievement Sports for Development- Homeless World Local partners. Among his many achievements he organised a team of disadvantaged young people to participate at the Homeless World Cup in Melbourne in 2008 before proceeding to found Grassroots Cricket Inc.

His next assignment is to get Zimbabwe to participate at the Cricket Child World Cup in 2023 in India.
When he was the manager of Brisbane Lions Football Club, he helped to put smiles on the faces of many children in Zimbabwe over the Christmas holidays in 2017 when he convinced the premier Australian Club to donate footballs, Lions jumpers and other gifts to children living in poverty in the Hatcliffe Extension in Harare.

“It was amazing how many smiles you can put on these kids’ faces despite the everyday struggles they have to face,” said Karasa.

About the same time in 2017 Tawanda was involved in another charitable gesture by helping to source funding for all 129 Watson Road State School Students in Brisbane, Australia, who received a nutritious, healthy breakfast three mornings a week. The complimentary breakfast was aimed to improve both the intellectual and physical performance of Watson Road State School students.

“Breakfast allows them to come to school ready for learning. Without food, it’s hard for the students to focus on learning, retain information and control behaviour,” he said.

Brisbane Lions Community Programmes Manager, Karasa, said the Lions are passionate about making a positive impact on disadvantaged children’s lives. “Supporting the Breakfast Programme is one way of ensuring that the children’s educational outcomes at Watson Round are improved,” he said.

So, his social inclusion and social justice crusades are not only limited to Zimbabwe, but are impacting positive change to the less fortunate in his second home Australia.

Karasa was born in Harare’s high-density suburb of Highfield and grew up in Hatcliffe. He comes from a family of seven. His motivation is derived from the desire to change lives of disadvantaged young people.

“I experienced disadvantage growing up. My father was jobless and at times working as a security guard. I want to change life through sport, and I have achieved this to some extent with the Homeless World Cup, especially the 2008 event in Melbourne. I was very much involved in.

“In this endeavour to bring social justice, social inclusion and upliftment of the less fortunate, we meet a lot of challenges in mobilising resources both human and financial, but my heart keeps me going.”

In the meantime, Karasa is in partnership with Zim Local Young Achievement Sport for Development, which is working on a project to send a Zimbabwean team of street connected children to participate in the Street Cricket World Cup in 2023 in India.