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Diaspora Community Props Up Bulilima’s Health Sector

Bulilima community has taken it upon themselves to build local clinics. Image by Bana Bengwana Development Trust


BY LIZWE SEBATHA | @The_CBNews | This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. | APR 15, 2021

COVID-19 has brought with it several challenges; however, for this community, it brought awareness of the severe difficulties of access to health care, promoting the diaspora community to post bail.


BULILIMA (The Citizen Bulletin) — Lungile Nkomo says it never dawned on her that she would participate in community development projects in a country that offered her little opportunities one day.

A week after finishing her Ordinary Levels more than two decades ago, Nkomo left for South Africa to join her uncles, resident in the neighbouring country for years.

Nkomo, who started as a maid and now runs a money-transfer agency and other businesses with colleagues, says she does not regret seeking better life opportunities in South Africa.
 
She explains why she donated material and financial resources towards constructing a clinic in the Ngwana area of Bulilima district.


“These are basic public amenities that under normal circumstances should be available at every village, but unfortunately, it was not the case for our village as we had to travel long distances to access health care services.”
Lungile Nkomo, who runs a money-transfer agency


Chapter 4, subsection 75 of the constitution stipulates that every citizen and permanent resident has the right to have access to basic healthcare services, including reproductive healthcare services.

Contrary, communities in Bulilima have struggled to access basic healthcare because of a lack of clinics or clinics farther away from neighbourhoods.

“It is for this reason that I accepted the challenge to chip in with whatever form of assistance towards the construction of the Ngwana clinic in the face of COVID-19,” Nkomo adds.

Pregnant women and the elderly had to travel more than 10 kilometres to the nearest clinics. Ngwana clinic is among a dozen in the district that have undergone various stages of facelift and rehabilitation, completely new structures or nearing completion since 2020 when the country registered its first COVID-19 case.

The clinics are being constructed and refurbished under a community-based service delivery model that brings in villagers, diaspora community, churches, and the non-profit sector community, among other stakeholders, to fill gaps in health care delivery services.

Bulilima Rural District Council (RDC) chief executive officer Brown Ncube says COVID-19 has been a God-send to the district as the pandemic united Bulilima community members in Zimbabwe and abroad to ensure access to health care to every villager.

“When COVID-19 hit the country, our revenues were severely affected. The pandemic adversely affected our revenue collection efforts, and this saw us suspending most projects,” Ncube says.


“However, at the same time, COVID-19 proved to be our silver lining.”
Brown Ncube, Bulilima RDC CEO


“It (COVID-19) brought the community together; united the community, locally and in the diaspora, to pull resources together to ensure our clinics are capacitated, refurbished, and new ones constructed in line with our thrust of ensuring access to health care services to all in the community.”

Malalume, Mbimba, Matshinge, Somnene, Tematema, Gambu, Gwampe, Makumbi, Nyele and Mambo clinics are some of the facilities that have undergone construction since COVID-19 hit the country last year.

The Gwampe clinic under construction as of January 8, 2021. Image by Bana Bengwana Development Trust


“In Malalume and Mbimba, we had the community, diaspora, Bulilima RDC, Rotary Club in Plumtree, Bulawayo and Germany coming together to provide labour, material and construction of the two clinics,” the Bulilima CEO notes.

“At Matshinge ward, the diaspora community, for example, chipped in with nearly ZAR600 000 for the construction of the clinic. I can safely say that in a month, we would be able to commission four new clinics and another four by August…COVID-19 presented many challenges to the RDC. Still, by and large, the pandemic has also been a window for us to raise capital for the construction of clinics in the district.”


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Development analyst Effie Ncube and Bulilima East legislator Dingumuzi Puthi argue there is a lot that the rest of the country, particularly marginalized communities, can learn from the Bulilima community development initiatives.

“It is also important that RDC’s develop strategies to court the external capital that the diaspora community possess because there are immense resources out there that can be tapped into assisting the development of communities from water infrastructure to sanitation to livestock and agro development to health care and other issues where capital is needed,” Ncube notes.

Puthi weighs in: “I am very proud of our people for knowing the value of remitting back home and participating in the general development of social amenities in Bulilima.  I call on people who are able and currently based outside the country to join hands with the government, the Bulilima RDC, to enhance partnership for community development and provision of social services such as health care.”


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