Red Cross Red Crescent day celebration
In the face of major world challenges, such as climate change, conflicts and violence, urbanization and migration, young people everywhere are showing that they want to be part of the solution. They give time, talent and energy. They harness the power of technology. They are helping communities prepare for disaster, increase access to health care and promote a culture of peace.
On World Red Cross Red Crescent Day and throughout 2012, we celebrate “Youth on the move”. Half of the 13 million Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers worldwide are young people. Imagine their potential to lead positive change in their communities.
- IFRC/ICRC
We don’t need to imagine because we have already seen how the youth in Manicaland are stepping up for positive change in their local communities. Due to their important role in the local society we wanted to give all the young volunteers attention and recognition for their important part in their community. However due to lack of resources we could not reach out to all the young volunteers in the province, we had to select a small number.
Friday 18th of May we celebrated the international Red Cross Red Crescent day in Mutare together with in school Red Cross youth volunteers from four different urban schools. We created an exchange platform where the Red Cross volunteers from different schools could showcase what they have been doing and mingle with each other. It was a great day, we learned a lot and had a lot of fun.
Workshop in Manicaland
Wednesday 16th of May was a big day at the Provincial Red Cross office in Manicaland. We finally managed to mobilize Red Cross youth leaders in the province for a workshop on the Red Cross Movement and International Humanitarian Law. The workshop was organized by the youth group in Mutare and the facilitators came from ZimCross headquarter and the International Committee of Red Cross(ICRC).
During the planning of this workshop we must say that we had big challenges. The date for the workshop was moved 5 times and invitations were sent out and numerous phone calls were made to the participants. We can say that we really know the participants by now.
On the 16th of May 27 Rd Cross youth leaders from all over Manicaland managed to find their way to our office and we spent the whole day together. Some of the topics that where covered during the workshop was the Red Cross movement, history and international humanitarian law; what it is and when it can be applied. We learned a lot from the facilitators and from all the participants.
Birthday blog
The 23rd of April was Sigbjørn’s birthday. Yet, since this day landed on a Monday we decided to celebrate the weekend before. On the Friday we traveled up to Nyanga national park together with seven friends. The park is rather similar to Norway as one can see from the picture below.
Much good food, beautiful hikes in the mountain and excellent company made it a very nice birthday weekend.
Even though the birthday was celebrated the weekend before Sigbjørn was still woken up 4.45 am by Ingvild and Dishallar with birthday cards, presents and Ingvild’s homemade cake.
Nzeve Deaf Children Center
Together with the out of school youth group in Mutare we organized a community service at Nzeve Deaf Children Center. Children with reduce sense of hearing will come to this center to learn sign language before they start going to school. This center is also targeting the whole family so they all can communicate with each other with sign language. In addition youths with a reduced sense of hearing from rural and urban areas are coming to this center to be trained in different life skills. They are doing a lot of good work and Zimbabwe Red Cross Youths want to appreciate what they do by helping out where they can; this time by providing volunteers to work.
On one Friday morning 9 youth volunteers from Zimbabwe Red Cross came to Nzeve Deaf Children Center, ready for some action. We spent 4 hours doing various household tasks at the center as well as spending time with the children.
First we went to the maize fields together with youths who are also taking part in the life skill program. It was a very hot day being in the fields but we also had a lot of fun.
We were also carrying firewood for the center. They were planning to have a children’s camp the next day. 60 children were expected to participate so a lot of firewood was needed.
Lastly we were cleaning windows.
Some of the children also came to help out eventually.
Before the day was over we also donated some cleaning equipment from the Provincial Red Cross office in Manicaland, this was highly appreciated.
Visit to Chinhoyi and Karoi
On Sunday we traveled up to Chinhoyi and Karoi which are two towns located about 100 km west from Harare. Chinhoyi is the town was the next youth delegates from Norway will most probably be based. Our first mission was to meet with the provincial Red Cross officer in Chinhoyi, as well as one of the new youth delegates who are going to Norway in August. Below is a picture of the office which the next Norwegian delegates will most probably use.
Then there is a picture of Ingvild and two students who are also a part of the Red Cross College group in Chinhoyi, the three of them are standing in front of the provincial of the provincial office.
Thereafter we visited an OVC (orphans and vulnerable children) centre in Karoi. However, on our way to Karoi we also managed to see the famous Chinhoyi caves. Below are three pictures from the trip down the caves.
After viviting the caves we traveled to Karoi. When we arrived there we were quite surprised by the large numbers of children we met at the Red Cross Centre. When the 40 children saw our car they all ran into the house where they started singing. We were also invited into the house where we were entertained with singing, dancing and poems. Their performances were impressive, and one could see that they had been spending a lot of time practicing. Below is a picture of one of the girls when she was performing a poem.
Then a picture of some of the volunteers who are performing a drama about HIV.
