First Lady ramps up Covid-19 awareness

Source: First Lady ramps up Covid-19 awareness | The Herald

   

First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa assists a senior citizen in wearing a homemade face mask during a Covid-19 safety measures interactive awareness campaign in Binga last year. — Picture: John Manzongo

Tendai Rupapa Senior Reporter

THE Covid-19 pandemic second wave has shown the importance of countrywide awareness interactive sessions held by First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa to educate communities on the importance of masking up, observing social distancing, hand washing and using sanitisers.

The First Lady is the country’s Health and Child Care Ambassador.

Last year, she traversed the length and breadth of the country teaching people how to keep the disease at bay and mobilised resources for the benefit of marginalised communities.

The mother of the nation helped some women start clubs to sew reusable face masks as part of her multi-pronged efforts to ensure everyone benefited.

She met disadvantaged groups like the physically handicapped, previously marginalised communities and the less-privileged as part of her mission to ensure no one was left behind.

Both rural and urban communities benefited from the awareness campaigns during which efforts were made to bridge some knowledge gaps and ensure everyone had access to information on the pandemic.

So deadly has been the second wave of the pandemic that the country had to go back to Level Four lockdown which has tight restrictions on movement as part of measures to flatten the curve of infections.

People are dying in numbers and the country has not been spared, with nearly 1 000 having died since Covid-19 was reported locally.

The First Lady has the nation at heart and has been calling for prayers as a weapon to fight the invisible enemy that is pulling the world economy back by many factors and condemning many families to poverty.

In an interview yesterday, Amai Mnangagwa praised Government for tightening the lockdown to flatten the curve of infections.

“The Government of Zimbabwe has imposed some lockdowns to curtail the spread of the coronavirus, therefore, I urge you all to continue following measures outlined by health experts and as Ambassador for Health and Child Care, it is my desire for the country’s citizens to lead healthy lives,” she said.

“Brethren in Christ, Zimbabweans are known for being prayerful and this is the time to show that endurance in calling for the Lord’s intervention and save our country from this calamity.”

The First Lady bemoaned that most children were being ushered into orphan hood by diseases like Covid-19 and underlined the need for people to take extra care for themselves and their families.

“Hundreds of people have succumbed to the deadly virus, fathers and mothers who are bread winners have been taken away,” she said.

“Children have been orphaned as in some instances we have cases of both parents being killed by Covid-19.

“Today we have many child-headed families after parents were killed by many diseases such as Covid-19 and HIV and AIDS.

“We are also fighting early marriages because vulnerable girl children are being taken advantage of. Our society is yet to embrace the ethos of protecting the girl child,” she said.

So passionate about saving the lives of Zimbabweans is Amai Mnangagwa that she has spent much of her time, even risking her own life, teaching communities about Covid-19.

She has moved around the country with her organisation — Angel of Hope Foundation educating people on the need to practice high levels of self-hygiene and how to protect themselves from the virus.

During the visits, especially in rural communities, she donated personal protective equipment (PPE) and sanitisers among other goodies to individuals and surrounding clinics in a bid to curb coronavirus.

The First Lady has on various occasions reiterated that; “The Covid-19 pandemic is far from over. Let us continue practicing good hygiene and washing our hands.

“We should continue wearing our face masks because we are now in the second wave of the pandemic and we cannot continue losing people. We must promote good health by saying ‘YOU PROTECT ME AS I ALSO PROTECT YOU — NDIDZIVIRIRE INI NDIGOKUDZIVIRIRAWO’.

“This means we must use face masks religiously.”