Zimbabwe, Africa
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Report Date: February 23, 2017
Fountain of Hope, the leaders of Makamure community and the community at large would like to hereby appreciate very much Bright Hope World for all the financial, moral and spiritual support being rendered to the community. Without the financial support from Bright Hope World, this community could not have achieved what has been achieved so far. Gratitude is also given to the honourable councillor of the area ward 19 for his contribution and participation to ensure the smooth running of the projects. We appreciate also pastors and church leaders for their cooperation during the whole year and also during this evaluation. Please find herein below the evaluation report and recommendations given by the community during the evaluation process:
Borehole and Garden
The borehole was surveyed, drilled and installed with a solar powered pump between May and July 2016. This community had never had a borehole that produces enough water to run a garden, but miraculously the borehole which was offered to the community by Fountain of Hope on behalf of Bright Hope World is one of the best boreholes in the whole province of Masvingo. During the driest moment of the year when other boreholes in this drought prone province were not working, the Makamure borehole was producing 20,000 litres of water per day. Several people from different villages were coming to this place to get water for cooking and drinking purposes. This borehole is really a blessing to the whole community. The community leaders decided to share the 20,000 litres of water between garden purposes and drinking purposes. People were getting water from this borehole for both irrigation and drinking purposes on a daily basis and amazingly it did not dry up.
What a blessing the borehole has been to the people of Makamure, they were able to grow maize in their garden for the first time in their lives in summer. All around the community was dry, no green trees or plants except in the garden. “We used to read about this in the newspapers, but it’s now us who are planting crops in our 1 hectare piece of land and are harvesting maize in summer. Our area is always too dry in summer but the garden has changed things, its green in summer. This is really a blessing to us and to our children. Thank you so much for making possible for us to have such a garden”, says one of the community members.
The garden project has got 90 farmers all together from the villages of Makamure community. Most of the beneficiaries are widows, orphan families and vulnerable families.
Impact of the Borehole and Garden Project
The borehole provided water not just for gardening purposes but to the whole community during the season of famine.
There was a great reduction of water borne diseases in Makamure due to the availability of safe clean drinking water.
The garden is going a long way in increasing and improving food security in the community.
The garden has improved household income to families that are involved in the garden and people are learning modern farming skills in this garden.
Issues like HIV/AIDS, cancer, and gender based violence are discussed in the garden thereby encouraging the people to make informed decisions as far as sexual activities are concerned. It is not just a garden but an information dissemination centre.
Challenges
The community members didn’t talk about a lot of challenges faced so far as they have just started the project. The only greatest challenge they faced was too much heat during the summer which affected the function of the solar invertor.
Recommendations
The community leaders recommended the establishment of boreholes and gardens in other villages as a way of breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty in the community. They mentioned especially Chirogwe village where people have been struggling to get water to drink and have been walking for long distances to get water. This village is in dire need of a better water source.
They also recommended the expansion of the current garden so that it can accommodate more people from the community especially the widows and orphans.
Foundations for Farming
Hunger and starvation has been the order of the day in this community which always receives below normal rainfall every year. Their soil which is very sandy is old due to excessive use over centuries but all this is not stopping them from moving forward with Foundations for Farming training. 120 families from Makamure are undergoing training and were provided with farming inputs in October 2016 for 2016-2017 farming season. The people of this community have been showing commitment to this new way of farming in amazing ways, for instance because their community is very dry such that there is no grass for mulching, the community has been going to the bush to collect green leaves from the trees to use as mulch (see photo below). Some of them stored their mulch from their last harvest and have used the stored mulch to cover their maize field. They are looking forward to getting a good harvest this season as the rains also have been very good. The people of this community are so much persuaded that farming God's way is the only way to employ to break the cycle of poverty and hunger in their village.
