Zimbabwe: Lincorn Katakwa

Gender Links has opened a door to my next world where he has seen the importance of a girl child. I am a junior ward councillor in my community but did not know the importance of the girl child until I met Gender Links. I will never forget the good thing that I learnt from  Gender Links.

I also started an environmental management club. I plant trees and clean the environment together with the club members in my community. It is by Gender Links that I have discovered the potential in the girl child when we started to plant trees as a club in local primary and high schools. The girl child does her things wholeheartedly and with passion.

I have worked with a lot of girls in many activities and I have learnt that every African girl child need to be encouraged in order to realise her potential. The community itself needs education on the girl child’s potential to acquire what they wish for in life. I have learnt that most girls fail to do what they want to do due to fear of what the community will say. Many thanks to Gender Links which made me to be the bridge between the girl child’s needs and the community. Many of them have the rightful mind set of development to the community but they are afraid to say out their views to the community because of gender discrimination in the African cultures.

I worked with Gender Links for about three weeks at school in Mutare.I learnt leadership and entrepreneurship skills. I also gained self-confidence and self-defence when it comes to intimidation from both the society and peers.

Gender Links has made me gain more knowledge about the importance of team work and its advantages. We did team building activities and also talent showcasing. That is when I discovered that they are many talents in youths and children. Not only did Gender Links concentrated with the girl child but the boy child was not left behind. I learnt the importance and value of every human being in the world through Gender Links. My leadership skills have also been modified.

With what I was taught from Gender Links , I am now pacing up with creating an enabling environment on sexual and reproductive health for students.I am designing a project which sought to maximise on the use of edutainment and theatre to initiate dialogue amongst students on conservative SRH topics which includes contraception and rights of minority groups. I am designing projects to utilise recorded sessions on difficult topics and radio listening clubs to conduct dialogues after listening to the sessions. I also identified SRHR related materials which might harm the environment. So, I introduced designed activities which leverage on integrating clean environments and positive health outcomes for young people. I and my colleagues held clean up campaigns in the CBD, distributed pamphlets on various SRH, HIV & AIDS issues at the same time cresting an interface between students and the community and ensuring dialogues on condom disposal.

We continued to campaign and copied what other clubs were doing, like the use of   the theme #BAE (Beautiful AIDS free and Empowered) as our motto so as to have an HIV and AIDS free environment.  Gender Links have made me know my responsibilities as a boy and sharpened my leadership skills.  I really appreciate the change that was done to me by Gender Links.