By Tafadzwa Muranganwa
A soccer tournament was launched last weekend to help youths living in Goromonzi South fight the scourge of drug abuse and early child marriages among other societal ills.
Speaking to this publication, the coordinator of the Arnold Sikangwini Memorial Tournament,Nyasha ‘Ribexy’ Chireshe said the tournament was designed to fight the proliferation of drugs and other societal ills as well as honour the late Arnold Sikangwini.
“Our communities here in Goromonzi South have not been spared from the scourge of drug abuse and early child marriage so we thought of this tournament to provide youths with an opportunity to escape all the anxieties and worries in life.
“This will help them to be preoccupied and not be tempted to take drugs,” Chireshe said .
“We are also confident that the event will also help ease the increase of early marriages and domestic violence,” he adds.
According to Chireshe, they decided to honour Arnold while at the same time encouraging people not to risk their lives using unsafe boats in the Hunyani River.
“Arnold was a hard-working farm worker who died in July this year in a boat accident in Hunyani River and we thought it will be a worthy cause to remember him while at the same time encouraging people to use safe modes of transport.
“There are tendencies by people from Epworth, Ruwa, and Goromonzi of using makeshift boats when coming from Chitungwiza and this is riskier,” advised Ribexy.
The tournament which is going to be held annually was held at Iddisleigh Farm and Kufunda Learning Centre where a total of 8 teams drawn from Goromonzi, Chitungwiza ,Chihota ,Epworth and Ruwa battled it out.
A team owned by the coordinator, Ribexy FC , clinched the inaugural Arnold Sikangwini Memorial Tournament after beating Hamilton FC by 2 goals to nil.
The guest of honour , St John Apostolic Church of The Whole World youth patron, Richard Paradza applauded the initiative and later handed food hampers to the late Arnold’s family.
“This is quite a noble idea and as a church, we support this initiative so that we empower youths to fight drug abuse, early marriages, and gender-based violence,” addressed Paradza.
The St John Apostolic of the Whole World church congregants including the founder and leader Dr Sydney Mabhiza made several donations towards the success of the tournament.