Here is what the Madzivire kraal head had to say;
“Thank you very much Fountain of Hope for bringing this new way of farming into my village. Our expectations are to survive through this new way of farming. Thanks to the trainers who are committed to training us even though sometimes it takes long for us to understand it. Last year even though there was famine in Zimbabwe, I managed to harvest some few bags of maize from my sandy field all because of this way of farming. Thank you also for the goats you provided us with, I am now able to get manure from my own goat pen. I am looking forward to harvest much from my field this year. We pray for enough rains and strength to work in the fields so that we harvest much to provide food to the orphans God has given us. I am looking forward to harvest 52 buckets of maize which will be enough to feed my family for the whole year. ‘Nzara yapera’, we are kicking drought out of our families through this new farming technique. Thank you so much."
Challenges
The greatest challenge that the people have faced so far is the outbreak of army worms that are bringing havoc to the maize crop and Makamure farmers fear that this will reduce their harvest this season.
Another challenge which they are now going through is the floods which are leaving the crops yellowish thereby again threatening the yield especially of maize crop.
Fields in Makamure area are not fenced and people leave their animals to roam around other people's fields thereby destroying the mulch.
Recommendations
The community applauded Fountain of Hope for providing the farming inputs on time thereby really living up to one of the principles of Foundations for Farming; they however recommended the consideration of other crops like groundnuts, roundnuts which are nitrogen fixing crops.
They also recommended the consideration of support to new people who would have been recruited by the farmers. These farmers are going around recruiting and training other farmers to follow this way of farming.
School Fees
Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom and many times orphans and vulnerable children are denied the right to this key. The community of Makamure which lies in Masvingo province where there are over 53,000 orphans has got a great desire of ensuring that all orphans in 
their community are offered the opportunity to attend school. The community appreciates very much the involvement of Bright Hope World in ensuring that some of the orphans and vulnerable children are sent to school. 37 children altogether received support in terms of school fees and levies for the whole year of 2016. We thank God for Bright Hope because some of these children had already stopped going to school but through the support they were able to remain in school like all other children.
Education is one of the tools to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS, and early child marriages. Makamure community is one of the communities that have the ‘apostle’ sect which encourages young girls to marry while they are young as well as discouraging these children to go to school. The education program is really going a long way in bringing understanding to the members of this sect as they now agree with the community to send their children to school and are also on the forefront campaigning against early child marriages. Please see below the impact of the education program amongst the Apostolic and Zion Churches;
Apostolic churches and Zion Churches are cults that originated in Africa who have different beliefs, norms, values and perceptions with Christianity on key social issues such as child marriages, education, HIV/AIDS and maternal health. These cults are found in very remote areas like Makamure and of late have been moving into towns of Zimbabwe.
These cults believe in polygamous marriages and mostly the man marries younger girls; as young as 12 years old. They don’t believe in sending their children to school because they want to protect their children from western beliefs which they presume are taught in schools. They don’t believe in sending their people to hospitals or any health facility when they get sick, they do have their own people whom they call healers and they consult these whenever they are sick. That means those with HIV/AIDS don’t go for testing neither do they get treatment from hospitals. Their children are not born in hospitals but at homes where they do have their own trained midwives. Most of them don’t read the Bible and rely so much on their ‘holy spirit’. They don’t mingle or eat with non-apostolic people; their fears are that other people may profane their belief system.
Makamure is one of those communities in Zimbabwe that has a lot of these people; most of the traditional leaders in this area are made up of these people groups. When Fountain of Hope first went into this community these people amazingly agreed to work with us. They did not only agree to work with Fountain of Hope but they agreed to work with other denominations. This has never happened before in the history of these cults. These people have been religiously attending all the workshops that we have been running in the community of Makamure resulting in them being convicted not only to change but to give their lives to Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.
