The Sunday News
Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
THE First Lady, Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa, has called upon all women in Zimbabwe and abroad to join her in three days of prayer and fasting for the nation to be spared from further calamity and suffering amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a statement, Amai Mnangagwa said she was calling upon all women in Zimbabwe and all those abroad to join her in the three days of fasting and praying for the country starting on Thursday for the nation to be spared from further calamity and suffering.
“May I, as the Mother of the Nation call upon all women in Zimbabwe, and all those abroad who may so wish, to join me in fasting and praying to the Lord the Almighty from tomorrow (Thursday) 21 to Saturday 23 January 2021 for our nation to be spared from further calamity and suffering,” she said.
She added that the country has witnessed a lot of Covid-19 deaths in the past two weeks.
Amai Mnangagwa said there was no family that has not suffered the loss of their beloved ones because of the pandemic and everyday names are heard of those that are succumbing to the disease.
She added: “I thus humbly appeal to all women to commit to a three day period from tomorrow in which we fast and pray calling for divine intervention to save the nation and our people. As women, we play a very important role in our society. We hold the family unit together and get it to work for our daily life. Being on the ground at all times, we are the custodians of values and measures that protect us at the smallest unit of society.”
Amai Mnangagwa further called upon women that as they pray to the Almighty for his mercy and grace, they should also use power bestowed upon them by society to ensure that every family is abiding by the measures that have been put in place by the Government to curtail the spread of the infectious disease.
“As mothers, let us enforce compliance at the family level with measures that reduce the spread of Covid19 amongst us,” she added.
Amai Mnangagwa said there was need for a plan at household level for regularly using any means at everyone’s disposal to clean and sanitize the homes, to ensure that everyone in the home knows the importance of having a mask and masking up properly, more importantly to organise sharp safe errands for the requirements to get going whilst enforcing the family to stay at home.
She added: “Let us include the measures against Covid-19 as we play our motherly role of ensuring that every member of the family is responsible for their personal hygiene. As we avoid and fight stigmatisation, lets ensure that all members of the family have knowledge of how to help those that have been infected and are willing to assist those that get sick to cope whilst remaining safe from infection.”
The First Lady also noted that as the nation prays for relief it should observe the measures for safe praying and said the best was to fast and pray as individuals in the homes.
Amai Mnangagwa further stated that: “For those that congregate in small numbers as allowed by the Covid-19 regulations, let us mask up and observe safe physical distancing from each other. I call upon our traditional leaders, chiefs, headmen and village heads to help spread the word in our communities that will help mothers to save the nation from further damage.
“In the same vein, I implore our mass media organisations, print, television, radio, online platforms, to help in getting the message across by hyping up your communication that helps the nation to pray together and to observe the measures that keep us safe.”
Amai Mnangagwa thanked members of the health profession, the frontline heroes that continue to provide assistance to the sick, screening through testing to know the rate of infection and spreading awareness messages that help in compliance.
She also thanked members of the security forces for a sterling job in enforcing compliance with the Covid-19 regulations and encouraged them to keep the good work up for the security of the nation.
She noted that teachers across the country, play a key role in getting the message across to communities and urged them to join the crusade and spread the message.
Amai Mnangagwa further noted: “Covid-19 is taking a toll in our nation, we need to all know that Covid-19 is killing and that there are measures that help the nation in reducing infection. Let us all do our part and save the nation from greater catastrophe. Practice social distancing, mask up and observe good personal hygiene by washing with soap under running water and sanitizing frequently.”
According to the Ministry of Health and Child Care daily Covid-19 update, as of 19 January 2021, Zimbabwe had now recorded 28 675 confirmed cases, including 18 110 recoveries and 825 deaths.
