SIMUKA Africa Youth Association (Saya) has taken on board Afro-jazz singer Diana “MaNgwenya” Samkange, hip-hop artiste Mudiwa Hood and socialite Jackie Ngarande as brand ambassadors for the “Skip a Meal Campaign” meant to extend a helping hand to the less privileged.
BY PRECIOUS CHIDA
Saya director Zekiya Mudimu told NewsDay that they had reached out to the artistes in a bid to influence the youths positively.
“We look at these guys as young people who can play a big role in encouraging other youths positively. We are a group of young professionals and the young generation is the one that is more economically active, so we want them to influence more young people to join us,” he said.
“They have been helping us a lot in gathering things to donate to the less privileged, hence we think they can also influence their peers in the arts industry to say as much as we are rising, we should not forget our fans on where they are coming from.”
Mudimu said the campaign was also meant to help the scourge of child marriage as many young people were being forced into marriage due to poverty.
“We are trying to stop child marriages and we have seen that poverty is one of the factors causing parents to give away their children before they are mature, so the campaign is meant to cater for the families who are vulnerable and food-insecure,” he said.
The campaign, which has been running for the past three months, has seen a few organisations and individuals contributing. These include New Africa Food Alliance, Windmill (Private) Limited and music superstar Oliver Mtukudzi’s wife Daisy.
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Mudimu said they had managed to donate food groceries, blankets, shoes and pay electricity bills for 450 struggling families.
Saya is a network of young professionals who volunteer their resources and time to help the less privileged and provide young people with programmes and facilities that will help them to realise their potentials.
