Bridging the gap between communities and people living with mental illness....Action step 10

THE Creative Centre for Communication and Development joined some individuals and other organisations to host an early Christmas party for inmates at Ingutsheni Psychiatric hospital, Zimbabwe’s biggest referral hospital for people living with mental illnesses.

The organisation took part in this activity as part of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaigns. This was done after the organisation had realised that people living with mental illness were shunned and excluded from engaging in activities that are important to them and the entire community.

CCCD distributed clothing items for the inmates and 300 purple ribbons and pins, 30 posters and car stickers to the over 300 inmates, sponsors and staff members who were at the party. The festive event was marked by various activities including modelling, eating and dancing competitions by the inmates. In the modelling competition, Gift Moyo was voted Mr Ingutsheni and Ruvarashe Mufandaedza lived up to her name when she was voted Miss Ingutsheni. Ruvarashe literally means God’s flower.

Creative Centre for Communication and Development board chairperson, Pastor Febbie Chuma who was one of the judges in the modelling competition handed out the prizes to the jovial winners and encouraged them to work hard in preparation for the next competition.   

Gallery walk captivates community.....Action step 9

A gallery walk showcasing gender based violence in pictures roared off today at the Creative Centre for Communication and Development offices at Montgomery Community Hall with visitors being intrigued by the portrayal of gender based violence through art.

The 16 pictures on display tell stories about physical, psychological and financial abuse. One of the stories is about Sithabile and Sihle, two beautiful teenage girls who are lured by a Facebook friend, Juma, 30, who invites them to visit the United Kingdom for employment. The two young girls unfortunately end up as sex slaves in Canada where they live a miserable life. The other story is about Andrew who had a long relationship with Lillian. When the two broke up Andrew was not happy and started to use Lillian’s credit cards and bank cards in order to financially ruin her.

Mr Mlilo who was the facilitator said he was pleasantly surprised by the quality of pictures produced by the participants.

The art session was done as part of the activities lined up by the Creative Centre for Communication and Development to commemorate 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence. The Gallery walk will run up December 10.

Daring to be different

IWRM 2012 celebrates the African Woman

THE Director for the Creative Centre for Communication and Development, Gertrude Pswarayi describes the just ended International Workshop on Resources Mobilisation (IWRM) held from 27 to 30 November 2012 at Speke Resort and Conference Centre in Uganda as her long awaited journey for personal growth and rediscovering herself. She says the IWRM provided her with a lucrative platform to learn, share knowledge and ideas on tried and tested fundraising practices that produce results.  

“Surat Sandhu, an international consultant based in India who was one of the speakers at the IWRM grabbed my attention when he talked about dreams. Immediately, I was glued to his presentation. I felt as if I was the only person he was addressing in a room with more than 30 people listening to his presentation aptly titled Dare to be Different: Jump out of the box and get innovative for fundraising success,” says Pswarayi.

Sandhu said a dream is not something that you see when you are sleeping. It is something that does not make you sleep.

“My heart began to beat like the African drum because of my dream of seeing marginalized groups strategically and creatively using communication to express their needs, to make their voices heard, to manage their own communication, and to participate fully in their own development to enable them to live fuller and more fulfilling lives,” says Pswarayi.

Pswarayi says her participation ignited a feeling she finds hard to describe. She says she networked, learned to raise funds for the sustainability of the Creative Centre for Communication and Development, interacted with funders and also got to rediscover herself and her passion.

“If there was going to be another IWRM next month I would not hesitate to register as a delegate and even bring along another person from my team to join me,” says Pswarayi.

Pswarayi says her attendance at the IWRM was made possible because the African Women Development Fund (AWDF) invested in her and her organisation under the Capacity Building programme.

“We will be developing our fundraising strategy which will see us mapping the best way to raise funds for the sustainability of the Creative Centre for Communication and Development,” says Pswarayi.

Digital dangers….16 Days of Activism! Action Step 8

Social media and other Web 2.0 platforms have greatly improved young people’s access to information but the technologies have also brought some challenges. We facilitated a half-day workshop where we worked with 30 young people. We talked about digital dangers and how young people can stay safe online.  

CCCD join hands with local police in GBV campaigns….16 Days of Activism! Action Step 7

November 28,2012: We joined hands with the Queenspark Police in the campaign to prevent Gender Based Violence in Queenspark, Sauerstown and Hillside suburbs. We opened our offices to usher 30 excited children aged between 3 years and 5 years from Queens Park and Kingsdale suburbs. The aim was to create community dialogue while raising awareness of the need to end gender based violence. Our Communications and Outreach officer teamed up with three Constables form Queens Park police to talk about violence against children. The children were encouraged to report to the police if anyone touched them in a manner they were not comfortable with. The officers also told the children that they were not supposed to be afraid of the police but to take them as friends. This is one of our efforts to work with different stakeholders to bridge the communication gap and uphold Communication rights