THOUSANDS of widows yesterday sang and danced with joy when First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa launched the Mashonaland Central Province chapter of the First Lady's Widows Association in Guruve with a provision of stock to open shops as well as goats, chickens and feed for empowerment projects.
Mashonaland Central, Dr Mnangagwa's home province, becomes the fourth province where the association has been launched after Mashonaland West, Masvingo and Manicaland.
Nearly 3 000 widows from the districts of Rushinga, Mazowe, Shamva, Mbire, Bindura, Guruve, Mt Darwin and Muzarabani benefited.
Under the instruction and supervision of the mother of the nation, the women immediately formed committees for them to work transparently on different projects.
The stock distributed included maize meal, sugar, sugar beans, rice, water, beverages, macaroni, biscuits and snacks.
Livestock feed suppliers Profeeds and Irvine's partnered the First Lady's Angel of Hope Foundation and were on the ground to train beneficiaries on how to run poultry projects.
Bulawayo-based arts group, Iyasa, provided edutainment and performed a play depicting a widow who was left with two children on her husband's demise.
Greedy relatives snatched everything, leaving her wallowing in poverty and reduced to a beggar.
The widow was ridiculed and labelled a prostitute and witch.
Her children were later taken away from her by relatives who accused her of killing her husband.
At the end of the play, the group said widows deserved respect, protection, rights and freedom.
Irvine's customer service and broiler development manager Mr Edwin Ngonyama and Mr Denford Sibanda from Profeeds who were brought by First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa to teach widows how to breed chickens explain the process during the launch of the First Lady's Widows Association in Mashonaland Central yesterday
Widows, the group members said, had a right to a better life and were not supposed to be stripped of their assets. They said it was criminal and immoral to suppress widows and orphans.
So engaging was the play that some widows could be seen wiping away tears as some of the issues raised mirrored the real-life challenges they were facing.
In her remarks, the First Lady enjoined widows to put to good use, the goods they had received and use their hands to earn a dignified living in the communities.
"I thank you for coming in your numbers madzimai. I founded the First Lady's Widows Association with you in my mind. For a widow, the journey starts with the death of your spouse.
"God would have judged and death has no appointment. When your spouse dies, you mourn over why it happened to you and wonder who will look after the children.
How will we survive? We do not blame God, but we thank him for our wonderful time with the deceased and ask for strength to start a new life you would not have planned.
"You must ask for strength to raise the children from God. When God's time is ripe no one can say otherwise," she said.
The First Lady commented on the play by Iyasa.
"Our children from Iyasa enacted a play which bore many lessons. The woman we saw in the play went through a lot of challenges.
"I then say to widows wipe your tears, arise and work for the family. Do not think about being inherited but look after the children. God will never lead you through challenges that you cannot stand against, he will make a way. We say no to those widows who start having boyfriends and children see a variety of clothes belonging to different lovers in the wardrobe. What will they learn from you?
"Also, if you as a mother wear skin tights, is that good? Be a dignified mother who is respectable. When widowed it does not mean you do not bathe. If you start a market stall, you need to be neat and presentable because no one wants to buy food from someone who would not have bathed. You should not spend the day with pulling socks in the head," she said to applause.
Part of the stock donated by First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa to thousands of widows to start income generating projects during the launch of the Mashonaland Central chapter of the First Lady's widows association yesterday
A devout Christian herself, Dr Mnangagwa implored widows to put God first in everything they do.
"Put God first in all you do. Speak to God and say you took away Richard and I am thankful for the time I had with him and now give me strength to soldier on.
"I have come to reinforce that a woman must work. I have come to officially launch the First Lady's Widows Association Mashonaland Central chapter so that you start businesses.
"I want to thank the Angel of Hope Foundation partners I have been working with to assist others. We want to form committees so that we start running our businesses.
"I have brought stock and given you goats, chickens and feed for projects. I will be working with the Ministry of Women Affairs, Gender, Community, Small and Medium Enterprises Development who will be overseeing the projects. We want financial discipline in the projects. What I have brought is not for you to consume with your families but to transform your lives.
'You learnt business management from the Zimbabwe Open University under its partnership with Angel of Hope Foundation and you are going to apply the knowledge in your new businesses. It will help you with financial literacy. I want your businesses to thrive. I wish you all the best," she said.
Zimbabwe Prison and Correctional Service (ZPCS) Chaplin Christine Phiri emphasised the need for widows to work hard and embrace the teachings of the First Lady.
