Chiefs carry forward First Lady’s cultural initiatives
Walter Nyamukondiwa
Traditional leaders and communities they lead will nurture the seed of cultural consciousness planted by First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa through her Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba initiative.
To that end and in support of the First Lady’s vision, Chief Ngezi hosted a similar activity that drew traditional leaders and the Mhondoro community to impart skills and knowledge on traditional ways of life and culture in youths.
Chiefs and headmen’s wives took the girls through practical lessons that include household chores, peanut butter making, pounding, grinding, winnowing and cooking.
They were also taught to do general upkeep of the girls quarters, nhanga.
Similarly boys got some valuable life skills such as wood carving, harnessing milk, skinning a goat and a catalogue of traditional herbs.
The youths also enjoyed some traditional and cultural games such as nhodo, pada, maflawu and tsoro, among others.
Tinotenda Macheka of St Mark’s Primary school said the programme was important in raising awareness among youths on the importance and value of culture.
“I would like to thank the First Lady for rekindling the consciousness of our traditions, especially among the youths,” he said.
The programme was hailed as key in helping to stem drug and substance abuse, which are largely attributed to erosion of values and adoption of alien cultures.
Another learner Tadiwa Chikukwa said the sessions had helped to bring the elderly and children together.
“We now have a platform where we can sit down with our elders and get valuable wisdom. This engagement was dying a natural death and we thank our mother, the First Lady, for reviving such an initiative,” said Tadiwa.
A member of the Mhondoro community Mrs Primerame Alumando said there was some significant improvement in the attitude of some children after exposure to the sessions.
“As communities, we need more of the interactive sessions between the elderly and children to impart our tradition and cultural values and this is what our mother the First Lady wants.
“She is always encouraging us as elders to have time with the youth and guide through the correct path. We already see some improvement showing that our mother the First Lady is doing a good job,” said Mrs Alumando.
Guest of honour and chairperson of Parliamentary Committee on Culture Senator Chief Nechombo hailed the First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa for coming up with the initiative as critical in restoring cultural and traditional values.
“The First Lady should be proud to see the fruit of her initiative and effort in restoring our traditional and cultural values,” said Chief Nechombo.
“Traditional leaders working with Government and other stakeholders have taken up the challenge to promote our traditional and cultural values. We hail Chief Ngezi for initiating such a programme.”
The initiative, said Chief Nechombo, was key in ending child marriages and domestic and gender-based violence. Lessons learnt would help promote peaceful co-existence in communities.
Host Chief Ngezi said he was challenged by the First Lady and decided to also help promote her vision.
“Our traditional beliefs are under siege from mostly Western culture and we need to take seriously the challenge by the First Lady,” he said.
Headman Musokota said children were responding positively to the values espoused in the programme.
“We are seeing some positive changes in our communities where children now accept to be corrected even by people not their parents,” she said. First Lady Dr Mnangagwa initiated the Gota/Nhanga/Ixhiba programme to restore traditional and cultural values, which faced threats from western influences, embedded in entertainment and the Internet. – Herald