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Mazabuka Mumblings
COMING UP!
MAZABUKA TURF CLUB'S ANNUAL FUN DAY (Registration at 9.30 am for 10
a.m.) which this year is being held at the club on Saturday, March
19. Forget the Foot and Mouth and the
far-too-distant-sounds-of-thunder and pop down to Maz Turf Club for
a day of fun and games! Teams of three will compete in the walk (3
km) run (3 km) and cycle (4km) race from the Sunshine Shop to the
Turf Club and in the afternoon, stay with your team or join another
team - also consisting of three people - to cycle, clay pigeon shoot
and play croquet! Entrance fee: K45,000 per team. There will be
the usual ample and delicious lunch, tea and refreshments. Braai
packs will be available in the evening. This popular annual event
has always kindly been sponsored by Caltex in the past. For more
information, contact Theresa Taylor on 03 230-830.
MOTORBIKE ENDURO - Organised by the Mazabuka Dirt Bike Riders, the
enduro will be held on Tom Reeve's Dorvic Farm on Sunday, March 20
starting at 8.00 a.m. and finishing up at around 12.30 p.m.
National and Farmers classes are invited to participate on two wheel
and quad bikes in the event. For more details contact Whizz Bignell
on 097 775-005.
ZAMBIA'S NATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS was held for the
second year running at the Staff Club on Zambia Sugar's Nakambala
Estate in mid February. Nine teams from around the country
participated in the event which was sponsored by Zambia Sugar. The
event was a warm up for the Southern African Championships which is
being held in Mauritius later in the year. Setting a great example
to his peers - and runners generally - was old timer Emmanuel
Ndomba (63) from Western Province. Emmanual only started running
when he was 45! Coming first in the senior division was the Zambia
National Services club team, followed by Zambia Police and Green
Buffalos. The Zambia Police team won the junior events and they
were followed by the Green Buffalo team and Zambia Sugar.
A WING AND A PRAYER - MAZABUKAN COMMUNITY SPIRIT. - It's always
good to hear about people determined to make something of their
lives, instead of sitting back and pondering a bleak future made
bearable by the occasional hand out. Taking the bull by the horns
(donkey by the ears?) a group of young men with no job prospects
started a refuse collection business known as the Southern Wings
Co-operative on Nakambala Estate and in and around Mazabuka early
last year, using two little donkeys (Jack and Jill) and a cart.
Recently one of the donkeys met with a bad accident and local vet,
Ian Parsons told the men the sad news that the donkey would have to
be put down, which he did for them at no charge. A local Mazabuka/
Monze farmer, hearing from Ian of the plight of the Southern Wings
group, very kindly donated one of his donkeys as a replacement.
Nothing like good old Maz Community spirit!
HOME BASED CARE - NDEKELENI'S ANSWER TO THE HOSPICE - Since they
started their operation two years ago, the Ndekeleni Development
Foundation, a charity that was set up in the Ndeke Community to help
empower widows and orphans in the community, has hoped to raise
enough funds to build a hospice for the community. Funding for this
is still a long way off, however not to be deterred, the group,
under the chairmanship of Rita Nyirenda, has with the help
of internationally known KARA Counselling, a monitoring, evaluation
and research unit, started a home based care programme in and around
Ndeke. Over the last few months, KARA has helped train forty four
Ndekeleni Home Based Care providers. They have been trained to
provide an after care service for patients suffering from TB,
HIV, pneumonia and other chronic diseases, once the patient has been
discharged from hospital. The Ndekeleni people have found that many
of their patients go home to carers who are simply unable to cope
with a chronically sick person in the home because they are either
too young (some as young as six) or too old. The group, which
consists of both men and women, visits the homes as many as four
times a week and helps to bath, feed, administer medicine and
provide psycho social support to the patient - and to the family.
Ndekeleni also has a drama and counselling group that is available
to travel to the farming community to talk about HIV Aids, STI's,
and their Home Based Care programme. Phone Rita on 097 663-695 if
you would like them to visit your farm.
For news and notices please contact Glenda Thompson on 03230025
igeethomo@yahoo.co.uk
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March 2005