16 Days of Activism: My Trip to Zimbabwe

Written by Maria Safari

On the 5th to the 11th Rozaria Memorial Trust invited the WREPA team to join them in

celebrating the 16 days of activism. At first, I was a little bit nervous because I knew we

were going to be staying in Murewa and I have never experienced the village life. It was a

new challenge but I was ready to tackle it.

I was inspired with what RMT (Rozaria Memorial Trust) has been doing with schoolgirls by

creating girls clubs and incorporating them in the school programmes. They have also

created a club in North America whose focus is on fostering the spirit of volunteerism and

supporting girls in sport. RMT have create five Girl clubs all around Zimbabwe in five

Secondary Schools. E.g., Chipinda, Magaya, Hurungwe, Kambarami and Chemapango and

the other two out of school Rozaria Girls Club's were established in the year 2016. One of these two is in

Magaya Village, Murewa and the other in Dzivarasekwa, Harare. More to this as the project

is ongoing, another girls Club was recently established in Mashonaland Central in Takawira

village.

I also had the opportunity to go with the girls club to Magaya village for the High Level Inter-

District Policy Dialogue. It was a good experience for the girls as it was a way for them to

relax because they had closed school and it was a great opportunity for them to meet other

young girls like them. I had the opportunity to talk to the girls who had finished the high

school education and they were awaiting to begin their tertiary education because I am in

the same situation as them. We bonded over the careers we wanted to pursue and what we

would do to pursue our careers. They also had a candle vigil where the girls had an

opportunity to get anything of their chest. Some of the girls were involved in early

pregnancies so they talked about the difficulties being a young mother in their communities.

It was inspiring to see that the young mothers were still motivated to continue their

education despite their circumstances.

During the High Level Inter-District Policy Dialogue, some of the girls performed an

outstanding play. The play highlighted issues that are faced in their communities like Early

Pregnancies, Child Marriage, Gender Based Violence and HIV/AIDS. The storyline of the

play was about a mother whose husband doesn’t have a stable job so he cannot provide for

the family so she decides to get a rich man to start dating her daughter and in the process

the daughter becomes pregnant and also gets HIV. It was very well executed and it

definitely kept the crowd laughing and informed. The girls are really talented and it is really a shame that the creative arts is not recognized in their community. The event in Magaya was an amazing

experience and I would like to do the same as WREPA with the girls in my hometown in

Malindi and Budalangi.

I am truly grateful that as a young woman myself, I got the opportunity to travel to

Zimbabwe to witness the amazing work RMT does with young girls. I was really out of my

comfort zone but I am so grateful for the experience. It really helped me open my eyes and

realize that life is not always sunshine and rainbows. It would be an honor to work with

WREPA to follow in the footsteps of RMT.