Start projects for the needy

Chinhoyi Mayor, Councillor Garikai Dendera, is in the process of raising over $500 000 from corporates and individuals as part of the Chinhoyi Municipality’s annual Mayor’s Christmas cheer fund.

So far, over $250 000 and goods worth over $50 000 have been raised to be handed over to the town’s four Children’s and Old People’s homes where at least 400 people are set to benefit.

As Councillor Dendera said, the event came at a time when more vulnerable people including those at homes were feeling the devastating effects of Covid19.

Now, more than any other time, the vulnerable in society need help.

Other mayors from Harare, Chitungwiza and many of the country’s cities and towns, will also give the needy during or just after the Christmas period through Mayors’ Christmas cheer fund and this is very commendable.

Individuals benefit from the goods which are handed out and the groceries will go a long way in alleviating some of the poverty needy members of our society have to endure.

The groceries certainly leave many households smiling.

Many needy people always wait anxiously for the festive season as it comes with the Christmas cheer funds.

But that wait that they have to go through is a lengthy wait. If held consistently around Christmas time, the needy shall wait in want for a good 11 months before they can smile again.

Given, the needy should not take receiving as a right and must always work to make ends meet but the Mayors, and society as a whole, knows that there will always be needy people in society.

These needy people always need our help and the mayors must not wait for Christmas to put a smile on these people’s faces.

It should also be noted that there are many ways of giving the needy other than collecting money and handing over groceries.

In the spirit of the adage that states that it is better to teach someone to fish than to give him a fish because the latter helps them for a season while the former assists them for a lifetime, mayors should think about creating opportunities for the needy to earn a living through their own means.

Most of the needy people that get help from the Mayors’ Christmas Cheer Funds are able-bodied and the few that are not can still do something to earn themselves a living, given the opportunity.

For the Harare street urchins, merely taking them off the streets is a milestone and the Mayor would be killing two birds with one stone in the process as the move also helps to clean up the crowded City of Harare.

It will be wise for the Mayors to start projects for the needy to take part in while generating income for their families.