These are now the people who are spearheading development in the community; they are at the forefront of campaigning for orphan and vulnerable children to go to school. They are part of the people who initiated the starting of a junior school in Makamure community. They now have a great understanding of HIV/AIDS and Gender Based Violence to a point that they are miraculously campaigning against child marriages. What a great change, they used to campaign for child marriages, now they are on the forefront of abolishing it. This is the light that Fountain of Hope has brought in this community and this will go a long way in making young people go to school, thereby improving their livelihood. This will also go a long way in reducing the spread and the impact of HIV/AIDS as many of these people will be visiting clinics for testing and treatment. Thank you Bright Hope for enabling this to happen.
Challenges
Schools especially high schools are far away from these children that are supported. Some of them have to cross a big river to get to the school hence they miss school during the rainy season as the river will be full of water.
School uniforms are very expensive in this community.
Most of the orphans and vulnerable children are not given text books at school because the teachers fear that in the event that they lose the books, no one pays the school since they don’t have parents to do so.
Recommendations
There are a lot of orphans and vulnerable children in this community so the community suggested an increase in the number of children that are assisted with fees and levies. It was also suggested that Fountain of Hope should consider buying stationery, uniforms and other educational requirements.
We were encouraged to consider sending those orphans and vulnerable children who would have finished form four to skills training centres so that they can learn skills which will help them to earn a living.
The community would like to open up a community skills training centre in the community that will offer skills training to the youth, orphans and vulnerable children in the area.
More income generating projects to be rolled out in the community especially those that can assist the widows to be able to send their children to school.
Transformation Centre
The aim of transformation centres is to provide integrated services to orphaned children and youth in communities that we work and these include 1) Extra education/homework clubs, 2) Psycho-social support interventions, 3) provision of nutritious meals on a daily basis to OVCs, 4) life skills education and counselling support, 5) base for school fees and food assistance to support extended families in the community who care for OVC (orphans and vulnerable children).
There is one transformation centre in Makamure community which has 52 children all who are vulnerable. The centre started operating in May 2016 and has been going a long way in helping children not only with food but with educational assistance. The centre is also assisting four Downs syndrome children. The community is so much appreciative of this initiative as it improves the quality of life of the vulnerable children in the community.
Challenges
Reaching out to the community during rainy season is always a challenge as the road network is not very good.
There are no staff members with the expertise to assist the Downs syndrome children.
The price of food in Zimbabwe keeps on going up thereby threatening the budget.
The teachers who minister to these children are not qualified teachers and this compromises the excellence of the program.
Recommendations
The community recommended that teachers for the transformation centre should be trained.
The community requested Bright Hope World through Fountain of Hope that they should not stop supporting this transformation centre in April as communicated but should continue up until the centre has established its garden and cropping field.
The centre was given land to practice farming, so the community requested the installation of a solar powered pump onto the existing borehole at the centre.
Skills training for children should begin while they are still very small.
It was recommended that the centre should come up with income generating projects that can make it to be self-sustainable.
Livestock Development Project
60 goats were bought for the community of Makamure and are multiplying very well. The manure from the goats is used by these farmers to fertilize their land. This is really going a long way in helping the people especially the poor to have free manure for their poor arid land. The goats will revolve to the next group of people by the end of this year and the cycle will continue and many poor families will be helped to own livestock for economic development.
Challenges
Goats multiply quickly but they easily succumb to diseases especially during the wet season.
The livestock laws introduced by the government makes it difficult for people to sell their goats to people in towns and cities who have the cash to buy the goats.
Grazing land in Makamure is scarce as there is over population.
Recommendations
The community recommended that an application should be made to the government for the establishment of a community based livestock pen sale in Makamure.
The community also suggested to FHF to consider assisting them with small livestock like road runner chickens (free-range) which are not restricted by the government when it comes to selling them.
Other villages also requested the committee to consider them in the next round of livestock distribution.
The community of Makamure appreciates very much the support that is rendered to them by Bright Hope World through Fountain of Hope; the support has made the community to see the fulfilment of their dreams. This community would not be what it is if it was not for the support from Bright Hope World, thank you very much.
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