Luveve residents seek to restore old Luveve Children's playground

Impressed with the community responsibility efforts by a group of concerned residents in his neighbourhood, Councillor for Ward 15, Israel Mabaleka called ZDDT and invited them to record the initial stages of the programme.

The group that comes under the name of Creative Community Project in Zimbabwe Trust (CCPZT) is led by its founder, Mr. Vusumusi Siziba and has Mr. Bernard Banda as its Secretary.

Both are trained teachers who now dedicate their time to running their organisation. These men also share an interest in the arts and are accomplished artistes in their own right.

On arrival at the appointed site, nick-named Wembley Stadium in the 1970's, a title it still bears, Team ZDDT were met by the CCPZT pair who conducted a tour of the site for their benefit and explained plans for the area's resuscitation.

The intention is to restore the site to its pre- nineteen eighties status, when it was a children's amusement park replete with an array of play-ground equipment.

All infrastructures have, as a result of adverse economic factors over the years, since disappeared due to opportunistic tendencies developed by a society blighted with the ensuing conditions of poverty.

No longer bearing any resemblance to its former state, "Wembley Stadium" is a series of low, weed-infested ridges; testimony to agricultural activities for which it is used during the rainy season, by people in the vicinity. Children, for whom this park was designed, now prefer to play on the streets, exposing themselves to traffic related hazards. It is this concern that contributed towards compelling CCPZT into action.

According to Mr. Siziba, the idea is to develop the park into a multifaceted outdoors entertainment area encircled by an athletics track on the outer perimeter.  When fully developed, it is envisioned that the site would have the capacity to be utilised for sporting events, drama performances, training purposes and other specialised activities.

Expanding on this theme, Mr. Siziba remarked;

"This Project is most essentially a community based effort aimed at enhancing creativity in children and influencing behavioural change among young people. This we intend, besides other means, to achieve through the arts and sport. Although our focus is mainly on children, other age groups will be invited to participate by imparting whatever positive skills they might wish to share."

Adding his views to the discussion, CCPZT Secretary Mr. Bernard Banda said; "It is saddening to discover that children throughout Zimbabwe are forced to grow up in an environment that lacks the order, good services and values that older generations enjoyed.

By means of our programmes and particularly this project, we aim to re-introduce into society, through our children, the very essential ingredients of the responsible public we once knew, but which through circumstances, over time, were lost to the young."   

Mr. Siziba chipped in by saying; "The overall intention is to ensure that at the end of the day, we would have developed a coherent community, united in the purpose of building an environment based on credible values."

When it was pointed out that a substantial amount of resources would be needed for any venture of this nature, Mr. Siziba said that although donor funding would be welcomed, it was essential to note that a well coordinated and informed community possessed the resources necessary to adequately achieve any task.

He stressed the importance of residents becoming fully committed to projects designed for their well-being, adding that in this manner, they would be able to better appreciate the results.  

By the time that the Team was ready to say goodbye, this writer could not help but to marvel at the hive of restorative activity taking place by various communities and entities across the City.

The resuscitation project being implemented at Luveve Township by CCPZT is just one among several that dovetail very neatly into ZDDT's own interventions, in the domain of community restoration work.