Children need love, not abuse: First Lady

By Michael Magoronga

Many children who find themselves in orphanages are victims of abuse by parents and guardians, First Lady Auxillia Mnangagwa has said. Addressing orphans and vulnerable children drawn from Kwekwe, Silobela, Zhombe and Gokwe districts soon after donating groceries and clothing in Kwekwe yesterday, the First Lady, who has been going around the country donating to orphanages, said she discovered that child abuse was rife countrywide.

“It’s so disturbing what I have realised: most of these orphans ended up at orphanage homes due to abuse by their parents or guardians. Abuse at the hands of close relatives like the father, brother!

“A father sexually abusing his own child when we expect her to get protection from the same,” she said. The First Lady also said some parents had developed a tendency of dumping their disabled children at orphanages.

Parents, she said, should learn to accept their children whatever their physical condition, since every child was a gift from God. “It is disheartening to learn that discrimination upon disabled children is on the increase as well at a time when the nation is trying to uphold children’s rights.

“We need to accept what God has given us. There is no reason why some people go and dump their children at orphanage homes simply because they are disabled,” she said. But she also noted that some children who ended up at orphanages were troublesome as they abused drugs.

The First Lady implored the children to respect their caregivers the same way they would do their parents.

“With all the effort being put by different organisations, assuming the duties of a parent in nurturing these kids, some end up smoking mbanje and taking drugs, which is not good.

You should behave and focus on changing your lives,” she said. More than 800 children drawn from Kwekwe, Silobela, Zhombe and Gokwe gathered at the Kwekwe Mining Museum for a luncheon with the First Lady.

Marry Ward Children’s Home, Sally Mugabe Day Care Centre for Children with Disabilities and Loreto Orphanage in Silobela were some of the orphanages that were present at the event.

The First Lady donated blankets, food hampers, clothing items and other goodies. The Herald