The Sunday News
Kudzai Mpangi, Sunday Life Reporter
People living with disabilities thronged Harvest House International Church to witness thriving gospel group, Gospel Unplugged perform on stage last week.
The astounding concert was created to honour people living with disabilities and was organised by the Gospel Unplugged ensemble. It was held under the theme “Aspire to live beyond the challenges”.
In an interview, the group leader and director Sam Chokuda said it was high time they did something big in honour of disabled people to show their worth in society.
“The fact that people with disabilities have suffered greatly because of stereotype and negative unbelief pushed us to do a concert in their honour so that they can feel that they are so much appreciated in the society,” Chokuda said.
“This concert aimed to create a friendly environment for them, for example you find churches, restaurants and other public spaces do not have adequate infrastructure to accommodate them, so we believe that after this concert things will change for the better as Gospel Unplugged seeks to give awareness to the populace of Africa about the importance of people with disabilities,” he added.
Gospel Unplugged has been a blessing for the disabled people as they managed to create awareness not only at grassroots level but on a national level.
“We are so honoured to be given an opportunity to show people within and outside Zimbabwe the proceedings of the show and what we intend to do for people with disabilities. Being on National TV gave us hope that our nation is more than capable of creating a disability friendly environment looking at the support we got from the broadcast team,” Chokuda said.
A ramp was built as the first step in honour of the disabled people.
“We are so much pleased to announce that we have built a ramp at Harvest House International Church as our first step in creating a friendly environment for the disabled people. We want them to feel welcome every time they come to visit at our church,” Chokuda said.
Chokuda also emphasised that support be extended not only to them, but to talented youths who have physical or any form of barrier.
“We would like for people to show love and see the talent that disabled people possess. We believe media cover is a great stepping stone for this to be possible so that the world can see the talents that are showcased by them,” he said.
The disabled people were given a platform to showcase their talents on stage and the audience was impressed by the performances.
“We are so happy that our audience was thrilled to see them perform especially King George Memorial gave forth a beautiful piece and people loved them. The talent that they have is unbelievable and extraordinary. Times like these permit people to view disability issues differently and begin to accept that they are no different from any other person,” he said.
Oscar award winner Prudence Mabhena gave a description of her life through her song that she performed. She was in high spirits to have been given such a prospect.
“Prudence Mabhena’s life is beautiful, the way she sang you could tell that she has accepted who she is. She is one of the pioneers who have embraced who they are and how she is equally the same with everyone else regardless of what people think. Her performance was soul filling and beautiful. She was so much celebrated by the audience as they loved her work,” he said.
A motivational speech was given by Soneni Gwizi, a motivational speaker, radio presenter and disability activist.
“Soneni Gwizi has often made it a point that when she speaks, she sets a standard and creates a huge impact in people’s line of thinking. Her speech was exceptional and more demonstrative for people to understand disability issues. From the look of it, it seems people were thrilled to learn and understand more on disability, something that not many people are privileged to hear. She also expressed how she was honoured to have been invited to speak in such a big event for them,” Chokuda said.
Chokuda said they are going to be incorporating a few students from King George within their musical group to nature their talent, learn from them.
“It is in our desire that we at least pay fees for one of the talented students in a bid to help them pursue their desire career. The concert we had wasn’t the end of the journey, it was just the beginning as we are yet to do more for disabled people,” he said.
Gospel Unplugged will be releasing an annual magazine that will give full detail on their events that they will be doing in honour of disabled people.
— @kayskudzai