"Today our mother has come to speak to you widows. She is a loving mother who does not select. She understands the difficulties faced by widows in life and she says I love you," she said.
"The First Lady said to me you were widowed at 21 and you understand how difficult it is so let us go and speak to other women. She is saying stop grieving, be comforted, wipe your tears, arise and work for your families," she said before breaking into the song "Ariko munyaradzi Jesu chinyarara kuchema".
"Our mother is saying if you lost a loved one, the healing process starts when you accept the situation. Someone was widowed 10 years ago, but she continues with a heavy heart and is always crying. Our mother is saying you grieved and it's enough. Arise and work.
Nowadays there is a song by Killer T called "Kana ndanyura". Our mother is saying do not fall neck-deep in love with a boyfriend and destroy the wealth left for the children by your husband. Falling in love to the point of not returning home and neglecting your children.
"Your children will be living as orphans yet their mother will be alive and spending time with Uncle Joe and the following day Uncle Peter.
"Our children learn from us and what will they learn if you have multiple lovers. Avoid the bars and work. Stop living a lie and work hard. Use your hands to look after your children. Amai is saying wake up and bath, wear clean clothes and do your projects. Our mother is saying teach your children to walk in the correct path so that when they grow up they won't depart from it.
"Have time with your children. I was widowed and started frequenting bars. However, I found grace and stopped that. Our mother is imploring us to work. Let us use our hands to earn a living," she said.
Mr Edwin Ngonyamo, an Irvine's Zimbabwe representative said his firm works closely with the First Lady with her AoHF being their development partner.
"The First Lady's AoHF is our partner as far as development is concerned and we have been working with her for a long time. She has facilitated empowerment, particularly in the communal areas which are the biggest constituency in the country. We work closely with women who are dear to our mother's heart. Under the partnership, we will be supplying day-old chicks and training the women because we think training is the cornerstone of success in the poultry industry. Partnering the First Lady has enabled us to reach out to the biggest constituency in the country and we thank her for giving us that opportunity," he said.
Mr Denford Sibanda, a technical support specialist from Profeeds said he was glad to be part of the programme.
"We came here in partnership with Angel of Hope Foundation supporting widows and providing them with technical knowledge about chickens since the First Lady has started a poultry project for them. We were teaching them how to rear broilers and feed them. We taught them the husbandry part in cold weather and in hot weather. This will help them gain profit enough to cover their expenses and be able to support themselves and their families," he said.
So thankful were the beneficiaries of the programme that they promised to beat the ground running.
"Our First Lady is so kind and caring. I will work hard to repay the trust she has bestowed upon us. I feel loved," quipped Mrs Portia Pfidze.
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Mrs Susan Bandambira said she had been given a pathway to success.
"The First Lady is well-meaning. She has given us a pathway to success and I want to work hard so that I manage to send my children to school without any challenges. God bless our First Lady," she said.
Mrs Rhoda Moyo was equally grateful.
"I am really happy because our First Lady is not selective. She loves us all as her children and she has founded an association for us and given us a head start. I will not embarrass her in any way but work hard to change my life. To God be the glory," she said.
Gogo Rinei Pondo said she was seeing the hand of God at work.
"I see the hand of God in what the mother of the nation is doing. I lost my husband more than 10 years ago and had no one to take care of me and the children. May God grant her many more years filled with success and forever give her more wisdom to help the needy like us. Things were hard for us but we have been given a new lease of life," she said.
The views dovetailed with those of Mrs Memory Moyo who said she had been given a chance to succeed.
"My life went upside down when I lost my husband whom I depended on for support. He was my pillar of strength and I felt the walls of the world crumbling around me when he died. Thankfully, the First Lady has come to us saying we should wipe our tears and work hard to feed our families. She has also been giving us valuable lessons on the need to have self-respect and not indulge in meaningless love affairs," Mrs Moyo said.
Minister of State for Mashonaland Central Provincial Affairs and Devolution Christopher Magomo expressed gratitude to the First Lady for her well-thought-out empowerment programmes.
"Amai, we receive you here in Mashonaland Central Province with happiness. You always remember us as you roll out many empowerment programmes. Today you have come to empower the Widows through the association you launched. We thank you very much for this programme where you have taken them on board in terms of development since they were lagging. We have here widows from all the districts in our province and we fully embrace your initiatives," he said.
