JIBiLIKA Dance Festival finals premiered in Mutare for the first time since the event’s launch, on a colourful Friday night with amazing talent taking to the stage.
BY BLESSED MHLANGA
The festival was opened with a well-choreographed dance performance titled Urban Rehab, which centred on conveying a message against drug abuse by youths.
Another piece Broken Pavement, performed by Forgotten Tribe, a dancing ensemble with two disabled members, wowed the crowd receiving a standing ovation at the end.
Broken Pavement according to Jibilika Dance Trust founder Plot Mhako, addresses the issue of stigma associated with disability.
“Forgotten Tribe is an ensemble of dance enthusiast from different backgrounds, races and ability and the piece they performed was to address the issue of disability, that disability is not inability and you could see the performance by two of the disabled dancers wowed the crowd,” he said.
Jibilika Dance Festival, which receives support from the United States President’s Emergency Plan For Aids Relief (PEPFAR), has had an impact on young people liking them to health care and behavioural change.
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Organisation for Public Health Interventions and Development (OPHID), which is running the Face HIV Care and Treatment programme, joined Jibilika Dance Festival in Mutare rolling out awareness on the new HIV treatment guidelines.
Programmes and advocacy officer, Loveness Mlambo Chimombe, said they were rolling out the recently unveiled Treat All programme, where there is no more waiting period to get on treatment for anyone who tests HIV positive. “We are taking the opportunity to educate people about the new guidelines which allow people to be put on ART, once they test positive without having to wait for their CD-4 count to go below 500,” she said.
“All hospitals, clinics and rural health centres in Mutare, Mutasa, Makoni and Chipinge districts now offer HIV Care and Treatment services to all People Living with HIV (PLHIV), encouraging them to get in care, start taking their anti-retroviral medicines and adhere to treatment. In addition, all PLHIV who have stopped taking anti-retroviral medicines (ARVs) are being encouraged to come back to care,” she said on the side-lines of the launch.
