First Lady receives red carpet welcome in Dominican Republic

Tendai Rupapa in PUNTA CANA, Dominican Republic

TOURISM patron First Lady Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa received a red carpet welcome on her maiden visit to the Dominican Republic following a special invitation from UN Tourism and the Dominican Republic Government for the inaugural UN Tourism Africa & Americas Summit.

This is in recognition of her role in promoting cultural tourism, particularly gastronomy.

So warm was the welcome which included a top-notch escort from the airport where she was received by the Dominican Republic’s Government officials, UN Tourism officials and other dignitaries.

The UN Tourism Africa & Americas Summit, which Dr Mnangagwa will address as guest speaker, marks a significant step in international tourism collaboration.

The summit represents a crucial step in leveraging tourism for economic development and cultural diplomacy.

Representatives from Superate Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Family Farming Programme, which is a comprehensive strategy against poverty in the Dominican Republic focusing on targeted social intervention through socio-educational support in communities, also paid a courtesy call on Dr Mnangagwa, who is also Agric4She patron.

The First Lady’s Agric4She programme has reached far and wide such that the Superate-Fao Family Farming representatives said since they worked with women farmers in communities, they had a lot to learn from Dr Mnangagwa.

They further discussed possible areas of collaboration with the mother of the nation.

The team promised to pay a reciprocal visit to Zimbabwe for exchange programmes.

The First Lady also toured farming projects being undertaken by the women under Superate-Fao Family Farming programme.

During the meeting with Mrs Gloria Reyes, general director of Superate, FAO representative in the Dominican Republic Mr Rodrigo Castaneda, Dominican Republic Vice Minister of Tourism Mrs Patricia Mejia and other officials, Dr Mnangagwa expressed gratitude for being invited to the summit and the reception she was accorded.

She also shared the vast work that she is doing back home, after her remarks a video clip was shown highlighting the work that she is doing through her Agric4She programme capturing the imagination of guests.

“Thank you for inviting me and also for the reception that we received so far, we feel at home. We are glad to have learnt and seen what FAO is doing in order to uplift the livelihoods of people mainly women here in the Dominican Republic.

“We also have FAO in our country which is working closely with the Ministry of Agriculture. The Government of Zimbabwe has been working very hard to cushion its people, especially in the wake of last season’s El Niño-induced drought that caused massive crop failure.

“Where I come in, as the First Lady and the mother of the nation, I am looking at what is happening at the family level. Working in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture, I came up with a programme called Agric4she, which means agriculture is done by women only,” she said to applause.

Dr Mnangagwa said women and children bore the brunt of challenges in their homes, hence the focus on them in most of her programmes.

“When something happens, it affects the mother and the children more, so I thought of working with the mother and her children at a family level. I have taken women for training and short courses with one of the universities like Zimbabwe Open University where they are being trained on how to start and manage their businesses including farming projects.”

“The women have taken farming as a business hence the need for financial discipline as they become self-reliant. Women are now helping their spouses, working hard to bring food to the table. We are hit by climate change and we did not receive enough rainfall last season.

“So what we cultivated last year is seeing us through these difficult times because we managed to put the excess to the Grain Marketing Board which is also helping to feed other provinces that didn’t get enough rainfall.

“I encouraged women under Agric4She to also focus on traditional grains that are resistant to drought and these are rapoko, sorghum and millet that are sustaining families,” she said.

Mrs Reyes praised Dr Mnangagwa’s Agric4She programme.

“We are pleased to know the advances that Zimbabwe has had with this movement of agriculture for women you are spearheading. I understand that this is the rightful way to empower women especially those in rural areas to grow economically.

“We congratulate the social policies of the Government of Zimbabwe and especially of the First Lady as an engine that is igniting and pushing all these programmes throughout the nation of Zimbabwe. We are appreciative and honoured by your visit and we can exchange experiences for the benefit of women from both countries,” she said.

She added, “I had the pleasure of visiting your country sometime back. I would like to express that to us Dominicans, Zimbabwe is a country that makes us feel at home. We will visit again. In this meeting, we would like to address subjects that we really understand which is the development of social support for the vulnerable.

“Our President Luis Abinader has been vocal about the need to change the lifestyles of vulnerable communities in the country. This programme is not only to exchange knowledge but also opens the possibilities of exchanging experiences and replicating such programmes in our nation as well,” she said.

FAO representative Mr Castaneda said his organisation provided support to governments to guarantee food security.

“The main mechanism is to improve the condition of the vulnerable people. The big portion of these people are in the rural areas,” he said.

He hailed Dr Mnangagwa for the Agric4SHE programme and explained to her the Superate-FAO Family Programme.

Dominican Republic Vice Minister of Tourism Mrs Patricia Mejia said it was a great honour to have Dr Mnangagwa in her country and she pledged to pay Zimbabwe a reciprocal visit soon.

“For us as the Dominican Republic its an honour to have the First Lady of Zimbabwe here and all the teams and we are very happy and hope to be in Zimbabwe very soon,” she said.

The Minister also praised the First Lady’s Agric4she programme and said they had something similar in her country.

“We have something similar here in the Dominican Republic and its very important for us to share the details of this project to improve because gastronomy is tourism and culture in one,” she said.

Dr Mnangagwa, herself an avid farmer who is famed for her hands-on approach, toured FAO’s “Casa Sombra” which is a community greenhouse project where she interacted with the beneficiaries.

The project is modelled along the lines of nutrition gardens that she is setting up across communities back home to empower vulnerable communities, especially women and ensure they earn a dignified living from the use of their own hands.

One of the elderly farmers said; “We farm and sell various types of vegetables and crops and we are now expanding our business to hotels and restaurants where we are supplying them with our produce.

“With this farming programme, as women, we can be financially independent. We are now businesswomen through farming. All the women under this programme are hardworking thanks to FAO’s support.

“They have given us an opportunity to step out of poverty. As a mother and grandmother, I know we are going to reap the fruit of our seed. We also want to thank the men of the community for helping us. It has been a blessing to be able to learn how to produce products organically. We also want to thank the First Lady of Zimbabwe for visiting us and touring our nutrition garden.”

In response, Dr Mnangagwa said women worldwide were the same and experience similar challenges hence the need to put hands together and work as one.

She encouraged the women to continue working hard. – Herald