Here we will just talk a little about our community so maybe you can get a mental picture of what we are about and how we live. We will also try to include pictures if the technology allows.
Chatsworth is a vibrant hamlet which is too small to have a bank, a secondary school or a supermarket, but it is well know and has had a presence on the Internet even before its residents know there was such an entity.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chatsworth,_Zimbabwe
Here we would like to talk about the activities that our community is engaged in and how the church fits into that.
We welcome your visits and hope that you can help and advise us as we try to improve our community, especially the children.
We have sister churches in the areas around Chatsworth. One of these is the Elmwood Church which is 15 kilometres to the south of Chatsworth. They are a much more rural church but they have a significantly bigger membership than us, having been established for much longer. We work together with them on many community projects.
Our Church comprises 27 adults, some of which are members, and 12 children from the same families.
Health issues
Most people in this community are not environmentally aware. The church is working to enlighten residents of the link between the environment and general health. We believe in the importance of human health and the need for awareness of the factors that affect us directly or indirectly.
Our first health project was to raise awareness of the problems of drinking. Because of the high unemployment rates round these parts, most people spend time drinking. There are shops here where you can buy beer containers called SCUDs.We try to enlighten young people to think more about their lives and their health.
Another health issue in Zimbabwe is promiscuity, which has resulted in a huge loss of life from STIs such as HIV/AIDS. Again because of unemployment, a lot of young people have a lot of time on their hands and end up entertaining themselves with activities that are a danger to themselves. The drinking of beer is known to increase carelessness on social issues.
A third health issue is environmental rubbish. Because there is no defined method of clearing rubbish from the community, each resident is left to clear it from their own home and dump it wherever they see fit. This creates a poor standard of environmental care. It is not uncommon to see piles of rubbish on patches not directly owned by residents. Sometimes children play in or near the rubbish, exposing themselves to all sorts of potential hazards. The Church works with community leaders and the council to try to formulate guidelines to deal with rubbish in the community.
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| Rubbish is left in public places and nobody volunteers to clear it. |
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| Chatsworth's Makaure Market. |
Because the water supply system is erratic, the toilets do not always work well and food sellers can be sitting in the market all day selling open food stuffs on a very hot day, with exposure to all that the adjacent toilets have to offer. We are working to raise awareness of such issues with both the community and the council.
Water borne diseases:
The water supply system is dependent on the electricity supply system. When there is no electricity (which is often, and sometimes for long periods) the water supply is also erratic because the pumps are electrical. During these periods the residents may end up using water from untreated sources. The normal advice is to boil the water, but that also need electricity. The use of firewood is discouraged by government as it causes de-forestation. This problem is difficult to solve even with the best of effort. The church is looking into the use of renewable sources of power, such as solar cookers but we have not yet moved forward. Meantime the water remains a potential health hazard, especially to children.
Summary:
Those all seem to be negatives and you might be forgiven for thinking Chatsworth is an awful place. Think again. Chatsworth has a population of mainly young people and they are mostly prone to new ideas about matters of common interest. If they community leaders call a meeting, the residents do come. This makes it a little easier to peddle a new idea. They also ask a lot of questions, thus helping to get an in depth understanding. It also means those that have opportunities to talk at meeting must gather their facts when planning and be able to present in a coherent manner.
The church helps some of our young people to understand and to use modern methods of presenting issues of common interest to the community. The church sees itself as a member of the community and therefore does not discriminate on any basis against any other member of the community. The idea is to encourage everyone to dedicate a bit of their time to the common good. Churches of all creeds try to work together, drawing good points from each and using all to improve our community. Community leaders tend to be older people who do not always understand how young people work, but are good at transmitting information to them to use. They also have good sources of information for young people to tap into.
01/04/2017
This report was written on 03/07/2013
Since then, a local volunteer group has been formed by the residents and tasked itself with cleaning some of the rubbish that has accumulated in the town and to educate residents on the dangers of allowing rubbish to accumulate where they live. We will be reporting on the group's progress as regularly as we can get online access.
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