Mthombothemba Community Project Evaluation

Fountain of Hope, the leaders of the four villages of Mthombothemba 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 this community. The support is transforming the community in a very positive way, our vulnerable children are able to go to school, our women are now able to run Self-Help projects which are bringing light into the community and above all the projects are bringing people together thereby promoting unity in the community. Gratitude is also given to the honourable councillor of the area ward 1 for his contribution and participation to ensure the smooth running of the projects. Please find herein below the evaluation report with challenges faced and recommendations made by the community and church leaders in the community. 

Recent Events

Foundations for Farming

This is the only way that the people of Mthombothemba believe can take them out of the poverty and hunger that has affected the community. We are grateful to report that even the government structures of agriculture also believe in this type of farming. Training and ongoing training is being offered to 50 people from the community as well as 25 people who are beneficiaries of Engunyini garden. The community was so grateful for the new technique that Fountain of Hope introduced to the farmers in Mthombothemba. The new technique encourages farmers to plant maize in their fields before the rainy season. They use bottles to irrigate their crops (see photo below of farmers being taught to practice bottle drip irrigation system). This is the reason why some of the farmers in Mthombothemba managed to get a better harvest from their fields even though the community experienced floods. By the time floods came their maize was already on tussling stage and therefore their 52 week plots were not affected much by the floods.

The community is going to run two maize field days at the end of the month of April. The aim of the field days is to promote Foundations for Farming in dry areas as well as to showcase and promote the growing of appropriate high yielding maize varieties to boost food security in the community. The community will invite government officials, maize seed companies, and all people who survive on farming in and around the community of Mthombothemba. This is going to be the best opportunity for our agriculture officer to train many people on practicing Foundations for Farming. 

Challenges: Our biggest challenge this season was the floods which destroyed the second crop that was planted by the farmers. 

The second challenge of the season was pests and parasites which came out of the wetness of the ground.

Recommendations: 
The farmers encouraged Fountain of Hope to keep on training them on how to use a bottle drip irrigation system.

The community leaders should encourage their people to fence their fields so that mulch is not lost to animals during the summer season. 

Farmers were also encouraged to build storehouses for their mulch since if left in the fields during summer it will be eaten by stray animals. 

Borehole and Gardens

Fountain of Hope desires so much to lift up people and communities out of poverty through drilling and installing solar powered borehole pumps. We endeavour to harvest water for both drinking purposes and gardening purposes. We are glad to report that the borehole was drilled by the district council for the people to run the garden as well as to provide safe drinking water to the community. Fountain of Hope installed a solar powered pump. Fountain of Hope is also providing horticultural training to the leaders of the garden which is now called Mthombothemba Garden Cooperative. The main aim of this garden is to increase food security and to empower economically the underprivileged members of the community through the production of market based vegetables. 

Apart from the above borehole and garden, the community is so appreciative that there are four other gardens which were established by Fountain of Hope and which are going a long way in making the people of Mthombothemba get green veggies. For instance, one of the ladies from the community who is HIV positive testified that her garden project has helped to improve her immune system as she now grows and eats fresh green vegetables from her garden. Apart from that she was able to sell her produce from the garden at a nearby mine and paid school fees for her son to go to school. She started a floor polish project with the remainder of the money that she got after selling her vegetables. The gardeners were also the first people to eat the green mealies in the whole community as they planted earlier than all the other people since they had water to irrigate their crops. 

The floods were also a blessing especially to those who are running a garden at Engunyini dam because the dam is full of water which means they are going to have water to water their garden throughout the whole year. 

Challenges: 
The first challenge is the political situation that is slowly building up in the community. This slowed the whole process of the installation of the pump in village B garden. We thank God that it was eventually installed. 

The floods affected one third of the gardens as their crops were completely submerged in water.

Maize at Engunyini garden was affected by army worms which eventually meant the gardeners were unable to sell their produce.

Recommendations:
The weather forecast should be broadcasted to the gardeners so that they can be prepared.

More organic ways on protecting crops from pests or parasites should be invented and taught to the gardeners by Fountain of Hope's agricultural officer.

The community was so grateful for all the trainings provided by Fountain of Hope and TMG and they requested for everyone in the community to be involved since they are bearing much fruit. 

