Human and Community Development

Climate change is one of the challenges we are facing today. Recently we have seen several leaders speaking- out and mobilising the society to take meaningful action. Pope Francis is one of these leaders and he has gone further to produce an encyclical on the matter titled “Laudato Si”, Care for our Common Home. At L'Arche Zimbabwe we have a core member who always reminds us to be considerate of the environment. Douglas is a quiet person who does not say a word verbally but speaks considerably through his actions. He does not see a piece of paper on the ground and leave it there. He always pick and dispose them in a bin. In some cases when he feels like making a statement, he holds on to a pile of paper for some hours, long enough to make you notice. In his small efforts, Douglas reminds us of our responsibility towards the environment. He calls us to recognise that we are sustained by the environment and in turn we need to be considerate of its welfare.

First published on  http://ajanweb.org/ajan-lenten-reflections-2017 Today’s reading is about one of the outstanding stories in the bible (Jn 4:5-42) What makes it unique is the fruitful relations it portrays. From our childhood Sunday school teachings, we know somehow that the Samaritans and the Jews were not really on speaking terms. Yet the Lord found this as a rich opportunity to plant a seed of mutual respect, common good and love within mankind. He did not worry himself about perceptions, social constructs and widespread beliefs about Jews and Samaritans. He was crossing boundaries to reach out to others. Working with young people over the past 10 years, I have experienced three main scenarios in relation to HIV. I have seen children born with the virus maturing into their adolescence (thanks to ART). I have encountered young people infected mostly through sexual contact and I have met others infected by accident. All had one experience in common wh...

As we start the New Year, it is important for us to borrow from a very long standing tradition of making resolutions. There are those who like trading blindly and to those this notion makes no sense. However these people risk repeating the same mistakes over and over again. Making resolutions as young people moves us towards a reflective life which is embraced consciously. We become custodians and Pilots of our own lives. The process of making resolutions invites us to look at what we did best, perhaps in our behaviours or in other spheres of our lives. In the same regard, we look at what we did poorly and need to improve. From these experiences, one has to identify few practical things to work on throughout the year. For some it is deciding to quit smoking, taking alcohol and casual sex. For others it is the decision to pray more, helping others more, to start reading books, and perhaps contribute to environmental action. What are your 2017 Resolutions?

Words demystified; CIVICS Very often we are intimidated by certain words that are in their essence very important in our everyday lives. One of these words is Civics. The definition of civics is given by the Merriam Webster as the study of the rights and duties of citizens and how government works. Other dictionaries such as McMillan, Oxford and Cambridge share the same meaning with emphasis on the understanding of the rights and duties of citizens. Perhaps the word citizen has to be demystified again in order to give CIVICS its non-partisan and significance to every Zimbabwean. A citizenship is simply being a member of a society or a state or a country. There are other complicated definitions of the word but we can leave them for later discussions. So anyone who is a member of any country has a need to partake his or her social responsibly (rights and duties) to it. The rights and duties in any regard, they should promote the wellbeing of every member particularly paying ...

Mediocrity is a word mostly used and mostly underrated. The problem is not on the word. It is in the understanding of the reality which we relate to the word. Have you noticed how we almost do things to fulfillment. We don’t really get there, we just get almost there and we presume we have done it. In many cases we don’t see the magnitude of that tendency but that is mediocrity. We often comfort ourselves saying that “we are just average” as if that is tolerable. I have noticed a donor wishing to give breakfast to orphans donating 50kg of Sugar. But what the donor did not realize is we had to sell 25kg of it to buy mealie meal so as to have the porridge served. This is not disrespectful of the efforts one makes but it is a call to pursue a fulfilling outcome. It is a call to excellence or in some circles, Magis. If one decides to spend a day with family at home and you lock yourself on Cable or DSTV all day, that’s mediocrity – you almost spent a day with them. If you go to church eve...

Just yesterday I removed a rather inappropriate link on one of our Christian groups. One of my friends had shared it unintentionally. I did not ask him because I knew he would say I don’t know how it happened. This reminded me of a rather developing sociological phenomenon. As a people we are becoming “increasingly” sleep walkers. We no longer apply the logical rule of “Stop, Think, ACT”. Perhaps it is the routine world we are living in or the busy schedules we go through each day. WE NO LONGER PAY ATTENTION TO DETAILS. In some way we have become robots. Being void of detail in our human experience renders us less human. That affects us in our relational experiences with each other and with the world around us. If one can see the face of another and not notice the tears on it, there is no detail there. If you can shake one’s hand and not notice the bruises on it, there is no detail there. If you can eat a meal and not notice too much or less fat in it, there is no detail there. You ar...

The complex world we are living in tends to implore us to worry about our inadequacies. Perhaps the need to conform in some sense in the contemporary cultures drive us in that direction. Such desire and world view very often creates anxieties which limit our sense of contentment. Today people living with intellectual difficulties invite us to live life in simplicity. To derive contentment from within and not so much from the gifts of the world.  Such a view invites us to appreciate the world from inherent gifts of love, joy, smiles, laughter, forgiveness and solidarity. It is this simplicity of life which draws us towards self actualization and genuine contentment. My experience this weekend makes me admit beyond doubt that truly we have so much to learn from those we perceive as the weak. Perhaps our fears lie in the understanding that the world-view of those with intellectual disabilities can truly change the world for the better… which will question our logic of existence and...