I FEEL REJUVENATED, SAYS FIRST LADY

FIRST LADY Dr Auxillia Mnangagwa says she feels rejuvenated by the executive training she is receiving alongside her counterparts at the Global First Ladies Academy to deliver impactful interventions and tangible solutions to challenges affecting mainly women and the girl child.

Alongside the First Ladies of Botswana, Burundi, Gambia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique and Namibia, Dr Mnangagwa is participating in an executive leadership programme to advance critical health and development issues in their countries and regions, including non-communicable and chronic disease management, community health, maternal and child health, climate change, health systems, and gender gaps in access to healthcare.

The invitation to the critical summit, she said, came at an appropriate time to sharpen her skills and equip her with more knowledge to deal with delicate situations.

“As African First Ladies, we are learning together and we have seen there is a lot that we were missing or that we thought we knew, but we were not actually at it. The training is an eye-opener and is giving us more ideas on how to differentiate my First Lady’s office and my charity foundation. The training programme has developed me personally and will help me in executing my duties. I have gained some knowledge through the training that we are going through,” she said.

A hands-on person with a passion to transform the lives of other people, Dr Mnangagwa said she has learnt a lot at the training programme.

“We have also learnt that the First Lady’s office is very impactful, the way it communicates, the way it advocates awareness programmes and also the way it interacts with Government departments, the business community, private sector and the generality of the nation.

“It has given me knowledge on how to approach those departments and that the First Lady’s office must be apolitical as what I have been doing through and through ever since I came into office. While initiating income generating projects or any other programmes, I never ask who you are, where you came from and this was the major aspect that was dealt with that as a First Lady you cater for all. A First Lady is a mother to everyone,” she said.

True to her assertions, Dr Mnangagwa’s programmes include everyone, including the previously marginalised San community in Plumtree and the Doma community in the Zambezi Valley whom she is working hard to integrate with the rest of the country.

Posted in: NEWS