THE Zvishavane community is establishing its first youth centre to keep young people busy with edutainment activities as the fight against HIV and Aids heats up in the mining town.
ALLIEWAY NYONI Own Correspondent
During the World Aids Day commemoration week, it was established that youths between the ages of 14 and 25 had the highest rates of HIV infection due to lack of activities, poverty and abuse outside school curriculum.
Zvishavane Young People’s Network on Sexual and Reproductive Health chairperson Proud Shoko said the mining town’s HIV prevalence rate had escalated due to the construction and increase in the number of nightclubs.
“Zvishavane is a pleasure-driven community evidenced by classic state-of-the-art nightclubs constructed for pleasure purposes, tempting young people into clubbing and sexual activities,” he said.
Youth patron, Bigboy Murenga, said the proposed youth centre consisted of nine dimensions — scouts, youth friendly corner, arts, drama and dance, traditional culture training, HIV and Aids awareness unit, environmental club, computer training and counselling sessions.
“The youth centre will have different activities, both entertaining and educative,” he said. “It is actually a counter tool of the mushrooming nightclubs that have increased rapidly in this town.”
The youth centre is going to be funded by the National Aids Council and non-governmental organisations that include Oxfam, Bethany and Midlands Aids Caring Organisation, among other organisations.
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Bethany director Rebecca Gumbo said they expected about 200 youths to be recruited for various training programmes in January 2015 and 3 000 by year end.
“We expect a recruitment of about 200 youths in January to be trained as peer educators among other training and by December 2015 we expect 3 000 youths to have completed various training programmes,” she said.
As part of its mandate, Zvishavane Town Council donated its swimming pool facility near the town’s new central business district.
“HIV and Aids have become everybody’s business and as council we gave the facility,” town secretary Tinoda Mukutu said.