All the children at the centre are OVC, and they meet at the Red Cross centre four days per week for two and a half our every week. At the centre they are also making a hero book. In these books they write about their lives; about happiness and about challenges they face. According to a girl we spoke to this book had helped her a lot when trying to find solutions to how she could live her life to the fullest. Below is a picture of Mr. Munjoma and Louisa when they are having a look at two of these books.
Capacity building workshop
During February and March we have been planning for a workshop for teachers who are running Red Cross Clubs and environmental clubs in schools. During this time we have also been writing factsheets on different topics relevant for the club which is now binded together as a Manual. Youth Club Manual 2012.
This manual include both fact sheets about the Red Cross, international humanitarian law, climate change, traffic safety, project management and waste management. We have made this manual together with three local youth volunteers and to officers from SECTA (Sustainable Environmental Conservation Trust Africa). This team was also the facilitators during the workshop. The program for the workshop was closely interlinked with the content in the Youth Club Manual. Below you can see some picture from the workshop.
The workshop was a success. The turn up was higher than expected and feedback was very good. All the participants were given a copy of the Youth Club Manual and we made action plans together on how to implement the topics in the different schools. We didn’t have electricity this day so the out of school youth volunteers who made up the cooking staff were working hard by making food on the fire.
After this workshop we will stay in touch with the teachers who participated at the workshop. We will visit the clubs and see how the Youth Club Manuals are being used in the different Red Cross and Environmental Clubs in Mutare urban and rural area.
School visits
We have now started to move around in Mutare, visiting different schools that have Red Cross Clubs. Some have been running for 2 years, some started last week and some have a desire to start next week.
Mutare Boys High was our first stop, and here we met a group of very dedicated young boys.
We learned a lot from them about their wishes and hopes for the Red Cross Club and we hope they also got some information from us. Below you can see a group picture from the Red Cross Club which started last week. But already they impressed us with a lot of knowledge about the Red Cross Movement.
On Tuesday 7th of February we went out of town to visit some of the schools in rural-Mutare. Our first stop was Mwandiambira Primary. Here the Red Cross Club will start next week, so we didn’t have a chance to meet the students. But we had a very good meeting with the Red Cross Youth Advisor who will be responsible for the club. Below you can see a picture of Siggy and Tatenda talking to the youth advisor.
Our second stop was Shundure Secondary, and here we were met with a very vibrant youth group. We were very much impressed. They had arranged a program for us with songs and poems about the Red Cross. This club has been running since 2010 and we learned a lot from our meeting with the youths and talking to the youth advisors running the club.
After meeting with different clubs, students and youth advisors we try to find out how one can run a good Red Cross Club. What is needed to have a good Red Cross Club? What are the challenges? We see different solutions in the different schools and we try to bring these experiences to the new clubs which are starting up this semester. We have met a lot of very dedicated volunteers and this blog is a salute to all of you =)
Great Zimbabwe
This weekend we visited the town Masvingo and Great Zimbabwe which is the largest stone structure ever built south of Sahara and the second largest in the whole of Africa after the pyramids in Egypt. Great Zimbabwe has even given the name to the country Zimbabwe. The term zimbabwe or dzimbabwe is derived from the Shona words dzimba dza mabwe (houses of stone). It is believed that the first of the stone structures in Great Zimbabwe was erected in AD 1100. On the top hill, with a great view of the valley, lived the king. Below is a picture of Sigbjørn in front of the king’s castle, then a picture of another part of his castle.
It is believed that the king had 200 wives. Below is a picture of the building where his wives were living.
On our way down to the queens’ castle we stopped by a little village. Here is a picture of Ingvild visiting one of the houses.
Then there is a picture of some other old ruins.
After visiting the little village we were able to enter the queens’ building. At the highest these walls are 11 meters. Below are some pictures of how it looked like inside.
Then there is a picture of Fungay, our driver, looking up at a tower inside the queens’ building.
Recruitment campaign for the out of school youth group in Mutare
After a low turn up on some of the activities/meetings in 2012 we decided to arrange a recruitment event at the local flee market.
We were working together with 4 volunteers from the out of school youth club. Our target group was youth which are out of school and out of work. Below you can see us in action.
The response was overall very good. If they didn’t have the opportunity to join they were interested to learn more about the Red Cross Society, which we love to talk about =)
We hope to see many new faces in the days to come and are looking forward to getting to know new people.
What we are working on these days….
These days we are working on supporting youth advisors in starting up Junior First Aid Red Cross Clubs. This we do by calling and also by visiting the different schools were teachers has been trained in First Aid. We call these teachers Youth Advisors and they are our contacts when we are visiting the schools in Mutare urban and rural area. Siggy is searching refuge in the office garden when calling because our office is usually very lively and full of youths.
We are also making fact sheets on different topics which we hope can become a module in the end. This module will include different topics from climate change to traffic safety and Red Cross history. We are working together with SECTA (Sustainable Environmental Trust Fund Africa) on how to implement these modules through the youth advisors into the Red Cross Clubs in schools.
Here you can see our two team mates, Tatenda and Louisa, working on the fact sheets for the module in the youth office.
