Wingate to host Mutemwa golf day

WINGATE Park and Golf Club will on Friday host the 2022 Mutemwa Catholic and Leprosy Care Centre Charity Golf Day with over 120 players expected to take to the field.

The fund-raising golf day is expected to raise US$ 10 000 for the refurbishment of the Mutoko- based centre which is home to 16 leprosy patients and more than 30 vulnerable and marginalised people of the society.

Tournament convener, Effort Zaranyika, said they are expecting a huge field as there have been a good response as of yesterday with 80 players having registered.

Organising committee member, Elizabeth Matenga, said they are looking forward to host a successful golf day which will help Mutemwa Catholic and Leprosy Care Centre to refurbish some of their equipment and renovate some of their old buildings.

“We are looking forward to hold a charity golf day which will be played in a fourball-better ball format at Wingate Park and Golf Club on Friday. We are expecting a full field of over 100 players with the participation fees pegged at US$ 60 per individual and US$ 240 for a team of four.

“We have had some charity golf days to support the centre and this year’s will be no different as we have good prizes for the winners. There are so many challenges at the centre with the first priority going to refurbishment of the buildings which accommodates the patients.

“We have had support from several organisations who have helped us like

Tandamanzi, Etosha, OK Zimbabwe, Later Day Saints Ministries, Varichem Pharmaceuticals and Mother of Peace, among several others,” said Matenga.

Mutemwa Catholic and Leprosy Care Centre was established as a leprosarium in 1937 with a few patients before growing into a huge leprosarium in the 1940s and 50s with nearly 1 000 patients.

In 1962, with the introduction of the drug Dapsone, which could cure the leprosy bacteria, the centre was briefly closed and many patients were asked to seek home-based care.

However, some patients had no suitable or local homes to go to and this forced Mutemwa to remain open so that it could keep rendering social support to these and others who had no suitable homes to return to.