Archive for the ‘Uncategorized’ Category
Increasing visibilityof women creatives
By: myadmin • March 4, 2021
Women sculptors in Masvingo pose with their wares
March is Women’s month and it goes without saying that our patriarchal society is still relentless on stifling the emancipation of women by propagating negative gender assumptions. With this year’s theme dubbed #choose to challenge, there is an emmediate need to call out and raise awareness against gender bias, take action for equality and create inclusive workplaces so that women and girls can thrive. We have been in Masvingo and had the opportunity to meet and have deliberations with female sculptors who plie their wares along the Great Zimbabwe high way. Much as this is a very much male dominated fraternity, quiet a significant number of women have made their way into this venture. Owing to the delapidated socio economic structures of the country which has prompted more women and girls to irk alternative ways of livelihood, there is a steady increase of women and girls setting out in sculpturing, a physically taxing job which society has assigned as a male preserve. They however face challenges when having their periods as there are no proper sanitation facilities in the proximity.There also have stiff competition from their male counterparts who because of entitlement believe they have rights over the soap stone that is the raw material used to make this life like sculptures and end up fighting them and sometimes chase them away from the sights.Some of these women are the sole bread winners and this is their only source of livelihood. There is need for the government and relevant stakeholders to aid these women by training them to be fully fledged business people and aquire skills to market even internationally.
The youth situation in Zimbabwe
By: myadmin • February 24, 2021
A Nhanga session with adolescent girls and young women on Youth day
Still in the spirit of commemorating the Youth day,there is need to do a thorough environmental scan of the youth situation in our country and the greater world,because remembering this day only is not enough but rather it has to come with reforms and policies targeted at alleviating the vulnerability of youths both male and female. What seems to be the heaviest burden on the youths is unemployment. There is an influx of educated but unemployed graduates roaming the streets aimlessly without much hope for the future. Notably the supply side of graduates surpasses by miles their demand with tertiary institutions sprouting rampantly and others scaling up enrollment in a terrain with stifled employment opportunities. The catastrophy of these youths is failing to progress their lives further from parental support. Most are failing to get properly married and build peaceful and sustainable relationships because of poverty, with some opting to engage in illicit activities for survival.Transactional sex is also rife with now even males just as with females, sleeping with older rich people for money. After all this is exhausted, it sheds the light on the fact that much of society’s problems stem from this lack of empowerment of the youth. The transmission of HIV and other STIs will continue since it is hard for these youths to negotiate safe sex when desperate. Corruption and crime will become the order of the day for the youths to irk a living, prostitution, GBV will also escalate unabated. It is then a call to the government and relevant stakeholders to program for the youths and create spaces where youths can be productive. Given that they constitute the majority of the population, it is appalling to even imagine where we are going as a society if this reality is not auctioned and things continue like this.
Disability in the face of Covid 19
By: myadmin • February 16, 2021
A ROOTS staff member talks to *Chipo about her life challenges.
Disability is a social construct where persons are said to be such based on certain handicaps that inhibits their full bodily function that is expected of them. It is a pity because not only are persons living with certain handicaps labeled disabled but also they are discriminated against and hence fail to achieve their full potential due to lack of access to education, employment opportunities and even health. Especially in Africa countries’fiscal budgets are barely sufficient to cater for all the needs of this group of people given that their challenges differ because their handicaps are not homogeneous, which even doubles the challenge of mainstreaming them in developmental efforts. During this 2nd wave of Covid-19, ROOTS has been giving out food packs to vulnerable communities and their priority was of people who are living with disability.It was our observation that people with mental health challenges are at the mercy of a society that does not fully comprehend the dynamics around mental challenges and treats them inhuman.*Chipo is such one young woman who is 20 years of age and suffers from occasional dimentia. She has 2 children who are barely 2 years apart whose fathers are unknown. She survives through alms from neighbors as her only care giver is an aged grandmother. Given that she also contracted HIV at 16 because men in the neighborhood have a tendency of exploiting her sexually, she needs a special diet to take her medication and also someone who monitors how she takes her medication. This story is just one of the many that are happening in our communities. There is an urgent need to help this population as they also need to enjoy the same human rights as everyone else.
AFDB donates food packs to ROOTS
By: myadmin • February 4, 2021
The African Development Bank through recommendations from the Higher life foundation extended alms to ROOTS by donating food packs worth 12 000 us dollars aimed at benefiting the vulnerable in Mazowe during lockdown. The Corona virus has resulted in depleted incomes and livelihoods, paving way for spiraling poverty and food insecurity at household level. Initially when the Corona virus hit Zimbabwe last year and the first ever lockdown was imposed, the organization responded by running a go fund me campaign that managed to canvass funds enough to feed about 300 families around Harare, Chitungwiza, Epworth, Mazowe, Bindura and Shamva. The call for food relief was overwhelming especially for an organization which does not directly program around food relief. It then gives both a boost of confidence and moral when other organizations appreciate ROOTS’ efforts and extend a hand towards this humanitarian endevour. The food packs that have been donated aim to alleviate chronic food insecurity which is endemic during pandemics that cripple economies and ultimately livelihoods even at household level such as Corona virus. An approximated 300 more families will benefit from this food donation which includes a consortium of basic commodities such as mealie meal, sugar, cooking oil, beans, some sanitary wear amongst other food stuffs. The current lockdown has been as a result of the escalating numbers of covid 19 cases in the country which was realised soon after the Christmas holiday and the government had to quickly act to contain further transmission by imposing a lockdown.
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By: myadmin • January 29, 2021
https://www.facebook.com/210213359526674/posts/806639189884085/
