By Elishamai A Ziumbwa
Six young performers from the Children’s Performing Arts Workshop (CHIPAWO) will fly the Zimbabwean flag high at the International Forum for Children in Moscow, Russia later this month.
The group made up of talented children drawn from across the country will depart Harare on 19 August and arrive in Moscow the following day.
They will join participants from 14 countries and 86 Russian provinces in a week-long programme of performances and cultural exchanges.
At a send-off ceremony in Harare, the Permanent Secretary for Sports, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Nicholas Moyo hailed the delegation as true cultural ambassadors.
“We are not sending you off to Russia, but we are celebrating you for being chosen as ambassadors of Zimbabwe. Go and raise the flag high,” he said.
Moyo expressed gratitude to the Russian Federation for extending the invitation, as well as to the National Arts Council and the Ministry’s Arts Development Fund which financed the trip.
“Our desire is to continue to find the low-hanging fruit and support the development of arts in this country and this is how the Arts Development Fund is beginning to bear fruit,” he added.
He noted that the initiative stemmed from the Zimbabwe-Russia Cultural Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2023 which has already produced exchanges and scholarship opportunities.
“We received only a handful of applications when we circulated scholarship opportunities. We need to shift our attitude and seize these moments. We can change our future by taking advantage of these MoUs,” said Moyo.
CHIPAWO representative Victor Peturo told 263chat that the six children had been selected on merit for their skills in dance, poetry, spoken word, music and instrumental performance.
“We have six children that are going to represent Zimbabwe, and we selected them for their artistic excellence across various fields, and they will participate in workshops, performances, and cultural exchanges,” he said.
Peturo revealed that the group will perform the traditional Mande dance, which reflects Zimbabwe’s reliance on agriculture and ancestral blessings.
“It tells the story of how we rely on elders and ancestors for blessings and reflects our cultural roots,” he explained.
