displaced persons.

Their settlements have no piped water, proper ablution facilities, schools, clinics, roads or electricity and under such conditions, disease outbreaks are the order of the day.

Very little has been done to address their plight.

However, a youth from Mabvuku, Emmanuel Gasa, has been touched by the less privileged in such settlements that he has taken it as his responsibility to work among the internally displaced settlements.

Speaking on the sidelines of a candlelight memorial service held last Friday by Zimbabwe Network of People Living with HIV in Mbare, Gasa said his love for people has seen him go out and reach out to the displaced people.

Gasa grew up in the high-density community and he knew households that had outbuildings that were homes to many lodgers. By 2005 the sprawling illegal settlements were pulled down in Operation Murambatsvina. This resulted in many people from his neighbourhood being homeless.

A nearby farm commonly referred to as KwaBobo became the new home along with Caledonia Farm near Tafara. With no basic sanitation since 2005 Gasa, being a performing artiste, found time to educate the community through drama, music and dance.

“I grew up in Mabvuku and when the guys I went to school with were displaced when illegal cottages were pulled down by the council, they moved to Caledonia, Hopley and even Hatcliffe Extension, where new unplanned settlements sprouted in no time,” said Gasa.

“As an artiste I had members of the Aids and Arts Foundation who were displaced, too, so going to work with them was easy as I identified with them since childhood,” he said.

Gasa is the founder of TAFF. He said he saw displaced people facing challenges as there were neither schools nor clinics in their new areas.

“I was touched to hear that some pupils had dropped out from school as they now lived far away from their previous schools. As an artiste I moved from settlement to settlement checking on people I knew to have been on ART and find out if they were not defaulting,” said Gasa.

Gasa said it is always easy to send a message home through drama so with TAFF their message centred on defaulting after being displaced and the effects on one’s health.

“I raised awareness that one did not have to default on medication after being displaced. One had to go to the old centre, get a transfer note and be moved to the nearest clinic to one’s new home. All this was done through drama and with people laughing at the end of each session many lined up to ask questions so we became an effective tool of communication for the forgotten people,” said Gasa.

Gasa said the community warmed up to him and in no time many people who had stopped taking lifelong medicine, be it ART, tablets for hypertension and diabetes, got the message and visited their former health centres from where they were transferred to the nearest health facilities.

“It’s surprising that after every drama session many people brought out their cards and I advised those on life-long treatment to immediately go back to their old centres and highlight their problems.

Many, if not all, were transferred and counselled again before being put back on ART,” said Gasa.

Gasa grew up in a strong Christian family and his father is a major in the Salvation Army so for him having a big heart is something he always saw in his parents.

“My father is a retired teacher and a major in the Salvation Army so I grew up in a home that opened doors to relatives and even strangers in need. I, therefore, did not have a challenge when the call to work with displaced people presented,” he said.

Gasa said he is grateful for the assistance that he gets from the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

“There has always been a good working relationship with our parent Health Ministry and when we alert them of a looming disaster in the settlements we work in, they are always quick to respond,” said Gasa.

Gasa commended the parliamentarians for ratifying the Kampala Declaration on Refugees and Internally Displaced People which made it possible for organisations to render assistance to Zimbabwe.

Gasa acknowledged the efforts made and paid tribute to United Nations, especially its agencies such as the High Commissioner for Refugees, the World Food Programme, the Office of the Co-ordinator for Humanitarian Affairs, United Nations Children’s Fund as well as other international organisations including the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the International Organisation for Migration and the civil society for the support that they continue to extend to refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons locally.

Gasa said he has also got a helping hand from many organisations that dealt with children and displaced people.

“I am grateful to the IOM, ILO, Unicef the National Aids Council because they have always viewed our work as a cog in the wheel of achieving the three zeros that is zero discrimination and stigma, zero Aids- related deaths and zero new HIV infections and making life bearable,” he said.

He called on the Government to always consider the youth when coming up with programmes as they were the grassroots and the majority of the population.

“Youths make up the majority of the population and it is disheartening when some decisions that concern us are arrived at without our input,” he said.

He said every community has youths and identifying who to engage would not be a challenge.

“I am calling on organisations and stakeholders involved in youth projects to always engage the youth and find out from the youth what it is that is not covered, because at times well meaning organisations duplicate already existing programmes because they would not have engaged the youths in that particular area,” he said.

Gasa said in his new message of preventing mother to child HIV transmission was heavily packaged as no child should be born HIV positive.

“TAFF currently has PMTCT awareness dramas and we are taking these to Caledonia, Hopley Farm and Hatcliffe Extension where we are telling the communities through song and dance that no child will be born HIV positive if the mothers visit antenatal clinics on time,” he said.

“We are also pleased that some clinics have scrapped user fees for pregnant mothers as this was a hindrance to access to good health,” he said.

Gasa said TAFF has spread its wings and is now also represented in Zambia.

‘We now have TAFF in Zambia and am happy to say that the group has grown and spread,” said Gasa.

Gasa, who was part of the people who were in Mbare last week to remember all those who have perished due to HIV pandemic, said he never misses World Aids Day commemorations or anything to do with people’s health where ever it is marked.

“I make it a point that I remember friends, relatives and all those we lost to Aids. I salute heroes like Auxillia Chimusoro who in 1990 openly disclosed her HIV status when it was viewed as a disease for those of loose morals. Lynde Francis mentored me when ART was not even available and I am proud today to continue with the work that such heroes began,” he said.

“The sky is the limit”, says Gasa whose immense energy and zeal I hope, will see TAFF spread its wings to all those in need of raising a smile through drama, dance and song irrespective of location.

Email: [email protected]

You Might Also Like

Comments

Take our Survey

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey