Watch a video by Joe Horacek and Joy Grgurich, a US couple who closed their small shop
for 24 days and travelled to give some
hope to children that have very little…14 500kms away in Gweru, Zimbabwe…the
Sikombingo Adventist Academy to be exact.
Hundreds of patients with kidney failure will benefit from Shurugwi-based Unki platinum mine’s kidney dialysis centre to serve eight districts in the province.
Isolation hospital in new look after refurbishments by Unki.
“It’s a huge relief. At some point I had lost hope in life as it had become unbearable and too costly to travel all the way to either Bulawayo or Harare twice a week for kidney dialysis treatment. However, now I have the service in my backyard. Thanks to Unki,” said Winston Chando, while waiting to complete the last five minutes of his treatment at Gweru General Hospital.
Dialysis is a process by which people whose kidneys no longer function properly have their bodily function performed by machines. The machines literally replace the function of kidneys - which is the removal of waste and excess water from the blood.
A few years after independence, the dialysis machines at the Gweru hospital broke down and were never replaced. This situation resulted in desperately ill people having to travel to either Harare or Bulawayo at least twice a week to secure kidney dialysis treatment. In the prevailing economic climate, the situation had become a nightmare for those affected.
Quality of life has improved since Unki Mines purchased the machines and set up a kidney dialysis treatment centre. The platinum mine also has a fully equipped casualty ward and has financed renovations to the health care centre at a cost of about $1 million.
“We want the presence of Unki Mine to be felt in all communities near our operations. To us, health care comes first and since our establishment in Shurugwi, we have always thrived to ensure that hospitals and clinics are equipped and have the capacity to save lives. That is the reason why health centres in Shurugwi and Gweru, Unki are contributing so positively,” said July Ndlovu, chairman of Amplats, the South African based parent company of Unki Mines. A visit to three clinics in Gweru proved his point. Tambudzai Chikusva, the sister in charge of the Isolation Hospital, said the mine had transformed the centre from being a ‘dangerous place into a home’ for quarantined patients battling diseases like Tuberculosis that spreads easily upon contact between the affected and the public.
“We treat people with long-time diseases like TB that require them to stay here for lengthy periods. However, the hospital used to be a structurally dangerous place with gutters hanging precariously, peeling walls peeling and a roof threatening to cave in. Government and the council had no money to make the repairs. Unki Mines came to our rescue. It’s now a hospital that is equivalent to a home because of the extensive renovations done by the mine,” she said.
Quarantined patients showed their appreciation by singing song to this reporter saying a clean and face-lifted environment always give a sense of hope for survival for anyone who is ill.
Christopher Ruwodo, the Gweru council’s Director of Health, also praised the platinum mine for their good work. “The fees paid by patients at our clinics and hospitals are insignificant.
In fact they amount to 10% of what any health institution needs to operate. We as council are cash-strapped and at one point we did not know how to move forward.
However, intervention by Unki amounting to thousands of dollars have brought hope and its worth praising,” he said.
The council owns the three clinics, Isolation Hospital, Mkoba Polyclinic and Mkoba 1 clinic. Sarah Gwauya, sister-in-charge of Mkoba 1 clinic, explained that majority of the city’s 160,000 population now frequent the institution because of its suburban location and the majority feel elated by its improved condition that was facilitated by the mine. “The morale of the usually disgruntled workers at the mine was heightened when the mine made extensive renovations and provided materials like furniture and equipment that make work easier. We are happy now,” she said.
Minister David Parirenytwa, who officially handed over the casualty ward constructed by Unki at Gweru General Hospital, urged other corporates to chip in and make similar interventions that saved lives.
Gweru MP, Sessil Zvidzai, reiterated that if companies were persuaded and not forced to engage in corporate projects, as is the case with the indigenisation regulations, they would do better.
“More can be achieved through collaboration models of this nature. Methods of coercion, like the indigenisation policy, do not breed trust and cooperation. This is why the prescription of 51/49 percent share arrangement and share ownership schemes have not delivered anything of the magnitude of the Casualty Ward and Dialysis centre at the Gweru General Hospital put together by Unki Mine,” said the MP.- THE ZIMBABWEAN
After having countless sexual encounters there is a cheat version to make a woman a virgin all over again.
Conservative voices say virginity is a must for a happy marriage, and this has fuelled commerce in products that allegedly 'restore' one's womanhood.
First it was virgin soap and now the master of all has arrived. It's called "virginity kit" and one can find it locally on the black market if they don't have access to buy it online from shops such as amazon.com or ebay.com
A dealer in Bulawayo who in the past introduced virgin soap and manhood enlargement pumps into the local market said anyone can be fooled by the kit.
"When it is shoved into the female anatomy, it will expand a little and make you feel tight. When your lover penetrates, it will ooze out a liquid that appears like blood, not too much but just the right amount," he said.
For such a con product, one has to employ acting tactics (women are said to be good at faking it anyway) that is where the man should be made to believe it is a woman's first time.
"The woman should then add a few moans and groans and she will pass through undetectable," he added.
The good part about the fake virginity is that it has no side effects, at least to the woman, but has a great risk of convincing the guy to opt for unprotected sex, which might yield fatal side effects.
