The Love Zimbabwe Student Event at the Welsh National Assembly last Wednesday proved to be a great success. The charity, run by David & Martha Holman from Gilwern were sponsored by Nick Ramsay AM to organise an event to promote their student trips to their community centre in Domboshawa, Zimbabwe.

All together there were about 40 people in attendance, including AMs, Abergavenny Fair Trade Forum, The office of the Police Commissioner of Gwent, five students who had visited Zimbabwe, representatives from Swansea and Cardiff Universities, Fair Trade Wales, the head of the Welsh Government’s Wales for Africa programme, the head teacher from Ysgol Gymraeg Y Fenni, David and Penny Simcock, the Mayor and Mayoress of Abergavenny as well as ‘Friends of Love Zimbabwe’.

The event started with a unique performance of African songs by Llantilio Pertholey Church in Wales Primary School, conducted by music teacher, Simon Oram. The school has been consistent in its support for Love Zimbabwe’s events such as the Abergavenny Food Festival and the Wales Fair Trade Fair.

The children were followed by a passionate speech by charity founder, Martha Musonza Holman. She emphasised the need for continued help for countries like Zimbabwe who are now hopefully entering a new forward- thinking era. She also explained how she had visited nearly 300 schools in Wales in her capacity as a Fair Trade speaker, talking to the pupils about relative poverty and the importance of cultural understanding.

The next speaker was David Holman who thanked the joint organisers, Daran Hill and Susan Bowen from Positif. He also thanked sponsor, Nick Ramsay AM and said that he was proud to be part of Wales and delighted that Love Zimbabwe was ‘Made in Monmouthshire’.

He went on to explain how the student programme started. He and Martha met Senior Anthropology Lecturer from Lampeter University, Luci Attala at an awards ceremony at the Senedd organised by the Government’s Wales for Africa gold star programme.

Ms Attala had been taking students to Kenya, which had become unsafe. David and Martha mentioned that the community centre was able to accommodate these students, and within a few months, a memorandum of understanding was signed between Love Zimbabwe and The University of Lampeter.

Then, former student, Lucinda Walker took the stage with an informative power point showing the work that the students had undertaken on their previous trips. Lucinda mentioned her three visits to the centre and how it had changed her life in a very positive way. She said that her dissertation which was done in Zimbabwe achieved a first and won her the Helen MacCormack-Turner Undergraduate Memorial Scholarship.

She also said how pleased she was to have been asked to become a trustee for the charity.

Finally, Nick Ramsay AM spoke as the sponsor of the day. He told how he first met Martha and David in Abergavenny five years before, and how their association had grown since then. He praised the couple’s hard work in their activities and underlined how important it was both to Zimbabwe and Wales.

The proceedings then finished with a recording of the recent Al Lewis song- When I get to Zimbabwe which features Martha and the Zim Voices.