The exciting thing about this community is how they expanded the Foundations for Farming training to other surrounding communities. It is really a blessing to see a community holding on to a new idea and spreading that idea to other communities. Mandiva is one of the communities in region 5 of Zimbabwe where people alway experience drought and the community is so grateful to Bright Hope World for making great strides in improving the quality of life in this community.
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The projects that are being done in this community are undoubtedly helping the community to realize some of the things that they are supposed to be doing. Due to training workshops that have been happening in the community, the community has just started walking the process of community transformation. The good thing is that all people are involved in this transformation process and they are able to air out their views and ideas. Amazingly the community is working on repairing bridges that were washed away by Cyclone Idai without the assistance of any organization or the government, what a blessing it is to have a community like this one.
We are very grateful to Bright Hope World for the following projects that have been done so far in this community:
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The community has sandy soil that has been used for years and which no longer has nutrients to sustain crops. The people of this community have been in this community for many centuries and therefore have used the soil for many years causing it to be very poor in nutrients. Foundations for Farming is seen by this community as a tool that can completely transform their lives since it enriches their soil.
This season 30 farmers were trained from within the community and they went to the next village to enroll 30 more farmers into the program. The program is growing that way and we thank God that many people are coming to Christ because of this program. Amazingly even though the rain was very little, the people of this community who practiced farming God’s way managed to get something out of their fields. We thank God for Bright Hope World who made it possible for these people to have a garden; the garden is the hope of the community. Their prayer is for the well not to dry up this year since there was very little rainfall.
Challenges
• The greatest challenge for this year, even though people were very enthusiastic about the Foundations for Farming program, has been the little amount of rain water that the community received.
• The market is far away from the gardeners and they desperately need a way to reach out to the market in town.
• The borehole is used for drinking purposes as well as for irrigating the garden therefore making it difficult for the tank to store much water.
Opportunities
• Community issues and development projects are now discussed in the garden. Clubs are formed in the garden. Churches come to meet people in the garden.
• Agriculture skills training is now being offered in the garden and this helps the people a lot.
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It is our pleasure to report that all the 25 children from this transformation centre have now got identity documents. Thank you so much Bright Hope World for bringing a change in the lives of the children of this area. The future is bright for these young people and they are definitely going to find jobs after school. Just see the testimony below:
Tinashe’s father died when he was still in the womb of his mother. Soon after the mother gave birth to him she succumbed to TB which unfortunately brought death to her. His mother died when he was just 2 months old and still very vulnerable. He was taken into the custody of his maternal grandmother who resides in Mandiva village. He was taken by the grandmother with no identity document whatsoever and thank God for this program of the transformation centre. The transformation centre completely changed the life of this young man as he now boasts having an identity document. His future is very bright because of what Bright Hope World did to him through Fountain of Hope.
The project is aimed at reducing poverty amongst vulnerable families in this community through empowering them to own livestock like goats and chickens. Goats are given because of their milk which is very high in protein, more so than cow milk. They are also easy to look after since they are both grazers and browsers. 40 goats were given to 20 families in this community. Road runner chickens, which are indigenous chickens, were also given to 20 families. Please find below the testimony of one of the old ladies who was empowered with chickens in the community;
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Mrs Keresina has been a widow for 31 years and has been living with some of her grandchildren. It has been her desire over the years to be able to find a project that she could do to raise up support especially for one of her grandson whose parents died some years ago. It was really sweet news to this old lady when she was told that a livestock project was coming to her village. She was one of the first people to be enrolled into this group. She wanted her grandson to go to school like anyone else and she also wanted to be able to fend for herself.
She welcomed this project with both hands as she was already seeing some transformation in her life. It didn’t take long to start experiencing increases of her livestock even though the conditions were not very conducive. She started selling the chicks and raised finances for the school fees of her grandson and also his uniform.
Recently the roof of her house was blown away by Cyclone Idai and she used her savings from selling chickens to repair the roof of her house. She did not go to ask the government or some organizations to help her but she did it herself. Thank you so much Bright Hope World for making such vulnerable people be able to stand up on their two feet.
The community would like to see its youth running their own businesses in order to deal with poverty that is slowly swallowing the nation of Zimbabwe. The youth in this community had applied for funds to run a taxi income generating project. They applied for funds to buy a second-hand open van vehicle from Japan. This project and many more other projects that the youth can do are expected to take our young people out of the doldrums of poverty and would protect them from indulging in substance abuse. The projects would also go a long way in reducing child marriages, and teenage pregnancies amongst the girls in the community.
Unfortunately due to economic challenges that Zimbabwe is going through it is very difficult to embark on a business because the economy is very unstable.
In the last meeting that the community had with Fountain of Hope, the community requested if possible that since the community has got so many people that the money they had applied for business be used to provide water to the other part of the community that does not have water. Fountain of Hope would like therefore pass this request to Bright Hope World.