Young people from schools in the city joined young poets and artists from Matabeleland for the launch at the Bulawayo national art gallery.
The campaign’s Bulawayo community officer, Unoziba Tenga said the new campaign targeted people in the country and those in the diaspora.
“The idea behind this campaign is to mobilise Zimbabweans to imagine and share concrete visions for a peaceful and prosperous Zimbabwe. We hope by doing that, the basic atmosphere for dialogue will be created,” said Tenga, adding that a unique combination of communications technology and on-the-ground campaigning would be used.
The campaign’s manager, Meck Sibanda said Zimbabweans in various communities would be asked to nominate peace ambassadors.
“We want the local communities to identify people in their respective areas who, through their actions, brought the communities closer to peace rather than violence. Stories of these ambassadors will be shared to inspire further visions to be imagined and shared,” explained Sibanda.
“We are working closely with schools in this campaign. We are going to mobilise students to remove all hatred messages sprayed on public buildings and replace them where necessary with inspirational and peaceful messages. We will also run peace essay and poster competitions for both primary and secondary schools.”
Sibanda said the campaigning team would also work with artists who would share the peace messages wherever they performed.
Poet Sekwezi Nkiwane, one of the artists taking part, said her vision was a Zimbabwe that respected the rights of girls.
Post published in: News