"Hand in Hand with Local Government"

Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in their various units partnered with local government in beautifying communities, volunteering their time, talents and skills.

As part of this year's "Mormon Helping Hands" program of the Church, Latter-Day Saints in Zimbabwe cleaned their communities, refurbished council clinics, council offices and other council institutions. This involved painting of the interior and exterior walls, fixing and repairing of broken cistern tanks, windows, doors, fence and also planting of flowers, lawn and trees.

Each year, congregations are guided by a theme, as they select which project(s) to embark on. This year’s theme was, “Hand in Hand with Local Government.” 

In Harare South Stake, members refurbished Highfields Satellite Clinic. In Marimba Stake, members refurbished Kambuzuma council offs. Harare Stake members refurbished Avondale clinic among other projects they embarked on. In Bulawayo, Gweru, Mutare, Bindura, Kadoma and other cities and towns, members also partnered with their local government as they offered voluntary service in beautifying their communities.

Commenting on the refurbishment of Kambuzuma Council offices, Member of Parliament for Kambuzuma, Honourable Tinashe Maduza, applauded church members for their sacrifices and love to beautify Kambuzuma. He said, “It is an honour to be associated with people who love to work. Many times people are complaining about the local government for not doing enough. But today you have demonstrated that we all have work to do. We too can do our part and do the little we can, for the love of our country."

Harare Deputy Deputy Mayor Councilor Thomas Muzuva also commended the Church for this wonderful program and implored all the churches to do likewise. "Imagine what Zimbabwe would be like if all churches were involved in volunteer community services and did projects like you are doing? We would be the most clean and beautiful country in the world,” he said.

Speaking at a handover ceremony of Highfields Clinic, the District Medical Doctor, Dr. Michael Vere in his key note address expressed his heartfelt gratitude and commended the Church for such a wonderful program. Dr. Vere expressed, "It is our vision to have a world class city by 2015 and how can we have that with dilapidated buildings? The wonderful work you have done here is really timely and is a stepping stone to achieve this goal. They say a journey of thousand miles begins with one step. Thank you very much for a job well done. We hope this kind of gesture is going to continue. We wish for more of these activities."

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has many organized efforts in place to help those in need. One of the ways is through this Mormon Helping Hands program. It is a priesthood-directed Church program for members to provide volunteer community service and disaster relief to those in need. Often, goods or materials needed for these service projects are donated from local companies or sponsors. The emphasis of Mormon Helping Hands is not so much in monetary value, but in the service Latter-day Saints willingly offer to those in need. The program provides organized opportunities for church members to join with others throughout the community to give their time and talents to bless those in need. It also provides the chance to beautify city streets, parks, schools, and recreational areas and to serve in other ways, showing that the Church is a friend to the community.

Each year The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints provides service to communities and other people (not of their faith) across the globe as part of the Church’s Mormon Helping Hands Program. In 2014, the Church in Zimbabwe, partnered with Harare City Council and repainted and refurbished the Harare Town House and its grounds, and had a Clean-Up Campaign with the council in the CBD.