Zimbabwe & Cambridge: Exploring Scope for Health Partnerships and Shared Learning.
Hosts: CGHP, Zimbabwe Health Training Support (ZHTS), and Global Health Dorcas
The café is an informal event which aims to bring together those interested in global health, to discuss and share learning and experiences. There will be a small panel of speakers who will present, followed by a Q&A session.
This session will focus on Zimbabwe and Cambridge, and prospective health partnerships. Speakers include:
Professor Rashida Ferrand – Professor of International Health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, Lead Physician for COVID-19 Unit – Parirenyatwa Hospital, Harare
Dr Elinor Moore – Consultant in Infectious Diseases, Cambridge University Hospitals
Tarisai Bere – Clinical Psychologist, Global Mental Health Specialist and Behavioural Science Researcher
Dorcas Gwata – Global Health Consultant and Founder of Global Health Dorcas initiative
Speakers will explore health partnerships, COVID-19 experiences in Zimbabwe and Cambridge, diaspora engagement in health partnerships and mental health.
The café will also include a live poetry reading from a Zimbabwean poet.
It promises to be a fascinating event.
2020
At the end of November towards the beginning of December, Global Health Dorcas along with Chido Dziva Chikwari and their amazing team put together and carried out 2 community-workshops to address the development on the health and wellbeing of young people in Zimbabwe. Supported by the Australian Embassy, they highlighted the elevated mental health trauma worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, identifying increases in suicide, child marriages and teen pregnancy rates. These workshops provided a safe space to discuss sexual and reproductive health with vulnerable young girls and village health workers in Mazowe. It provided a supportive environment for the young girls to raise questions and discuss sensitive issues with confidence. In addition to increasing training for the health workers to put their learning into practise within sexual reproductive health services.
With excellent verbal and written feedback provided during and after the workshop, our passion to bring these workshops to more young people in Zimbabwe increases. Eventually, we were awarded the Business Council for Africa (BCA) Grant for the phenomenal work carried out. Now we are looking to expand our sexual reproductive health and mental health training to more rural areas in Zimbabwe.
How you found the experience of evaluating workshops?
Though I joined the planning towards the end, I was welcomed by such an amazing and passionate team with a clear focus to change the lives of young people in Zimbabwe. I am honoured to have been a part of that experience, though I wasn’t there physically, I was able to provide support in my own way by taking ownership of the feedback.
Evaluating the feedback after the workshops had been concluded was a great experience as I was able to really understand the benefit these community-based workshops had on the community. Numerous people advocated for continuity of these workshops in the future, in more rural areas as they were made to feel important and valued. Especially the young women. As a young woman myself, I do not take any opportunities for granted, but rather look to use the positions I find myself in to help other young women like myself and younger, no matter how small the impact. Making a difference in just one life reflects so much more than the individual, it changes their whole world and benefits the people around them.
⁃ Mercy Olawuni
Her Zimbabwe
The girls have grown, they are running their own community based workshops, I am one proud mentor.
They gathered in Mbare, tackled issues of sexual health, mental health, and
sexuality.
Our community champions Kumbi and Tatiana led, they opened up the space and young people opened up about their views, values and visions
Feedback:
“Good to remind young people to use condoms’
“I have learnt that there are different types of sexualities and orientation”
“Please go to primary schools and rural areas, and share your education”
“Tatiana and Kumbi explained everything well, thank you for the workshop”
Thank you to all who attended, thank you to Lynn Kudakwashe Mwawa our Project Manager for leading with style and precision. Thank you Michele Mutandabari for your structure and mentorship.
We are a community of shared values, we care deeply about supporting vulnerable communities. Thank you to all who support our work.
Well done Tatiana and Kumbi, you have done us proud, I am so proud of you
