MADZIWA Mine Secondary School in Shamva district, Mashonaland Central province, hosted an all-female soccer match with a difference to mark the start of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-based Violence (GBV) campaign.
The tournament ingeniously utilised soccer terminology to symbolise the fight against child marriages.
A red card unequivocally represented rejection of child marriages, while a yellow card served as a warning to perpetrators.
The referee and video assistant referee embodied the roles of monitors and enforcers who take action against child marriages.
The whistle served as a symbol, amplifying awareness about child marriages, substance abuse and GBV.
Enet Tini, a teacher at the school, told NewsDay Life & Style that through the soccer match, they were advocating the end of child marriages, teenage pregnancies, school dropouts and drug and substance abuse.
“We’re assuming the role of whistleblowers, blowing the whistle on abuse and rights violations against the girl child,” she said.
“We are spreading our message in a way that echoes the rules of the game: kicking out child marriages and kickstarting education for girls.”
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The match took place last Friday, with the host school playing against Madziwa Mine Teachers’ College and it ended two-nil in favour of Madziwa Mine Secondary School.
Themed Kick Out Child Marriages, Kickstart Education!, the event was graced by village heads and other local leaders, including the Victim Friendly Unit, officials from the Women Affairs ministry as well as Forum for African Women Educationalists Zimbabwe (FAWEZI) community champions.
Activities started with a morning procession where students, parents and stakeholders marched displaying banners with messages preaching the gospel of child safeguarding.
“GBV is affecting our learners in several ways, some of them are failing to come to school due to gender-based violence. Some families are not stable because of violence. We are encouraging parents to stay together,” school head Gilbert Marufu said.
Madziwa Secondary School is among several schools supported by FAWEZI through its Towards Resilient Communities with Health, Equity and Safety (TORCHES) project which it has implemented in Chitungwiza, Shamva and Nyanga.
Each of the schools has a TUSEME club, which is an outreach programme whose name is derived from the Kiswahili term for “let’s speak out”.
It is designed to empower young individuals, enabling them to voice their opinions and concerns confidently.
“We hope that the parents who graced this occasion will go into the community and preach the gospel of protecting the girl child.
“Soccer is a crowd puller and it gives us the opportunity or the platform to talk about child safeguarding,” Tini said.
“We are trying to bridge the gap in recreational time between men and women, having found that men generally have more leisure time.
“By playing soccer, girls and women can create time to relax and refresh so that they are not overwhelmed by the demands of household chores and caregiving responsibilities.”
The educational and thought-provoking event included a drama that featured students who used the platform to raise awareness about child marriages and GBV in the community.
FAWEZI is a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that was established in 1998 to address gender disparities in education and promote educational opportunities for girls and women.
It is an affiliate of the Forum for African Women Educationalists, a pan-African NGO based in Nairobi, Kenya.
