By Margaret Kamba 

Obedience to the teachings of the church are what Wilson Nyamande says have made him what he is today.

Having been fortunate enough to get start-up capital from Archbishop Andby Makururu of 500 chicks to rear, the young man now boasts of at least 3000 chickens delivered into the market at any given time.

He is grateful to the Archbishop whom he says challenged him to look beyond employment and be the employer himself.

"I have almost ten months into the chicken rearing business. I was first given 500 chicks by Archbishop Makururu and the journey has been good. Chicken rearing is the easiest project anyone can ever do and they only need six weeks before being delivered into the market," Nyamande said.

"The first two weeks are the most critical and the vaccination is very important. They also have a good budget. The food industry is the most paying industry at this moment and you can look after them as you live your normal life."

"When Archbishop Makururu gave me the first 500 chicks, I said I wanted to testify that he had changed my life. The first 500 gave birth to the 1000 chickens along with the feed and now I speak of 3000 chickens and I will not stop until I get to 10 000 chickens. I want the Archbishop to come and officially open my project.

"There has been a lot of commitment on my part, austerity measures and I have seen that demand has increased. The reason that I come from Johane the 5th of Africa church means I cannot go offline. The Archbishop always has teachings about having to sweat for something so that you enjoy the fruits. I am one youth who would say that life is hard until the Archbishop said to me that the problem was that I would think employment not empowerment. Right now I have five workers who I pay monthly. My life has transformed. It takes a good heart and a listening ear. You can all go to church but a few excel because people go to church for different reasons. I want to urge other young people to listen to the teachings of the Archbishop because it is the church that has made me what I am today."

Also speaking in an interview, Archbishop Andby Makururu commended Government for the 21st February National Youth Day celebrations which he said had given direction to the youth.

"I want to thank the Government for the meeting that was held in Masvingo for the youth because it has given them direction because they now understand where their country came from. Whilst we still have a lot of work to do, we want development of the minds and the building of our country top on the agenda. We are happy as Johane the 5th of Africa that the youth meeting was held peacefully and we believe that our prayers were answered."

Archbishop Makururu added that as a move aimed at empowering more youths within the church, he would be donating chicks to youths within the church to embark on chicken rearing business. The youths will receive training from the already trained church members. 

He said it is crucial that "the youths use their hands so that profits come to them."