Zimpapers Logo

Leonard Ncube , [email protected] 

The newly formed Lift African Woman Up Foundation will this Saturday hold a special session for the first time in Victoria Falls to empower women and girls in conflict management and building confidence.

Founded by Mrs Lwazi Mbowa, the founder of Miss Big Matofotofo, the foundation seeks to address challenges faced by women as a result of often-overlooked struggles such as relationships, depression, anxiety, domestic violence, and infidelity.

The foundation was launched in Bulawayo and is now expanding to Victoria Falls, with three speakers: Ms Mejury Maphosa, Mr Ezra Tshisa Sibanda, and Ms Gertrude Ndlovu, while Mrs Mbowa will be the host.  The venue will be Irock Lodge.

The focus will be on family feuds, conflict management, victim support, managing infidelity, instilling confidence in vulnerable women and girls, and teaching survival skills.

The theme for the programme is: “Lift her up and set her on.”

Mrs Mbowa said she founded the organisation after attending a workshop where she realised that women were facing numerous challenges, with many lacking the knowledge of how to address them.

The Saturday event is targeting women, while men can attend to listen, as the focus is on starting by building up women in the home before extending to men.

Mrs Mbowa said women should be empowered to handle domestic violence, particularly infidelity by men, and not simply opt out, as most of them end up becoming girlfriends to married men and go through similar traumatising experiences.

“The focus is to uplift every woman because they take responsibility for things that happen in their families. When children get into drugs, this affects women, and sometimes some children are affected by domestic violence at home, which in turn impacts their mothers.

“Some children are abused by elderly men who give them money and even infect them with diseases, leaving them as victims, and this affects their mothers. Some men even have girlfriends, and this causes depression in their spouses, who carry the burden. So, we have a speaker who will unpack why men have girlfriends and how women can relate to cheating men other than fighting or giving them love potions,” said Mrs Mbowa.

She said another speaker will address how women can rise up, be smart, and take pride in themselves without confronting the so-called girlfriend.

“The speaker will focus on how women whose husbands are cheating can become independent, find something to do, and stay busy. We want women to know how they can conduct themselves before their husbands, family, children, society, and the girlfriend herself. We will also focus on how depression affects life, and obviously, people will have an opportunity to interact and ask questions,” she said.

“We want to uplift women and the girl child so they don’t leave their marriages but seek to be educated, employed, and have a strategy to deal with a cheating man because fighting only leads to trouble with the law, and leaving a marriage may see one ending up becoming a girlfriend to another married man.”

Mrs Mbowa urged women not to live in pretence but to face challenges head-on with respect, peace, and humility.

She said she and others are also advocating for leniency on behalf of women who get arrested for domestic violence caused by cheating men.