By Mr Tendai Mwedzi (ZNFPC Youth Facilitator @ Fife Avenue Clinic and Youth Centre)
Growing up my parents used to paint this beautiful picture of how attractive the future will be for their children. They fantasized how life would look like in the future for their children. Taking for instance, they envisioned me driving a Land Cruiser 79 series, moving from one town to another offering humanitarian services and serving marginalized and vulnerable groups in communities. The people could include survivors of sexual abuse, young mothers, out of schoolchildren, children living and working in the streets, the list is endless.
Mr Tendai Mwedzi, the ZNFPC Youth Centre Facilitator
They envisioned their son working for those well-known organizations in the country like Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council and UNFPA to mention just two. It seems like they had different plans tailored for each and every child they have in this case my four lovely siblings. This article will shed light on how I am living a dream at Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC).
My name is Tendai Mwedzi. I would describe myself as a modest, passionate, devoted, hardworking and honest young man. I work at the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council within the Adolescent Sexual Reproductive Health (ASRH) unit. They say ‘find a job you enjoy doing and you will never have to work a day in your life’, this famous quote resonates with my current experience at ZNFPC. In the ASRH unit, I am doing what I love. I do not see my responsibilities as merely work but rather as an opportunity to reach my fullest potential. The ASRH unit is mandated to coordinate the youth programme by linking with development partners, government line ministries, civil society organizations and other ASRH implementers to ensure access to sexual reproductive health information and services by young people.
Cruising from one youth center to the other, one clinic to another, one tertiary institution to the other, meeting different Community Based Distributors (CBDs) and Peer Educators (PEs) and reaching different marginalized communities with all key and vulnerable populations, and providing quality integrated Family Planning and Sexual Reproductive Health (SRH) services is a dream come true for me. I do not feel like I am working but rather feel like contributing to a significant cause of reducing unintended pregnancies amongst women of reproductive age and among adolescents while highly motivated by the organization’s vision, goals and objectives as outlined in the National Family Planning Strategy (2022 – 2026).
I am living my dream Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council and having others supporting me as I work makes the dream awesome!
Mr Tendai Mwedzi, a ZNFPC Youth Facilitator, passionate about working with young people