Young people in Gwanda converged at the Arts for peace festival to witness artistes amuse them with various artistic presentations under the theme Youth Building Lasting Peace in Zimbabwe.
The Festival, hosted by National Youth Development Trust (NYDT) brought together artistes from Bulawayo, Gwanda and surrounding areas; these included Sithandazile, Protest crew, Ghetto Smurfs, GDA, Mgcini Nyoni among other artistes who scintillated audiences with informative artistic presentations.
The play 1983 and years after staged by the Protest crew was the main attraction and was applauded by the audience who said it was a precise depiction of what happened during Gukurahundi and proffered a possible way forward for Zimbabwe.
Speaking during the plenary session that followed the play, young people emphasized on the need to bring the perpetrators of the 1983 genocide to book. They also raised concerns regarding the Organ on national healing which is expected to handle such issues but seems to be a ceremonial body with no clear policy.
Various stakeholders who attended the event said it was commendable to see young people uniting through ‘world class performances’ of art to foster a culture peace.
“The artistic work that youths are exhibiting is commendable. It encourages a culture of not being docile and dissuades them from partaking in rowdiness as this destroys the possibilities of development,” said the Regional chairperson of the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe, Lorraine Sibanda,
She also encouraged the youths to observe the need to cultivate and embrace a culture of unity and peace if they are to realize growth and development in their communities especially since young people constitute the bulk of the population in this country.
The participating artists also appealed for more such platforms, networking opportunities and assistance to enable them to market their work.
The festival is one of the many ways that NYDT is engaging youths, policy makers and other various stakeholders to foster sustainable peace and development in the country. Through edutainment, it is expected that most of the youths will be lured away from using violence to using more peaceful means of communicating their challenges. It has long been recognized that the arts hold the power to expose wounds of conflict, soothe tormented spirits and teach lessons about war and peace. NYDT will continue to engage youths, policy makers and other stakeholders on key transitional processes through various means to increase youth participation in governance and the broader democratization process in Zimbabwe. The organisation will be holding such and other activities in different parts of the country to enable youths to create a socio-political environment that enables effective civic participation in governance.
National Youth Development Trust (NYDT) is a youth-focused civil society organisation whose mission is to develop sustainable leadership qualities in young people for their effective contribution to education, the economy, politics, culture, health and agriculture to enhance the quality of their and the countries’ well being.
Website: www.nydtzimbabwe.org
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