"It's easy to use, clinically proven, non-toxic to humans and has no side effects (to women only of course), not painful to use and there is no allergic reaction," he claimed.
But the packets that are available underground have instructions written in Chinese, thus making use without asking for instructions from the dealer is a mission impossible.
"You simply insert it 15 to 20 minutes before intercourse. Then wash after 'bleeding'," he said.
The product is selling for US$60 in Bulawayo considering the importance of one's virginity. Surprisingly, despite knowing how important it is to be a virgin, women continue losing their virginity well before marriage.
"My target is people who lost it and they wish it never happened. But strangely I even have married women buying from me. I guess maybe it is for fun or they are buying for their teenage relatives or daughters. I never ask anyway," he revealed.
The product is readily available in the first world even though it is a new phenomenon. However, it is reported that in nations where virginity can be a literal issue of life and death, the Artificial Hymen Kit is controversial.- MY ZIMBABWE
THE Zimbabwe Theatre Association (Zita) is bringing three plays,
Washington Junction, Half Empty, Half Full and Mothers to Bulawayo and
Gweru this month.
Washington Junction was written by Tafadzwa
Muzondo, Half Empty, Half Full by Savanna Trust while Mothers was
authored by Women in Theatre Labs.
Speaking to Southern Eye Lifestyle Regional Zita co-ordinator Mgcini
Nyoni said the three plays would be showcased show at Amakhosi Cultural
Centre in Bulawayo and the Midlands state University in Gweru
respectively between
Tafadzwa Muzondo and one of his works
August 15 and 30.
From the writer of No
Voice No Choice, Washington Junction was rated among the top three
Zimbabwean plays in February 2012 before being banned in August 2012.
It is a collaborative play by Edzai Isu Theatre Arts Project and Savanna Trust.
Co-produced by Muzondo and Daniel Maposa, the play is directed by
Patience Tawengwa with Julie Wharton as the technical advisor and scenic
effects by award-winning visual artist Masimba Hwati.
The play
had its regional premiere at the April International Theatre Festival
2013 in Zambia on April 24 to 28 and premiered at the Harare
International Festival of the Arts last year.
“Washington
Junction is a tale of three commoners who are united by their common
aspirations, common fears, common interests and common setbacks. Looking
at their extreme situations, their dreams might seem insane but they
are determined to pursue them at whatever cost,” Nyoni said.
Mothers is presented by Women in Theatre and directed by Thembi Ngwabi.
Its cast consists of renowned actress Sarah Mpofu, — Sibanda and Musa
Sibanda who was trained under the School Playwrights and Actors Academy
programme of Nhimbe Trust.
The 30-minute drama is a twowoman
play that tells the story of Mira, a woman who gets caught up by her
past when her husband impregnates their daughter, Bella, out of revenge.
The truth unfolds as Bella tries to tell her mother that she is
pregnant when in fact, the mother has a bigger surprise in store.
Mothers is full of unexpected twists and suspense that puts the audience at the edge of their seats.
Directed by Mncedisi Shabangu, Half Empty Half Full is a story about
two villagers who grew apart and were later united by fate.
On the eve of their departure to the big city, they both discover love.
Chaplin High school in Gweru is once again in the limelight for the wrong
reasons.
“Former student stabs love rival at Chaplin High', “Shocking STI levels hit
Chaplin”,and “Chaplin teacher charged
over $400” are the kind of front-page headlines we have seen in the not-so-distant
past.
And
today, Thursday 7 August 2014 - zuva rekuvhara chikoro -my sources indicate the school authorities have confiscated
school shoes belonging to dozens of students, saying their parents had not paid
school fees or tuition in full.
For Honour? The school motto
“They are walking bare-footed in town as I
write to you. ..” inboxed a confidante.
This kind of behavior quickly infuriated
locals in this city of 300 000, who called upon the media to ‘investigate, expose such an inhumane,
degrading evil and unlawful act.”
Ian Smith, then Prime Minister of Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and a former Chaplin High student, seen here at the official opening of the George Alers Track in 1971.
A Gweru building had part of its front, the verandah and all, crumbling like a deck of cards, crashing a vehicle parked nearby. Thank God no kids, or adults, were nearer to that spot when this happened. Heavy iron beams, mountains of crushed brick, and such debris, lay at the place, as if some suicide bomber had done his thing. Then deputy mayor Taurai Demo and his team rushed to Fifth Street, the scene of the accident, where it was later established that the building contractor, and some inspectors from the local authority who certified the building as 'standard' had done a shoddy job. Iron sheets were quickly mounted to seal off the site from the Gweru public. And that was it. Businesses operating from within, mostly hair saloons and tailors, closed. Even telecommunications giant NetOne, just next door, moved to the Main Post Office situated at corner Robert Mugabe Way and Seventh Street, where its sister company ZimPost offered it shelter. That was some four or so years ago. The front part of the building remains closed, although the same entrepreneurs, plus some other small enterprise operators, are now conducting their businesses from that building, using the back entrance. Do not say I did not warn you if your wife or daughter does not come back aenda to that place to have a hairdo. And even that relative of yours wekuda sadza remumukoto will one day 'see' that all cheap things come with a price. That place is a time bomb, I warn you.
