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By Elvis Dumba
Zvimba North – Efforts in fighting substance abuse by young people are increasing by the day with more partners taking up the call for zero tolerance against the vice.
Marian Chombo Trust in partnership with Zimbabwe Churches Platform for Women and Youth Empowerment Organization in conjunction with Joseph. K Murimuni (JKM) has joined hands to augment efforts to fight drug abuse through sports.
Speaking during a substance, drug, and girl child abuse awareness sports tournament campaign at Bicklevhaile in Zvimba North Constituency, Hon Marian Chombo said the scourge among youths is threatening the gains attained so far towards education and economic development, at the same time robbing the future of talented and resourceful young people.
In her remarks read by a representative of the Marian Chombo Trust, Councilor Joshua Zinzombe, Hon Chombo said many young people’s bright future is being shattered through drug and substance abuse.
“We are witnessing the death of a promising bright future of our young people through drugs. People are dying at a young age due to this menace which needs our collective action to put a stop to it in line with the call by President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the First Lady that is being echoed through Marian Chombo Trust. We want to empower young people with income-generating projects as some young people have claimed that they resort to drugs due to a lack of occupying activities. Together with our partners, we are bringing various projects to ensure young people are kept positively active and contribute to the development of our economy as we strive to achieve Vision 2030 on the upper-middle income economy,” she said.
Founding Director of Joseph.K.Murunemi said his organization has realized that the drug abuse fight cannot be won if the young people addicted to them do not get rehabilitation programs and projects that will help keep them away from the scourge.
“As a foundation, we took up the challenge by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa that we need to help our country in stopping the drug abuse challenge. We realized that one cannot just tell these youngsters to stay away from drugs without offering them something to stay on, so we have an array of programs such as earth moving machinery operating training, beekeeping, poultry, baking, and horticulture programs which are offering to these youths in partnership with the Marian Chombo Trust. The objective is for the youths to contribute to the economic development of their communities whilst eradicating the issue of drug abuse,” he said.
Fadzai Chanduru, the Zvimba North Constituency Girl Child Protection Focal person who organized the sports tourney said young people need continuous interventions that help them to stay away from drugs and related misdemeanors.
“We came up with the sports tournament as a tool to get to the young people and educate them on the effects of drug abuse on themselves, the community, and the nation as a whole. Through our partnerships, we encourage them to take up various empowerment programs that help to uplift their lives and help them live positive lives,” she said.
Headman Peter Paul said the initiative is a welcome program as the drug abuse menace has become a huge community headache.
“We are happy for such programs as we had been facing numerous challenges in our community due to young people abusing drugs and ending up committing criminal activities. These programs should be done on a larger scale,” he said.
Netball and Soccer teams walked away with various cash prizes during the tournament and each team received a soccer or netball ball.
