Community urged to look after new hospice
ALEXANDRA – Community must look after the facility, including the workers that will eke out livelihoods from working here, says Zim official.
A visiting top-ranking Zimbabwean government official has heaped praise on the work of Grace Marutlulle with the terminally ill in her community of Alexandra.
Catherine Masunda, a former UN regional coordinator on culture and dialogue, is also the Southern African Development Community secretary for Southern African Women in Tourism, and director of Zimbabwe Women in Tourism and Youth2Youth Dialogue in her native Zimbabwe, visited the Alex Hospice and Rehab Centre on December 13.
Masunda said she was impressed by what she heard and saw, particularly that ‘this magnificent work and vision is being spearheaded by a woman is quite humbling as we have been always undermined and undervalued’.
“I hope her magnificent work of caring for the terminally ill and achievements that have resulted in the building of a state-of-the-art hospice for her community can spark the development of other similar projects, not just in South Africa but the continent at large.
“I would like to see Mam’uGrace’s work and achievements becoming contagious and spreading throughout the African continent as her network continues to grow. Tell the people of Alex to own and honour the hospice as it is theirs and not that of Grace.
“We want the community to look after the property, including the workers that will eke out livelihoods from working here. We must teach our community never to destroy what belongs to them.”
Saying colonialism stripped people of their dignity and pride, Masunda added this was the time to re-instil that dignity in communities so they can start to value themselves and the projects and infrastructure that are built make their lives much better.
