The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Senior Reporter
“I CAN see clearly now, the rain is gone,” Jonny Nash sang in the 70s and 22-year-old Dumolwethu Khumalo sings along in 2018, as a breeze of optimism blows, massaging her face, while the sun’s rays (of hope) kiss her skin.
“I can see all obstacles in my way. Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind,” Nash continues as Dumo swings rhythmically to the symphony.
“It’s gonna be a bright (bright), bright (bright) Sun-Shiny day,” Dumo sings to every note as if her own.
“I think I can make it now, the pain is gone. All of the bad feelings have disappeared. Here is the rainbow I’ve been prayin’ for,” Nash continues to serenade Dumo.
Nash’s 70s hit is the soundtrack to Dumo’s life as she regained her vigour to reconfigure her life after past pitfalls and mistakes. In 2014 Dumo dropped out of school after falling pregnant and became a young mother and wife before she had planned to. She was a victim of domestic violence as her husband would relentlessly pummel her over petty disputes.
Dumo’s life was hell, and with little help to get back on track, with each day hell appeared more and more set to be her final destination. Returning home to her parents in Makokoba did not seem an option for Dumo, now a mother of one. She had to contend with her circumstance.
Her husband, almost 10 years older than her would not allow her to continue with school, neither would he allow her to look for a job. Like a puppet on a string, she would pander to the monster’s whims.
“It felt like I didn’t own my life anymore. I had lost hope of ever enjoying life. Somehow I had resigned to fate,” she said.
In 2017 Dumo was referred by a friend to Dot Youth Zimbabwe (DYZ), one of the partner organisations implementing and co-ordinating the DREAMS project in Bulawayo. Dreams, a catchy acronym for determined, resilient, empowered, Aids-free, mentored and safe, is an ambitious project that seeks to empower vulnerable adolescents and young women between the ages of 15 to 24 years with the thrust to protect them from HIV.
The USA President’s Emergency Plan for Aids Relief (Pepfar) and Global Fund funded initiative is running in selected nine high HIV burdened districts in the country. The initiative also seeks to empower young women with vocational skills training, financial literacy, sexual and reproductive education, and protection services from gender-based violence to reduce their vulnerability. She gathered courage at the risk of attracting the full wrath of her monster husband and joined the DYZ.
“I went to Dot Youths Zimbabwe and told them my story. I was taken on board in their out of school programme and went through all the modules that they offer. I was given life skills, went through the work readiness training and entrepreneurship.
I was also empowered on how to manage my body and protect myself from HIV,” she said.
As part of economic strengthening component of the Dreams initiative, adolescent girls and young women were taken through an Internal Saving and Lending Scheme (Isles) module. The module sees young women forming clubs where they save money and lend each other soft loans.
“Through the Isles and some of the money that I got from the part time work that I do, I managed to save and start a small business. I’m running a small hardware vending stall in Makokoba, which is slowly growing. That small business has made me self-sufficient,” she said.
With the now attained self-sufficiency, boosted confidence, Dumo found herself being able to dream again.
Dumo is now taking advantage of every opportunity offered to her through Dreams to transform her life.
During her training, she did her internship at Umzingwane Aids Network (UAN) in 2017 where she continues being called back for part time jobs. Dumo is back in school through the Dreams’ part-time and continued education programme, and is looking forward to write her Ordinary Levels in November.
“If I pass I would want to pursue a career in Business Management. Since I’m already running a small business, I would want to study something that will help me enhance my venture and grow it,” she said.
Dumo is now back at her parents’ home in Makokoba, where she stays with her child and her parents. She is also working as a Dreams ambassador, mentoring other girls on various aspects of life. The Dreams project empowered her to gain the required courage to walk out of the hell that was her premature marriage, to realign her life and pursue her dreams again.
Dot Youth Zimbabwe director Mr Sibusiso Bhebhe said his organisation works with the Department of Social Welfare to identify vulnerable girls in the community, whom they take on board the Dreams programme and take through various trainings to empower them. Mr Bhebhe said some of them come in through referrals by their friends. He said since the beginning of the programme two years ago his organisation has been able to work with almost 2 000 girls whose lives have been transformed.
“Over the past two years, we have worked with 1 809 girls in Bulawayo. We have seen 350 go for internship at different organisations, 100 going for vocational training and another 100 going for part-time continued education,” he said.
Dreams co-ordinator in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Aids and TB unit, Mr Taurai Bhatasara said Dreams aimed at combating factors that predispose adolescent girls and young women to HIV. Some of the factors, Mr Bhatasara said, include poverty, lack of information, cultural and religious practices among others. He said the programme came on the back of an increase in HIV incidence among adolescent girls and young women at a time when the infection rate was dropping among other age groups.
“The idea is to empower young girls as a way of countering some of the key drivers of HIV infection among the age group. In terms of HIV incidence, it is twice as high among young girls compared to boys and that is the reason the programme mainly targets girls,” he said.
National Aids Council Dreams co-ordinator, Mr Masimba Nyamucheta said the Dreams initiative was part of a cocktail of interventions that the country came up with to achieve the 90-90-90 goals to end Aids by 2030.
He said to date, the Dreams programme had reached out to over 300 000 adolescents and young women countrywide since its inception.
“We want to ensure that adolescent girls and young women are able to make informed decisions on their sexual reproductive health. The programme aims to combat factors such as early child marriages, inter-generational relationships, early sexual debut among other factors that predispose girls to HIV infection,” he said.
Head of Aids and TB in the Ministry of Health and Child Care, Dr Owen Mugurungi said the Dreams programme was one of the ways the country could achieve an Aids free generation. Dr Mugurungi underscored the importance of empowering adolescent girls and young women. He made these remarks during a tour of Dreams project in Gweru and Bulawayo by various stakeholders.
“We want to see an Aids free generation where those adolescents who were born with HIV can be Aids free as we promote adherence. We need mentored, resilient and empowered women who can make a difference in our country,” he said.
As the country moves towards ending Aids by 2030, stakeholders in the HIV response programme are in agreement that efforts should be put towards reducing HIV incidence among young girls and adolescent girls.
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