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Writes Elvis Dumba
Zvimba – The various initiatives by The First Lady Dr. Auxilia Mnangagwa has been described as empowerment game changer for disadvantaged citizens.
A 66-year-old granny Elizabeth Chidakwa said the program has offered her wings and eyes to improve her agriculture activities.
The small-scale agriculture enthusiastic granny said the short agriculture training has empowered her to know how she can improve her yields and commercialize her agriculture activities.
Chidakwa told this publication after she went through such training at Mt Hampden Vocational Training Center where she got basic agriculture skills under the First Lady’s life-skills empowerment educational programs.
“I have improved my know knowledge of how I can improve my yields and how best I can get more out of my agricultural yields,” she said during a break from the lessons at the vocational institute.
” I have been passionate about agriculture since I was young and I am grateful for these programs being offered by the First Lady as now I have improved my knowledge of how to improve my yields and how to plan and budget for my work,” she said.
“I went to school up to grade seven and never had a chance to get any training before. I used the agriculture knowledge I grew up seeing from others but I didn’t appreciate how much fertilizers I would need or how best to market my products. This training has given me eyes to be able to plan for the agriculture season in time and wings to soar in my endeavors and I am grateful to our mother, the First Lady Dr. Auxilia Mnangagwa for offering us such training,” the excited granny told this publication.
Chidakwa is expected to be amongst the hundreds of people who are expected to receive certificates from the First Lady during a graduation ceremony expected for Banket on Thursday 9 June 2023.
“I am so happy that at my age I will graduate and receive my first certificate which I believe will inspire my grandchildren to do more in their education and challenge others to take up skills in education seriously,” she said.
The First Lady Dr. Auxilia Mnangagwa has been empowering thousands of Zimbabweans from various backgrounds including orphans, the disabled, and couples with educational life skills training empowerment programs through The Angel of Hope Foundation and Zimbabwe Open University and other stakeholders.
The Zvimba Assistant District Development Coordinator, Desmond Anele Gumbochuma, said the training programs have transformed the lives of people from various backgrounds.
“We have seen how these training programs have transformed and empowered those people who have been undertaking them and we expect that more people will continue to receive support from the First Lady so that their lives will be transformed through such empowerment programs. The First Lady urges Zimbabweans to understand that the country is built by its citizens,” he said.
Gumbochuma said all is now set for a graduation ceremony of hundreds of people who went through various empowerment programs being spearheaded by The First Lady, Dr. Auxilia Mnangagwa which is set for Banket this Thursday.
People from different backgrounds including couples have been going through various empowerment educational short courses programs such as Agriculture, Baking, Entrepreneurship, ICT, and others across the Province of Mashonaland West Province with the program going in all of the country’s provinces