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Group Launches Zongo Youth Month To Change The Narrative

By Ajarfor Emmanuel Abugri
Social News Group Launches Zongo Youth Month To Change The Narrative
APR 7, 2018 LISTEN

The Change for Zongo in collaboration with Zongo Focus has launched the 3rd edition of the Zongo Youth Month to change the narrative of the Zongo communities and celebrate the positive contribution towards the economic development of Ghana in the month of April under the theme, “Building the Ideal Zongo Today Through Innovation and Creativity.”

Speaking at the ceremony, the President of Change for Zongo, Zakiyu Iddris Tindannayil said the Zongo Youth Month is a series of activities outlined to showcase the positive stories of people living in Zongo communities as well as programmes to educate the youth on the true practice of Islam, showcase the beautiful works of successful entrepreneurs, motivate the youth to become responsible adults and football gala to foster unity among the youth.

“We actually initiated the Zongo Youth Month which started 3years ago. The reason is that the media reportage about the Zongo Community is often negative so we thought that it’s about time we the youth also focus on the positive aspects with recourse on how to tackle the negatives. But if we continue to hype on the negative aspect it will definitely have a negative effect on the minds of the people within the communities.

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“It made them believe that they are not meant for anything good but we also realized that if we tell the success story of other people within the same locality it will definitely have a positive influence on their life and cure the negative perception about Zongo communities,” he stated.

Zakiyu Iddris Tindannayil added that key among the activities is the Zongo Youth Day Out which is basically to bring all the various youth groups together for an effective networking and exhibition of businesses as well as young talents to Ghana and the world.

He indicated that there will also be a visit to some influential people and opinion leaders within the Zongo communities to discuss the challenges confronting the youth and the community at large and then come out with homegrown solutions on how to address them.

A Broadcast Journalist, Shemimah Muslim who is also a youth advocate noted that it is a sad paradox that a community of such diversity and brilliance continues to lack behind in many aspects of our society.

According to her, the social ills in the Zongo community is making their communities losing the values of integrity, morality, fairness, selflessness that in the past were attributed to true Muslims. Now we know this is no longer the case, greed, need for haram wealth, immorality, etc are taking hold and threatening to erode any progress they may make.

She indicated that without this urgent recognition that their destiny is intertwined and they will labour in vain.

“Who and where are our economic giants, what businesses don’t they own,control and manage. Who and where our political giants are, what their story is when histories are written. What are their roots and what influence do they have in our larger scheme of politics in our country.Who and where are our social advocates, what Zongo personality do we want to project, what rights do we want to demand and seek, how can our sisters live and work and be allowed to wear their hijab in our society,” she lamented.

Shemimah Muslim added that whilst she is hopeful about the future of their community, she drew their attention to the issues that will threaten this positive agenda such as excessive partisan politics and, excessive religious bigotry and intolerance of each other.

She said it gladdens her heart that there is a growing urgency among young people from the Zongo communities rising up to the reality that change won’t happen if they do not rise up themselves, collaborate with each other, get involved and fight for economic, political and socio-cultural representation and power.

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