Story by Tamuka Charakupa
THE Rengwe community of Hurungwe West is set to benefit from a borehole sinking programme and nutritional garden established by ZANU PF affiliate, MenBelievED.
The programme comes at a time when learners were fetching drinking water two kilometres away from school, while villagers were relying on the nearby Musukwi River.
The learners believe the boreholes will support practical learning, including agriculture, building and culinary subjects in line with the Heritage-based Education 5.0 Model.
“We are grateful to the MenBelievED as they have come at an opportune time. The availability of water has been one major stumbling block to our learning curve. As you know, we are in the rural areas where farming is key, thus agriculture learning has to be emphasised but this was impossible due to unavailability of water sources close by,” a learner said.
Another added, “The unavailability of water also affected girls during their menstrual cycles as many girls would stay at home during their time.”
“Our youths here have been caught in the drug and substance abuse web and one of the reasons is the unavailability of ty something to occupy them. As this project takes shape, we are confident that it will help fight that,” noted Mrs Grace Kundishora.
Hurungwe West legislator Honourable Chinjai Kambuzuma is excited about the new development.
“This constituency is largely Natural Region 4 and 5 where water is a challenge. Open water sources quickly run dry and this affects our livestock. We are confident that this project has also come to our livestock solution as many lost their cattle and goats to the unavailability of water which was compounded by the El Nino-induced drought ravaging the country. As we wait for our villages to benefit from the Presidential Borehole Sinking Scheme, we have had the privilege of having affiliates and organisations to help alleviate communities. The MenBelievED has given us two boreholes and we have also gotten some from 4-H Zimbabwe and Minerals Marketing Cooperation of Zimbabwe.”
The initiative also seeks to buttress the national vision of inclusive development.
MenBelievED, national spokesperson Mr Timothy Nyakudzuka said, “This project is an empowerment to the youths and women in the community. Apart from the borehole, we have prepared a one-hectare piece of land that will be fenced and equipped with drip irrigation.”
“We are also going to provide seed and fertilisers to the beneficiaries. And apart from the borehole and nutritional garden, the provincial organ had pulled resources to renovate and construct classroom blocks at Kanyaga Primary School in Makonde district,” added MenBelievED, Mashonaland West provincial chairperson Mr Elijah Tambala.
Inclusive development is at the core of the Second Republic’s policies, with the provision of water and food security as well as the construction of clinics, schools and roads being vigorously pursued countrywide.
