15th June 2019

On Saturday the 15th of June 2019 the Midlands Branch of the UK Chapter of Restoration of Human Rights (ROHR) Zimbabwe held a meeting at Secular Hall, 75 Humberstone Gate, Secular Hall, Leicester, LE1 1WB.The meeting was chaired by Tsungirirai Kahiya. Report prepared by Nicolate Shungu Gwati.

Register of attendance

Tsungirirai Kahiya (Chairperson), Marian Mangani, Blessing Goronga, Kauza Mugarisanwa, Weston Mupfururirwa, Grace Makoni, LilianTNleya, Frazer Muzondo, Edwin Kamanda, Eveline Kuwaza, Lydia Muzvidziwa, Olivia Chamboko, Alvina Chibhamu and Shingirai Kandi

Agenda

  1. Opening prayer
  2. Matters arising from previous meeting
  3. Secretary’s report on the branch by Nicolate
  4. Organising Secretary’s report by Lilian
  5. Treasurer’s report by Grace
  6. Fundraiser’s report by Marian
  7. Communication and time keeping
  8. Any other business
  9. Closing prayer

Meeting started 15:00hrs

  • The theme of this year is ownership so Tsungi encouraged all members to take the initiative when it comes to activism. Any one is free to come up with ideas that we can all engage in as a branch
  1. She spoke about her disappointment in members who waited to be pushed when it comes to doing any activism
  2. She also indicated that people were not doing the research that they would have been assigned to do at previous meetings and those who did the research were sending reports that were too inadequate to be put on the blog. .

3.      Secretary’s report by Nicolate Gwati

  1. Points raised at last meeting
  2. Cultural fun day 
  3. Fun runs – half marathons where people can donate funds to ROHR
  4. Cultural dance day – Lilian will look into it
  5. Football tournament
  6. Bring and sell
  7. Car wash – can be incorporated into whatever we are doing
  8. unwanted gift sale – people can donate things that they don’t want, and these can be sold  
  • Nikki checked with the youth centre and has booked the venue provisionally for the 31st of August 2019 and they will charge us £75
  • Tasks that were given
  • Lilian and Daisy are going to look at the stats of the rapes that have occurred
  • Mr Makonese is going to find out if there are currently any campaign that are going on with regards to rapes
  • Sibonile will look at how many women have anonymously spoken out about being raped
  • Precious D Marechera will be looking at what the government’s response has been to these rape allegations and have they put anything in place to address these allegations
  • Weston is going to be looking at the social implications of being raped and the well-being of these women who have been raped. Weston noted that some of the women who were raped were raped in front of their children and husbands
  • Gladys Dube will look at organisations that advocate for women who have been raped both here in the UK and in Zimbabwe. 
  • We need a portable banner with a pull up stand for our branch. We need people to look into it and get prices and compare. Olivia Chamboko has donated £20 towards this. Tsungi will do designs for the banner and see which ones people are happy with
  • Way Forward
  • I think we should start thinking about what our next campaign will be so that as soon as our rape campaign ends, we will have another campaign on the books 
  • Going forward I would like to encourage everyone in the branch to visit our Facebook and Flickr accounts and our website at least once a week going forward
  • I would also like to encourage those who are capable of writing blog articles to do so and these can be posted on the ROHR blog page

        4.       Organizing Secretary’s report by Lilian Tinashe Nleya

  1. Cultural Fun Day
  2. Weston Mupfururirwa donated £12 towards buying the stencil that is to be used for face painting.
  3. Lilian offered to bring part of the agreed foods etc mufushwa dried vegetables, Ocra, matemba and other things. She also volunteered to go and look for cufflinks and earrings.
  4. One of the members also suggested the use of Raffle tickets on the day
  5. The chair asked members to bring anything that symbolises our culture and emphasised that visitors were welcome. 

        5.       Treasurer’s report by Grace Makoni

The money in our treasury includes the money that is being set aside to help those who cannot afford the transportation costs needed to attend meetings and demonstrations

        6.     Other Reports

Reports were also filed by the Fundraising and Information portfolios

        7.   Acitivism

  1. People were reminded to advocate for people who have been raped and to find out what kind of support we can offer them as a branch
  2. Edwin Kamanda mentioned that it was good to be a champion of one campaign effectively instead of doing a lot of things that are ineffective
  3. Weston Mupfururirwa was tasked with looking for t-shirts on which messages could be printed on and sold. Members will discuss the kind of messages that we can put on these t-shirts
  4. Alvina Chibhamu donated £5 towards the venue costs for our forthcoming Cultural Day event

        8.    Other Matters

The meeting also discussed and agreed the importance of communication and time keeping.

All the agenda items were deliberated upon in detail and in a robust and enthusiastic way in a meeting where everyone present made contributions.

With all the agenda items having been disposed of, the Chairperson declared the meeting closed at 17.00 hrs.

To view pictures taken at the event, click here.

By: Information & Publicity Department

Cover pic: https://www.flickr.com/photos/rohr_zimbabwe__manchester/48068305066/in/album-72157709097088197/