MDC Young Women put a little 'Merry' to Christmas at battered Women's Shelter

In the spirit of sharing the Christmas cheer to the less privileged, young women from the Welshman Ncube led MDC this morning donated various clothing items to a local women's safehouse.

To mark the event the party's Bulawayo Province youth secretary Minenhle Gumede issued the following statement.

Zimbabwe and as such the MDC is a christian nation which is attuned to attributes synonymous with hope,generosity and taking care of the needy. We acknowledge that the onus of responsibility does not only lie with government to cater for vulnerable individuals and groups,but it is up to each and everyone of us to look after each other during this season as Christmas is a season for charitable giving. The little gestures of goodwill enable those disadvantaged to be able to enjoy and thus provide a magical time regardless of circumstances.

As young women representing all Bulawayo districts we came together to make a positive difference by spreading holiday cheer to those of us inflicted by suffering. Our society is overwhelmed by these big issues that are currently bedevilling the nation,and our inabilities to fix  these problems,but despite yet another year filled with disaster we must remember to be thankful and make time to think of others. We take this opportunity to speak against injustices in the the communities we live in at large, societies where wife beating is widely accepted  as a way of correcting women,adding insult to injury,it is common practice to find that women themselves rather than men tend to justify wife beating. Research suggests that 36-89% women justified wife beating which invariably indicates that we have entrenched social and cultural learning processes that give us distorted definitions of African womanhood. We ourselves as women and girls confine our sex to specific "roles" that are viewed in terms of what is supposedly the ideal with regards to women. The majority of abused women inevitably have negative misconceptions and attitudes of themselves that have significant implications in their overall  psychological and health outcomes. We were cognisant as MDC girls,of the above mentioned issues thus were pushed to think up something special we could do for these ladies today as Christmas can be a  difficult time for someone without a home of their own and so those of us who are spending Christmas in our homes must count ourselves fortunate and take time to give a special thought to those displaced through no fault of their own, so we are here today to spread a little merry to their day.

As we reflect on the year 2014  as women, there are clear issues that have arisen that require us to be supportive of one another for our common good. Our aim must be our clear emancipation from the state of confusion we find ourselves in as a direct result of mediocre and contemporary existence which should compel us to fight as a unit. Advocacy and lobbying initiatives must be sharpened as we enter 2015 to tackle and eradicate impediments in our society that act as stumbling blocks towards our increased and full participation in national discourse. For example we have a dire need for community based programs that focus and carry more cultural components, these will help some among us who are in abusive relationships. These programs can come in to assist even the abusers to be enlightened further and thus dealing decisively with this epidermic scrooge  rearing its head constantly in our society. Improvements to our general circumstances are essential. Our drive for peace and reconciliation not just through interpersonal relations but intra-personal implying to keep the peace 'within' ourselves must be another resolution for the coming year of 2015.Let us all as women and girls be dedicated towards the creation of a more mutual understanding and good will for our nation.

YOUNG WOMEN : The choice is Ours,Let Us be Congruent in words and action,Lets Walk the Talk as One!!!!!!!