Ngoni Dapira

THE Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace (CCJP) Mutare has embarked on a new project of using sport as a unifier in its justice and peace building outreach programmes in some wards in Mutare rural and Mutasa districts.

The peace building and human rights awareness programme targeting vulnerable groups such as women, youths and people with disabilities (PWDs) is funded by Christian Aid Zimbabwe and running under the theme, “Citizen Participation for Accountability and Social Cohesion.” It is being implemented in Mutare rural in ward 18, ward 16 (Mafararikwa village), ward 29 (Mukwada village) and ward 24 (Mavhiza village), whilst in Mutasa district it is being carried out in ward 3 (Zindi village), ward 19 (Domborutinhira village) and ward 11 (Pafiwa village).

Noboth Nyama speaking about human rights and peace building during the awareness outreach.

Speaking during their first awareness outreach last Saturday at Matanda Secondary School in ward 18 (Zimunya-Marange constituency), CCJP Mutare senior project officer Noboth Nyama said sport can bring people together by giving them a sense of personal identity, as well as feelings of group membership, social identification and inclusion in community, irrespective of political affiliation or divide.

Nyama said they noticed a gap in their past programmes when conducting ‘formal’ town hall meetings to inform communities about peace building and human rights, which made their outreach not really appealing, especially to youths, but realised that through a sport, music and dance open field day, many youths attend freely and learn about their awareness campaigns in the process.

“The awareness is to promote social unity and working together on developmental issues in communities regardless of political divide as well as peace building. We are also encouraging the vulnerable groups of youths, women and PWDs to actively participate in developmental issues as their constitutional right. Some, especially the youths and women, often think development issues are for elderly men or politicians, but we will be teaching them about their constitutional rights and how they can peacefully engage with their traditional leadership, councilors and legislators on developmental concerns in their communities as enshrined in the constitution,” said Nyama.

Clr Booker Mudede

Ward 18 councillor Booker Mudede applauded the initiative as a platform that unifies the community apolitically. He called for more of such awareness programmes citing that a peaceful community fosters development because people will be working together.

“This gives an opportunity for our youths to learn and interact with each other and also discuss developmental concerns. We need such programmes for social integration and community building. Thank you CCJP for thinking of us as a ward 18,” said Mudede.

Headman Samuel Matanda

Headman Samuel Matanda also welcomed the programme as good for community building. “Although my village is generally peaceful, we welcome such programmes that continue to encourage peace building which is very important for community building. Be it in the home or in the community each person must know peace starts at the individual level.  Thank you CCJP for considering us,” said headman Matanda.

Promise Chacha (extreme left with doek) and the CCJP team educating the villagers on human rights during the outreach.

CCJP Mutare focal person for Mutare rural, Promise Checha, who organized the activities said the local teams also get an opportunity to showcase their talent and compete with other surrounding villages through the open field day games, which also promote health and wellness in communities.

Soccer teams in action. Game on…

The sports games that were played were soccer and netball as well as the draught board game for inclusivity of those with disabilities and those not gifted athletically. In the netball tournament there were four teams, Karirwi village, Duru village, Matanda village and Ringai village. In the soccer tournament there was Duru, Munyoro, Mapuka and Munyoro villages.

The final in soccer tournament was between Duru and Munyoro, which was a re-run of the first match. The match was very pulsating and ended with penalties which saw Duru finally emerge as the winners. In the netball tournament Ringai village won in the final against Matanda.

The ladies playing netball.

The draught tournament was also equally exciting. 49 years old Sithembile Ntuli who is disabled with a crooked leg was the only female contestant, but she excited spectators as she gave men a run for their money only to concede defeat in the semi-finals against a youthful Delight Mutairi (24).

Nixon Mudzipurwa a villager from Matanda said he follows the programmes of CCJP and is happy they have come to their village. :I come from here (Matanda) but also work in Mutare. I know of CCJP and their good awareness programmes on human rights and peace building. This is commendable because youths want such edutainment programmes where they have fun and learn at the same time,” said Nixon.

Youths showing off their dancing skills.

After the ball games there was a music and dance segment that really got many ecstatic and to gather around. Youths would do some free style dancehall songs. Some would even do freestyle songs on human rights showing off what they would have learned. The dance category showed that even rural youths are up-to-date with the latest South African house music like Amapiano, popular with their urbanite counterparts.

From time to time the CCJP progamme officers that were present  would pause the music and present on different types of human rights as well as emphasize on the peace building message.

The Catholic Commission for Justice and Peace in Zimbabwe (CCJPZ) is a non-governmental organisation which assists in cases of human rights abuse. It was established in 1972 to highlight the plight of the Zimbabwean people. It has offices in Harare, Bulawayo, Binga Village and Mutare, along with the presence of a ‘Justice and Peace Committee’ in each Catholic diocese.