30/06/2020

Honouring hard work and resilience of sports persons during COVID19

Since the inception of JM BUSHA 54 RACES' operations in 2017, Africa day has always been a celebration of life, sporting talent and promoting peace and unity in Africa through the JM BUSHA 54 Peace Pledge Games.

2020 was going to be no exception with golf, cycling and a half-marathon events spread throughout the month of May. Participants and many other stakeholders have grown over the years and so is the appreciation of the importance of peace in communities for the socio-economic and political development of Africa, and the world.

This year's celebrations in Central Africa Republic (CAR), Lesotho, eSwatini, South Africa and Zimbabwe were unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID19 pandemic. The safety of people remains of utmost importance to JM BUSHA 54.

Most sports people in Africa except for a few countries like SA, are not contracted to earn income monthly. Therefore, sportspersons livelihood has greatly been affected by the cancellation of many sporting activities around the world.

It is against this background that JM BUSHA 54 RACES - Zimbabwe decided to distribute food hampers to the total of US$3200 to sportspersons who have been part of the organisation's journey. The funds used were part of this year's prize money and it only made sense to honour their hardwork and resilience in peace and sport development.

The hampers were distributed to children, the youth and the elderly athletes in Hatcliffe and Chitungwiza, cyclists and wheelchair racers spread across various Harare residential suburbs.

JM BUSHA 54 ensured all the necessary precautions stipulated by WHO and the government were followed in order to control and stop the spread of COVID19 during the handouts. The appreciation and the smiles from the recipients of the food hampers left our hearts warm and left us in prayer that we definitely need to come together in fighting COVID19 to ensure the return of sport. #IAMPEACE #JMBUSHA54