Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter

FIRST Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa, through her Angel of Hope Foundation, donated over 900 bags of maize to 70 boarding schools and correctional facilities countrywide as part of her drive to ensure she meets the nutritional requirements of the country’s citizenry.

Of the consignment, 700 bags were given to schools, while the remainder benefited correctional facilities.

Amai Mnangagwa, known for her hands-on approach, has been assisting various communities in a bid to afford Zimbabweans equal opportunities.

She assesses their immediate needs and provide solutions to the challenges they face.

Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Services (ZPCS) Deputy Commissioner-General, Dr Granisia Musango, who is responsible for infrastructure, development and business management, expressed gratitude to the First Lady for her kind gesture.

Amai Mnangagwa, who is the voice of the humanitarian relief, has always been donating to inmates.

“We are grateful to Her Excellency Amai Mnangagwa through her Angel of Hope Foundation for this show of love. She has given us maize for nutritional value hence we want to thank her for her generous donation. This will also help us in terms of boosting our supply of food which is a basic need for inmates,” she said.

“Amai has always supported us. She is also our patron for the Female Open Prison in Marondera and she has immensely donated to that institution and we continue to applaud her for remembering our inmates. She is indeed a mother to all.

“We pray that Angel of Hope Foundation continues with the good work because it is touching lives. Amai’s support is valuable to us.”

The Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education, through Mr Taungana Ndoro, the director for communications and advocacy, also expressed delight for the assistance by the First Lady.

He said the grain would also benefit schools with learners who are living with disabilities.

“We are very proud as the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education that we received the motherly love of the First Lady who donated bags of maize to our schools throughout the nation.

“The bags have been received in all our 10 provinces and at least 70 schools benefited.

“Among the schools are those with learners with disabilities like Jairos Jiri, Emerald Hill and Danhiko. The donation is quite inclusive and we would want to thank the First lady once again because she has shown her motherly love,” he said.

The gift, he said, would help ensure that schools satisfy the requirement of providing at least one hot meal for learners a day.

“We have got a health policy within the Ministry of Primary and Secondary Education where it is mandatory that our schools to at least provide one hot meal to our learners per day. Because certain learners find it difficult to concentrate in class because they do not have sufficient food,” said Mr Ndoro.

This is not the first time the First Lady has mobilised food resources for schools as she has been running a schools feeding programme to ensure learners are not kept away from school by hunger.

The mother of the nation has a passion for the welfare of children and other vulnerable groups in the country. – Herald