By Tendai Chisiri
Council of Churches in Africa held a Women Conference in the capital on Saturday and social ills were addressed with the First lady Auxillia Mnangagwa’s initiative with Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU) put on the limelight.
With the Angel of Hope and ZOU partnership, there are no educational requirements for one to benefit from the life-changing courses aimed at imparting knowledge in the people through open learning. The courses come as a blessing to millions of people who failed to complete their education because of various reasons and circumstances.The studies are for free.
The First Lady implores women countrywide to take advantage of the partnership to acquire life-changing university education free of charge and improve their lives.
The CCA Women Conference was attended by women from different churches are affiliated to CCA and it was a life changing event to many as the speakers encouraged women to play a pivotal role in the upbringing of the children.
Guest of honour at the event, Dr Erita Nyamanhari director, vice-chancellor’s office ZOU in an interview, encouraged women to take advantage of the programme at ZOU necessitated by the First Lady of Zimbabwe which she said it is now like the university coming to the people instead of people going to the university.
“This is the first platform where I have witnessed the church having people addressing social ills which are there in our community in particular early child marriages, gender based violence, divorce and actually the issue which is topical nowadays at the moment in Zimbabwe where we have a 9-year-old girl pregnant in Bulawayo. This actually urges the women to look after after each other”, she said in an interview.
” I also want to appreciate that as I come from a background of university, there is this appreciation of knowledge, and of education because in church there is need of wisdom as Solomon in the bible was wise. So there is need of congregates to be educated so I brought fliers for ZOU programmes”, she added.
Pastor Noma Udemezwe speaking on early child marriages called upon the women as mothers to protect their children especially the girl child from vices like early child marriages.
“Today as CCA women fellowship, because Gos sees us as women who are also parents, we are stewards of the children not the owners of what God gave us”, she said.
” As parents, we should know that we are not the owner of the child but God God sees is as the guiding angel. With that it is easy to say no to early child marriages.Our duty as parents is to protect the destiny of our children and also the girl child”, she added.
The good thing that a person does marvelous lives after his)her death but the bad are buried with their evil.Thiswas said by Mark Antony at Julius Caesar’s burial in a novel Julius Caesar written by William Shakespeare. This was also alluded to by Pastor Noma Udemezwe in her sermon.
“We should teach our children so that even when we are not alive, our children should have captured knowledge from us. May our children thrive even if we are not there because we have been good mothers. We are here to leave a legacy for the forthcoming generation”, she said.
Prophetess Faith Moyo CCA mother general and vice-president spoke on women empowerment at the conference.
“The conference has been held to empower the women in different circumstances”, she said in an interview “We are noticing that the First Lady is going around and doing wonders in empowerung women with projects, taking care of the girl child and helping women with sicknesses. This has taken us as a church to also join hands in working with our leaders to empower the women in society. If we empower the girl child or woman, we have empowered family, society and also the nation”, she said.
” We can’t leave our leaders to do it alone, let also the church women of substance, women of excellence come together and let us built our women together.
The women conference ran under the theme “A woman of Grace amd Power (iron sharpens irons.) Prov 27vs17.
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