The Sunday News
Harare Bureau
TRADITIONAL leaders have thrown their weight behind First Lady Amai Auxillia Mnangagwa’s interventions to revive the respect for tradition through her Nhanga/Gota/Ixhiba programme aimed at fighting juvenile delinquency, child marriage, prostitution, disrespectfulness and drug abuse.
The First Lady has been leading from the front in spearheading programmes to build a brighter future for the country. She has been tapping into the country’s rich cultural heritage which has inbuilt mechanisms to fight challenges which affect adolescents and mould them into responsible citizens.
Yesterday, the First Lady took her programme, which is called “Dzidziso yaAmai muNhanga/Gota/Ixhiba yevachirikuyaruka”, to Mashonaland East province. The proceedings were held at Mr Murambiwa Bungu’s (Chief Chikwaka) homestead. Chief Chikwaka described the First Lady’s intervention as timely saying most youths of today were getting lost because of Western influences.
“Gota is a hut where the boy child sleeps. Boys of age are the ones who sleep in the Gota. Nhanga is a hut for girls where they were taught in the day and slept at night. This hut was not placed far from the parents’ bedroom for security reasons. This is where the girl child is moulded so that when she has her own home, she knows what is expected of her. Sadly, these things had died down because of technology and Western influences,” he said.
During the Nhanga session, the First Lady was with chiefs’ wives, elderly women from the community and Mashonaland East Provincial Affairs and Devolution Minister Aplonia Munzverengwi. The girls were drawn from all districts in the province.
The First Lady said: “We have come to discuss with you so that you understand your value in the home and in life.
We want to teach you what Ubuntu, culture and morality are. We also want to speak about the importance of education. These teachings we are not giving them to you so that you rush into marriages. No, we want to mould you so that you have better values for a brighter future. Grandparents and chiefs’ wives, let us teach these children,” she said.
The First Lady asked the girls what it is that they do when waking up every morning. One girl said she ensures the pots and dishes are cleaned. However, the First Lady said the dishes are cleaned immediately after use and that the house must be cleaned before retiring to bed saying dirty dishes invited cockroaches and rats into the house. The girls were also taught about menstrual hygiene and the effects of indulging in pre-marital sex. Amai Mnangagwa warned that sexual relationships spawn unwanted pregnancies and affected education, among many other issues.
The elderly and the First Lady took the youths through the practical stages of using a mortar and pestle, cleaning the house with cow dung and cooking. They cooked road runner chicken, mushroom, madora and millet sadza.
After the sessions, the First Lady addressed the community and decried that most children of today had lost morals, hence her intervention.
“Our children have become immoral owing to Western influences and this has wreaked havoc across the country.
Boys are moving about with unbuckled trousers while girls are also no longer wearing dignified apparel such that when they walk past, the elderly feel ashamed. They are rushing into sexual relationships, fall pregnant and leave their education midway. Some parents are now also divorcing because of the children’s behaviour. Others develop hypertension. No, this is not the way, let’s do things the proper way. Grandmothers and aunts where are you?
May you kindly close this gap and assist these children while they are still young. You, who have been educated today, go and be good ambassadors teaching those who are not here present. I will come back here when you invite me to see how far you would have gone with the programme,” she said.
The First Lady took her time to educate people on the importance of following health guidelines on Covid-19 saying the pandemic is far from over. Amai Mnangagwa also gave the children school bags, stationery and assortment of foodstuffs. Chief’s wives were given food hampers and toiletries, while chiefs were given maize seed and fertiliser.
Yesterday’s proceedings were held in observance of World Health Organisation (WHO) Covid-19 prevention regulations of masking up, sanitising and observing social distancing.
