First Lady’s family fun day brings delight

Tendai Rupapa, Harare Bureau
HARARE residents yesterday toasted to a thrilling First Lady’s family fun-day where people of various age groups took part in sporting activities, courtesy of the country’s health ambassador First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa, who is spearheading efforts to ensure the nation enjoys the health and therapeutic benefits of sport.

The First Lady launched the family fun day in 2018, but it had been put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The programme took place at the Zimbabwe Grounds, Highfield, where the mother of the nation also spoke about Covid-19 prevention and tackled social problems including drug abuse, child marriages and domestic violence.

During an interactive session with thousands of people who turned up, Dr Mnangagwa highlighted the benefits of sport and left people awestruck by her grasp of issues and search for lasting solutions that promote harmony in homes. Free health checks were part of the package to ensure people know their health status and are placed on treatment early to save life.

Famed for her hands-on approach, Amai Mnangagwa took part in sporting activities, which included netball, egg race, clay pot balancing race and tug of war. Other activities that were lined up for the fun-filled day included soccer, walk race, sprinting, sack race, apple and sadza eating. Traditional games like pada, tsoro, nhodo and raka-raka were also played, adding colour to the event and giving participants a weekend to remember.

People were left in stitches when Gogo Faith Chitaukire (65), Gogo Anna Nyabadza (67) and Sekuru Solomon Chitaukire (75) took part in a 100m dash. It was a hilariously thrilling moment when Gogo Chitaukire ran as fast as her ageing feet could carry her, beating other contenders who included her husband who took third position.

“I never thought I would win this race. I had never exercised in a very long time but I am sure the benefits of exercising regularly are many. I will no longer get exhausted easily,” she said with a broad smile.

Despite losing to his better half, Sekuru Chitaukire said he had found a rare opportunity to exercise.

“What has happened here is something to cherish. I feel like running every day because the benefits are great. People must get a chance to exercise because this bodes well for their health. We want to thank our mother, the First Lady, for this programme,” he said.

A youth, who participated in a football match, Russel Chimangi, said the First Lady had struck the right chord.

“What Amai has done for us this day is remarkable. We need to constantly exercise and participate in sporting activities as this helps us stay away from drugs and focus on things that benefit us. There is no harm in coming together as young people and exercise to keep strong and shun drugs, which have no known benefit to us,” he said.

There were soccer matches pitting Rusape FC and Highfield Pirates as well Vale FC and Lowveld FC. In netball, Flash Hiders battled it out against Cheeters, while Peacock battled Budiriro Stormers. Amai Mnangagwa played for Highfield Assassins Queens which won against Tongogara Queens. Dr Mnangagwa came second in the egg race and first in the clay pot balancing race.

There were also aerobics and those who took part and won in various activities walked away with prizes which included food hampers, toiletry hampers, toasters, hand mixers, hand blenders, T-shirts and caps among other things.

Deputy Minister of Sport, Arts and Recreation Tino Machakaire and the Ministry’s permanent secretary Ms Thokozile Chitepo were among dignitaries who attended the fun day. Deputy Minister Machakaire praised the First Lady for her programmes like Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba which promote good morals, speak against drugs and for standing for the cause of the girl child.

“Sport is therapeutic and has immense benefits for the health of the people, hence our commitment to ensure people take part in sport. As a ministry responsible for youths, we are fully supporting you Amai. We see you moving around counselling children and the change is quite significant.

We wish this continues and we will always back you. Your vision is unparalleled and we struggle to meet your pace which is bigger than ours as young people. I thank you heartily for advising our children to leave the drugs which they are taking and through your teachings we have started teaching our youths that drugs will never carry our nation forward. May your strength keep on being increased so that we rescue our youths who are not attending school because of drugs. Some of them are losing lives because they have no one to teach them.

I urge people here present to pick at least one good lesson and wherever you go it will be helpful. Whenever a chief’s child is being counselled, you the servant must listen because the lessons here will give our families direction,” he said.

Dr Mnangagwa said she was happy to spend time with the people especially the elderly with the aim of keeping bodies strong in order to promote good health. She sent people roaring with laughter when she said during the netball game she played, she lost balance and fell down which made the game a memorable one.

“Today we have seen many games that were being done by the elderly and our young children. I thank you because that builds relationships, unity, companionship and helping one another. As the ambassador for health I decided to come and discuss with you the importance of our bodies through exercises. We have come to stretch our bodies and other inner parts like the heart, lungs, kidneys and the brain. We do not see those parts of the body with our own eyes, but we can help them through exercises.

If we do this regularly even at home; do not wake up and bask in the sun, especially in this cold weather. Do exercises, not just jogging and jumping. Even taking a walk can help your body. This also helps fight diseases and keep them at bay. Covid-19 is back and we now have a fifth wave so we must never stop protecting ourselves.

“Let us always put on our masks because the fifth wave is here. We, however, do not know how strong it will be. It is, however, not a forcing matter that one be vaccinated, but I saw it working and I encourage you to get vaccinated. The first and second jabs and the booster shot are essential. Covid-19 is not a playing matter, it kills,” she said.

The mother of the nation said people had to always be alert because all the Covid-19 waves had claimed lives. She implored people to discard opinions from third parties against vaccination.

“As individuals, look after yourselves. I urge everyone to be vaccinated so that we look after our families. This will enable us to work for our country and keep seeing one another. As I stand before you, I got all the three jabs and there was no change in my body, neither did I suffer mental challenges. Let us not lie to each other,” she said.

Sport, Dr Mnangagwa emphasised, helped improve blood circulation and get rid of clots that affect internal organs. She implored people to revert to indigenous meals which have high nutritional value and medicinal properties.

“Some countries flock here to take our indigenous dishes because they are medicinal yet we feel embarrassed to take okra. The day we prepare okra we close the gates and lock windows with shame. No, this food helps us because it is part of our way of life.”

She spoke candidly against drug abuse among youths who are taking highly potent foreign substances whose effects were not fully known. “To make matters worse, our children are also making their own intoxicating substances and this affects our inner parts of the body as I have said before like the heart, lungs and kidneys. You will be ruining yourselves,” she said.

Some women, she said were also involved in drugs and are selling narcotics to children.

“This is a challenge that I am giving you to call me back later to see what you would have done and trained the children. If you know of anyone selling drugs to children, kindly call on the 575 toll free line in my office and make an anonymous report,” she said.

She said she learnt from her Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba programme that some parents were to be blamed for challenges faced by youths due to lack of parental guidance.

“Domestic violence in the homes is serious. Who can tell me that when couples are fighting and one is angry in the home, what should we do as women?” she asked.

One woman said: “When my husband is angry, I lower my voice and advise him to cool down. We know men get so angry and disown the children when angry.”

The First Lady sought to know who starts violence in the home and a discussant said: “Nowadays the challenge is that the women cannot keep quiet and there are some men who use bad language and scold the whole family. I think if possible parents must all speak with their children jointly in peace without raising voices at each other.”

Yet another discussant paid tribute to the First Lady for her efforts to build homes.

“I see you have come a long way uniting people. Like you have said Amai, when people have differences they must get someone to reconcile them,” he said.

The First lady concurred saying reconciliation was essential to promote development and peace in the home.

All those who attended went home with gifts from the First Lady. In his vote of thanks, Councillor Gift July, the Epworth board chair, hailed the mother of the nation for rolling out programmes which benefited the nation.

“We thank you for such wonderful programmes and may God continue giving you strength to serve the nation,” he said.