Tyres Into Chairs: Bulawayo Embraces Waste Management Technique
Gweru Community Liaison Officer, Denny Munetsi (meet Denny here), travelled all the way from the Midlands capital to facilitate the tyre chair making workshop, entirely on a voluntary basis. Read how Denny has pioneered this process up in Gweru.
Fifteen CAT members, from different wards in the city, attended the workshop which was conducted at the Tshaka Training Centre in Makokoba (W8: Cllr MK Sithole).
The attendants expressed gratitude to the Trust for imparting this knowledge to them, saying it will go a long way in enabling them to embark on small scale and low capital investment income generating projects.
ZDDT Midlands Community Liaison Officer, Denny Munetsi sits on the finished chair while being flanked by the trainees and ZDDT Regional Officer, Angela Mason (Extreme Right) and ZDDT Bulawayo PDO, Jasmine Toffa (Second from Right)
Below can be found excerpts of one of a number of interviews conducted by the ZDDT News Correspondent, Ntando Sibanda (NS), in this case, with Leonard Phiri (LP):
NS: What do you think about this tyre chair-making project?
LP: This is a wonderful project because it suits people like me, who are not working and make a living out of it. This training workshop was fruitful to us as you can see we have learnt a life skill that we will be able to carry with us to the communities for implementation. It is crucial in that we have learnt that tyres should not be burnt as something nice and valuable can come out of them. We now know that burning waste material such as tyres is detrimental to the environment.
NS: Do you think it will empower community members?
LP: Yes, as long as ZDDT and other stakeholders provide us with technical support this could be a big project that will help alleviate poverty.
Above: An example of a finished chair
NS: Do you think the communities will welcome the innovation?
LP: Yes I think they will as this is a new thing and is cheap to manage as we are merely re-using old material.
The News Correspondent also caught up with another participant, Patricia Ndlovu (PN), who expressed the same sentiments, saying the workshop added valuable knowledge to the CAT and consequently, the communities as well.
NS: What is the most valuable lesson you learnt in this workshop today?
PN: We have learnt that tyres and other waste should not be thrown away as they can be re-used to embark on income generating projects, at the same time assisting in the preservation of our natural environment.
The tyre chair innovation is a manifestation of ZDDT’s fundamental beliefs and driving principle of empowering the communities from a grassroots level, thereby improving the quality of people’s lives.