Men and Youths from the Mabvuku Seventh-Day Adventist Church (SDA) recently took responsibility upon themselves to clean the premises of Mabvuku Polyclinic.

Sister-in-Charge Mafura shares a lighter moment with Elder Mavurah (in striped shirt) and a group of service people (Photo by Moses Chibaya)

The group said their gesture was triggered by the deplorable and eye-soring state of the health delivery institution which they want to steer back to glory.

Mabvuku is a high-density suburb in Harare.

The clinic had a dry orchard, weeds along the driveway, dirty windows and a blocked drainage system at the entrance.

A three-hour voluntary exercise saw a group of 26, nine men and 17 youths, watering the clinic’s orchard, cleaning windows and sweeping the driveway.

Sister-in-Charge at Mabvuku Polyclinic, Tracy Mafura, thanked the volunteers for their “warm heart” emphasizing that there was a heavy load on the gardener.

“This is the first time such an event is taking place at this clinic and I am thankful because many people will draw positive lessons from this gesture. The council is finding it difficult to reach all areas to have clean-up exercises. And to us, it had become difficult and unbearable for the gardener who now had a lot to do,” said a delighted Mafura.

She added that the clinic as a public place needs to be kept clean while urging different groups in society to have a progressive sense of social responsibility.

She added, “It is everyone’s responsibility to keep the community clean. And we do not hinder people from doing what is good because, once good is done, we are telling other community that we are torch bearers.”

Speaking on behalf of the volunteers, Program Coordinator Elder Samuel Mavurah said, “We do not intend to get tired. As a church, we want to spread our wings and rope [in] other people in the community to do the same.”

Elder Mavurah added that his church had come to the aid of the city council, as the latter is facing problems in service delivery. “Everyone has to be conscious of this event and we are glad that we have served our community. There was no problem in engaging the authorities at the clinic. They gave us some tools and sanitation gloves,” added Elder Mavurah.

The Town House has been facing challenges in servicing local suburbs due to lack of finance to allocate to councils.