NAC empowers young Karoi girls
CHENGETAI MURIMWA
The National Aids Council (NAC) has economically empowered young girls under the Sister2Sister program where they are now into several projects that include producing detergents.
Young girls in Chikangwe Township in Karoi, Mashonaland West province, are being economically empowered under the organisation’s Sister2Sister Program.
They have since formed a group called Queens of the Universe and are making detergents such as dish washing soaps and toilet cleaners.
Some of the young girls who are benefitting from the program say the program has helped to keep them from teenage pregnancies which are rampant in Karoi.
“This is important for me because it keeps me occupied and avoid engaging in dangerous acts. We have witnessed teenage pregnancies that have so many challenges hence this programme is critical for us,” one of the beneficiaries said.
The National Aids Council is implementing the Sister2Sister program in 25 HIV hotspots in the country and Karoi is one of them. The program is targeting young girls from the age of 17 to 24 years.
Meanwhile, the National Aids Council said they are strengthening their HIV programs as the re-construction of the Harare Chirundu Highway starts. They say they are gearing up to deal with new HIV infections and Sexually Transmitted Infections.
The re-construction of the highway that links the whole of Southern Africa started in March this year and is expected to take 18 months to complete. The road rehabilitation is expected to cost nearly half a billion.
Five local companies have been contracted to rehabilitate the 352 kilometre road that connects Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa with Zambia, Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania.
NAC Mashonaland West Programs Officer Davison Mambudzi said the infections will be caused by the influx of sex workers in search of business from road construction workers.
“While the re-construction of the road is a good thing as it will create employment for men and women in the province, it will come with a lot of challenges as a lot of people will be flocking to the province to provide different services. We have to scale up our HIV awareness programs so that we protect the road construction workers as well as the community in Mashonaland West,” Mambudzi said.
He added that adolescent young women and girls in the province are also vulnerable.
“We have young girls who use the highway when going to school, they are exposed as they will be targets to these road construction workers and they need to be protected so we will be strengthening our in and out of school programs,” he said.
“We will also be carrying our workplace awareness campaigns so that we leave no one behind”.
Mambudzi said the truck drivers who pass through Mashonaland West have always been a key population and they have been carrying out awareness campaigns.
“We have a lot of truckers that pass through and they have become part of our vulnerability and we make sure that we take care of them by equipping them with the necessary knowledge on HIV as they are in transit,” said Mambudzi.
Mambudzi said Mhondoro Ngezi is the highest district to be affected by HIV prevalence rate at 14,3%, Chegutu at 13,7%, Zvimba at 12,6%, Makonde at 12%, Hurungwe 11,06 and Kariba has the lowest at nine percent.
