Saturday 6th of April, 2024 marked the International Day of Sports for Peace and Development. 4-H Zimbabwe in conjunction with the Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service（ZPCS）at Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison joined the rest of Zimbabwe and the world in commemorating the day. 4-H Zimbabwe draws its inspiration from the narrative that a well developed country thrives on peaceful existence and social cohesion through non discrimination of usually less recognized and accepted social groups.
The organizational strategy lie in sport4development. It uses sport for various reasons such as civic education, peace building, social engagement, raising awareness and for physical and mental health wellbeing.
The tournament was focused on celebrating the day through promotion of the mental and physical wellness of inmates and mostly bringing them together in a peaceful co-existence.
The guest of honor and Chief Superintendent for Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison ,Mr Alfred Machingauta gave welcome remarks and commended the efforts by 4-H Zimbabwe in ensuring that the inmates feel recognized and included in development through the use of sport.
“It is a great honor to be having this tournament today by 4-H Zimbabwe where we are witnessing sport being used as an essential tool for the physical and mental wellbeing of inmates. We greatly appreciate such interventions as they give inmates some activity to look forward to and to talk about for weeks to come, ” he said.
One of the major objectives of the sponsored tournament was to promote inclusivity, sensitizing the communities through 4-H Zimbabwe lens, that prison is not punishment but a place for rehabilitation and offering Correctional services to incarcerated inmates. Through the tournament, 4-H Zimbabwe also thrived to raise community awareness and conscientisation on the need to accept inmates as equal human beings who are beneficiaries of a rehabilitation and Correctional service, all with the intention of ensuring the readmission into the society. On this day 4-H Zimbabwe further recognized the need promote the mental and physical health of prisoners in preparing them for life outside prison and readmission into society as well as appreciating the need to a peaceful coexistence and social cohesion when they get back to the communities.
The Sports leader and facilitator for the event and representative for the inmates introduced all the players before the tournament started and gave a brief background of how the games are played within the prison.
The in-mates who were the sporting participants appreciated the 4-H Zimbabwe gesture and appreciated the immediate benefit of the sport games. One participant observed that the sports helps them for emotional wellbeing and also for physical health. Some participants who had chronic ailments like BP and diabetes had improved health status during the knockout stages of the sport games.
The organization has in the past used sports for as a tool to create social cohesion to youth from various political parties and youth from marginalized communities. The organization has also used sport to raise awareness on drug and substance abuse to students and youth from communities.
Recently, the organization finished a project supported by FIFA Foundation whereby youth from Uzumba Maramba Pfungwe and Mutoko were continously engaged on a variety of issues such as development, peace, tolerance, anti drug use and their physical and mental health. Moreover, a sports festival was also held in Uzumba whereby more than 500 people attended to witness the use of sport as a means to engage and eduacate the community.
4-H Zimbabwe further appreciates that Sport is a unifier when the language of peace, unity and togetherness is preached and most importantly where discrimination is non existent.
In his closing remarks on the memorable day 4-H Zimbabwe Executive Director, Mr John Muchenje thanked Chikurubi Maximum Security Prison Chief Superintendent Mr Machingauta for allowing the organization an opportunity to compliment the ZPCS efforts in creating a safe, peaceful and non discriminatory environment for prisoners through the use of sport.
“It is our pleasure as 4-H Zimbabwe to be sharing this day with all of you. We believe that you are also a part of the community and such initiatives are crucial to ensure that you understand that you are not alone. Our aim is to ensure that your physical and mental health are cared for so that when you go outside into communities you can easily blend in and avoid making similar mistakes.
4-H Zimbabwe will continue to engage various prisons and contribute to their already defined yearly sports calendar.
