Hear from youth volunteer, Bineloge Nhembo, about his journey to champion climate education in Zimbabwe.
"I grew up in Mhakwe, Zimbabwe, a small village of only 620 households.
Growing up here, I've experienced the tangible impacts of climate change first-hand. Droughts, El Niño events, and cyclones have all disrupted our lives and livelihoods at one time or another. Several times, I've even had to take time off school to support my parents during these crises.
These experiences ignited a passion in me to educate my community about climate change, and what we can do to better secure our agricultural and economic sources when disasters strike. This way, I can ensure that other children don’t have to miss school too.
It was during this time when I first heard about VSO through our local community centre. It was a place I often hung out at with my friends and that’s where I discovered the opportunities to volunteer. Since then, I've worked as a VSO youth climate champion for the past three years.
The drive behind my volunteering efforts stems from my profound personal connection to the issues facing my community.
My work involves:
- climate education
- organising fundraising campaigns
- and delivering reproductive and sexual health courses.
As a volunteer, I feel empowered. Suddenly, my voice has a platform and I can be in the driver’s seat to make a real difference.
As I gain more experience in my role and within my specialisation, I see a significant gap in our decision-making processes in Zimbabwe, especially when it comes to representing the voices of rural communities like Mhakwe. I want to bridge this gap and ensure that the concerns of people in rural areas are heard at the highest levels.
I would urge policymakers in Zimbabwe to be more inclusive in their decision-making processes. Having grown up in a rural agricultural village, it’s crucial to include the voices of farmers and rural communities.
Community seedbanks
Local initiatives like our community seed bank, which we run in collaboration with VSO and Tsuro here in Mhakwe, are essential to building climate-resilient agroecological sources of food and security.
Through this initiative, we promote agroecology and demonstrate how farmers can achieve abundance through sustainable practices using indigenous seeds. This approach ensures that we don't lose everything after disasters.
Young Achievers
Young people in my village are also taking charge of their futures through entrepreneurial projects. One such initiative that I’m involved with is called 'Young Achievers'. This project focuses on raising chickens and harvesting their eggs. We sell crates of eggs and sell them for $4, to create a sustainable source of income and foster a spirit of entrepreneurship among us.
To my fellow young people, I say this: nothing comes from doing nothing. We must add our voices to the conversation before growing up and simply blaming the next generation for the challenges we may face.
Through VSO and our community efforts, we are paving the way for an informed, climate-resilient, and entrepreneurially empowered tomorrow."
Join VSO and make a difference
Contact your local country office to find out more about becoming a VSO Youth Volunteer, or check out our volunteering opportunities.
The ACTIVE programme
The Active Citizenship Through Inclusive Volunteering and Empowerment (ACTIVE) programme is a three year grant from the UK government, which aims to create more inclusive, open, resilient, and gender equitable societies through reduced poverty, inequality, and vulnerability amongst communities in Zimbabwe.
Key in its approach is addressing climate changes in the region, which is a huge factor in causing poor livelihoods outcomes. The programme is tackling this through enhancing inclusive and gender sensitive climate adaptation and mitigation work, using climate resilient agriculture. VSO are working with women small holder farmers, youth and their networks in fragile spaces in the region.
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