The Sunday News
Robin Muchetu, Sunday News Reporter
A LOCAL Bulawayo businesswoman Mrs Hazel Meares has spread her wings not only in business but also in assisting the needy in the city by starting a feeding programme.
Mrs Meares, the owner of Café Munandi Restaurant has dedicated herself to providing food on weekly basis to the homeless people in the city.
Speaking to Sunday News from her Australian base she said she started the programme two years ago after realising the plight of the needy.
“I realised that each year there is an increase in homeless people on the streets and it worried me such that I moved in to start a programme where I feed people. I started a project called Kudya/Ukudla Feeding Programme which is a non-profit project,” she said.
Her first target was the railway station area where she said there were many homeless people who needed food aid. After realising that the numbers were growing she decided to move the venue to the City Hall where it is spacious.
After the move she said more and more people began to come on weekly basis to be fed and also to be prayed for and motivated as it is a Christian organisation. She also mentioned that they were paying tuition fees for some children who were underprivileged.
“Some children dropped out of school when the economy was struggling a few years ago but we have managed to get some of them back to school and we want more to go back,” she said. Mrs Meares said the feeding scheme had grown popular in the city as people come from as far as Nkulumane come to eat, something she said was touching. Some also get food to take back home for those that will not have managed to come to the feeding point.
The long term goal, she said, was to open a feeding scheme in Tsholotsho. She said she had consulted the local council over land and would soon get into a full time feeding scheme.
Besides feeding the homeless, the organisation has been visiting local prisons giving out Bibles and bread together with a message of hope. She said when one is jailed they lose hope and they are trying to change that by visiting and ministering to them.
Mrs Meares is the founder of “I Am” Bible Distribution Centre, a non-profit making organisation established in 2010 whose vision is to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, encourage and motivate spiritual growth in Zimbabwe.
Mrs Meares said she was worried about the numbers of teenage girls whose lives she said were being snatched away by older men in return for money. In this light she said she had partnered with the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education to visit schools and have programmes to keep girls in school.
With women in mind she has set up a fund which will see women with bright income generating projects getting loans from her to start businesses.
“I will start off with 10 women that I will give US$1 000 each to start or grow their small businesses but they have to pay it back over time so that we empower 10 more.
This way we can assist many people especially if people are honest in their dealings. There is no collateral needed for this venture,” she said.
A workshop will be held in November to educate women on income generating projects.
