Church members revel in First Lady’s cookout competition. . . get free cervical, breast cancer screening

Tendai Rupapa in Masvingo
THOUSANDS of women drawn from various church denominations across Masvingo Province had the double delight of taking part in First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa’s traditional meal cookout competition on Friday and being screened for cervical and breast cancers as well as other ailments free of charge.

This was made possible after Dr Mnangagwa brought her Angel of Hope Foundation’s mobile clinic to ZCC Mbungo. There were many other health stands set up to assist the mobile clinic. The cancer screening outreach programme was held in celebration of Women’s Month, which is observed in March every year. Traditional dishes that are being promoted by the First Lady have high nutritional value and medicinal properties that help fight diseases and make people stay healthy.

On the other hand, cervical cancer screening ensures the disease is detected early and people are put on early treatment.

Dr Mnangagwa, who is the country’s health ambassador, has a passion for empowering women countrywide. A number of nicely-packaged and mouth-watering dishes were prepared on open fires by the women, who commended the First Lady for her thoughtfulness and quest to see people leading healthy and productive lives.

Dishes prepared included nhakara, nhopi, sorghum sadza, traditional rice, munyemba, mazondo, mowa, runi, mushroom and rice in peanut butter. Sumptuous pumpkins, ngozha (quelea birds), mazondo, road runner chicken and muchacha were also on the menu together with mapfura (marula) juice and maheu. Fruits included mazamera, cucumbers, sambwarambwa, nhunguru and the watermelon. There was an immaculate display of culinary skills by the women, who said they had never witnessed such innovative and educative programmes as the ones run by Dr Mnangagwa.

“This is what our ancestors ate long back as there were no hospitals in those olden years, where they survived on food that was found in forests which came with the rains, and they were able to cook and preserve these foods. Today, I have seen that women in churches managed to prepare our traditional dishes. Through the competition, we showed one another the different kinds of vegetables available, how they are prepared and preserved. For it to taste well, how do we prepare it? For the food to be well-cooked, what should it be like? We were shown all that by women who are in churches. My aim is that we are leaving no one and no place behind in these programmes. I am happy that you came as leaders of various churches to start this programme here in Masvingo. I shall proceed with it to the remaining nine provinces of the country. I am working with churches to find where you are so that we work together. The food we saw today helps in our nutrition. You may have ailments, but if you consume traditional dishes, you heal faster.”

She drew laughter when she said some people were so embarrassed of traditional dishes that they at times closed windows when preparing the dishes.

“Some foreign nations come to collect vegetables like munyemba from here. They are saying food consumed in Zimbabwe has medicinal properties and they saw it helping them yet we are ashamed.

Let us enjoy our dishes and teach our children to consume them. If we do not consume healthy, good food, we succumb to diseases. Exotic dishes of nowadays may affect us because of preservatives. Our Lord blessed us and gave us the various vegetables that we must preserve for later use. All that is done by women who work together. We have many vegetables that grow naturally during the rainy season that we must consume. We are Africans with our own culture. I thank all those who took part in the competition,” she said.

Gogo Enia Denhere from Zaka Central said good health was critical for all.

“I thank Amai for coming with this programme that makes us always be on the lookout for our families. The food is just found free of charge and our families enjoy good health. I have brought zumbani and lemons for the treatment of flu,” she said.

The prickly pear (madhorofiya), she added, helps lower blood pressure and its other parts can be heated to ease pain in sore legs.

“We have matohwe leaves that lower sugar levels. We shall train others on the benefits of these indigenous dishes,” she said.

Mrs Juliana Dzutsi from Masvingo Urban described the First Lady’s intervention as timely, saying nowadays children no longer appreciate the value of indigenous dishes, preferring exotic dishes which exposed them to diseases and obesity.

“I thank you Amai for the programme you have brought for us. Keep it up because our children did not know about these foods. Thank you for taking us back to our culture and I thank you for the Nhanga/Gota/Ixhiba programme because children are now greeting us on the way, showing they have embraced the teachings you are giving them. Back then, they would never greet elders when passing, but this has changed. Thank you, Amai,” she said.

Mrs Dambudzo Musvovi from Ward 24 in Zaka West said her imagination had been captured by the cookout.

“I thank you Amai and welcome you here in Mbungo where you have brought us the traditional cookout competition. We have come to cook and learn more as we improve health. Sorghum helps on diabetes. Fruits like mazamera, nhunguru and mukumbi are also medicinal. People were now shunning traditional dishes, but our mother is saying let us go back to our tradition and embrace our traditional foods,” she said.

All the contestants received food hampers and fruit trees from the First Lady. The winner received one-night full board at the Ancient City, while the first runner-up was awarded one night (bed and breakfast) at Flamboyant Hotel. The third-place contestant will enjoy one night (bed and breakfast) at Glenlivet Resort. The mother of the nation’s mobile clinic also benefited people living in hard-to-reach areas, who usually travel long distances to the nearest health facility.

“You must know the disease that affects you so that it is diagnosed early. This helps us to live longer and keep our families and raise our children. Covid-19 remains among us and affects us with different intensity at different intervals. I encourage you to take all the vaccines including booster shots as it would boost one’s immune system against the viral disease,” Dr Mnangagwa said. Cemeteries are now full of some people who are not supposed to have died because they did not seek treatment on time. Let us stay healthy. The projects we have started need healthy people to be successful.”

Dr Tinashe Muswe, the district medical officer for Masvingo, paid tribute to the First Lady for her medical outreach programme.

“I wish to take this opportunity to thank Amai for the programme that she has brought in this district to do cervical and breast cancer screening. In most cases, to get screened, people have to travel long distances, but with outreaches like this, we are able to visit hard-to-reach areas with the mobile clinic, where we reach people before they get serious complications. In this programme, we are screening and treating people before the disease spreads so that women get help. We set up stations where we are testing for HIV, Covid-19 and we have consultation rooms where we are testing for blood pressure and vaccination for Covid-19 so that we get good coverage, and this has been done courtesy of the First Lady. There are hundreds of women who are queuing to get the services while some have already been served and we are going to make sure everyone here is served.”

The programme left beneficiaries overjoyed. Mrs Mercy Demba, who worships at Areka yaJoshua in Zaka, was among the women who were screened for cancer yesterday.

“We are happy for what our mother has done because she attaches importance to us as women. As women, we go through a lot and women today have been asked to come and be screened for cervical cancer free of charge so that we look after our children in good health. As we also make our detergents, we need to be healthy so that the project flourishes. Kushanda kunoda munhu aine hutano hwakanaka,” she said with pride.

Mrs Alicenet Madambi of the Methodist Church thanked the mother of the nation for her benevolence.

“She has done well for us and empowered us. Yesterday we were taught to make detergents and today we are being screened for cancer so that we have good health and look after our children well as we sell our detergents,” she said.

Masvingo Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Ezra Chadzamira praised the First Lady for uniting women from various denominations through her projects.

“Today you have united many different churches. As Masvingo province, we thank you very much for empowering our vulnerable communities through your programmes that include detergents making project. Today you have brought a clinic to the people through your Angel of Hope Foundation. The women of Masvingo have welcomed cervical cancer screening. Cervical cancer is one of the most prevalent cancers among women in developing countries, affecting them mainly starting from the middle-aged. The goal of cervical cancer screening is the detection and treatment before cancer develops. We also thank you for the food you have brought for the people, including maize meal, rice and sugar,” he said.