Transformation Centre

60 children come every day except one day in a week to get food at our transformation centre in Mthombothemba. The community is so appreciative to Bright Hope World for all the support that is rendered to this centre because these children have been given a chance not only to eat food on a daily basis but to be able to go to school. Most of the children who come to this transformation centre come from dysfunctional homes, orphaned families, squatter homes, and this is the only opportunity they have to get better food and to be afforded with the place to study. Our transformation centre provides food to children, has a library for them to study, a garden for them to learn how to grow crops, and some goats for them to learn how to look after livestock. 

It is our great joy to report that most of the children who come to this transformation centre have been doing very well in their education. One of the girls who was doing grade seven last year passed her exams with ones throughout her four subjects. She was the first one to break the record of passing all the subjects with ones since the establishment of the school in the early 1900s! 

The transformation centre has also improved the health of some of the children who are HIV positive since they have good food all the time. 

Challenges:
The library does not have updated versions of the books. There is need for books that are of the new syllabus which was introduced by the government.

The government encourages children to research using the internet which is very expensive for the rural church. There is therefore a need for an internet facility so that children from poor backgrounds are able to study like all other children.

No other skills training courses are available for out of school youth. 

Recommendations:
The community recommended to Fountain of Hope that there is a need to make the transformation centre a community based education hub for orphans and vulnerable children.

More skills training courses should be provided to out of school youth at the education hub once a hub has been established.

There should be establishment of an internet facility for these children so that they are able to research important topics and subjects taught at school as it is according to the new education curriculum in Zimbabwe.

Psycho-social activities should be increased as they help to bring healing to the children.

Education and School Fees

Education is one of the pillars that Fountain of Hope is using to take orphans and vulnerable children out of poverty and hunger. This is our humble way of giving these children wings to fly higher and higher in life. The community is much appreciative to Fountain of Hope that 35 children are receiving school fees, stationary and examination fees as a way of preparing them for life. Most of the children who are receiving support in terms of school fees do not have proper places of habitation, hence the education support makes them to be able to go to school and give them hope in life. See a brief story below.

Challenges:
The cheapest high school is about 15km away from some of the children who are receiving support. This means that some of the children have to walk 30km to and from school on a daily basis.

Some of the children are not given the opportunity to study at home hence the transformation centre becomes the best place for such children to study.

The mine bus that the mine availed for such children to go to school only comes to pick them up way after school has already started. 

The school also don’t care about what kind of environment the children come from.

It is very difficult to get birth certificates for such children.

Recommendations:
A strong study facility should be established at the transformation centre.

Fountain of Hope should be able to advocate for the children to be taken on time to school by the mine bus.

Fountain of Hope should have a lawyer or lawyers who are able to stand for these children especially in the area of getting birth certificates.

A private or even a community based public high school should be established in the community so that children from poor backgrounds are able to attend such a school close to them. 

Livestock Project

The livestock project has been doing very well these past years and only had a very big challenge this year when the rains became too much for the goats. Goats are animals that do not do well in wet conditions. The families with goats are doing their best to ensure that the animals remain alive even in wet conditions.

Challenges:
The biggest challenge for the goats this year has been the wet conditions.
Stray dogs have also been getting into the community killing some of the goats from our farmers.
The community's new laws are now a hindrance for the people of the community to freely sell their goats to buyers who come into the community. The community leaders have introduced taxes on each livestock that is sold to outsiders.

Recommendations:
The beneficiaries should roof their pens with material that does not allow the water to leak into the pen.
The community leaders should relook at the by-laws they have just crafted especially that which has to do with livestock.
A dip tank should be established in village C or D so that cattle walk for shorter distances to a dip tank. 

Personal Stories

Nomagugu's father does not have a place of habitation. He lives with his children in a metal shack on one of the farms close to Bulawayo. His wife, Nomagugu's mother, is mentally unstable and sometimes she goes away for days on end and will come back whenever she feels like coming back. Nomagugu's family survives by begging since they don’t have a place of their own where they can establish a small garden to grow some veggies or even some maize. 

To make her situation even more complicated, the father whom she lives with recently discovered that she is not actually his biological child. The discovery caused the man to start to abuse this little girl. He would sometimes not share his food with her and at other times he would make her sleep outside the shack making her more vulnerable at night. When this girl was about to go to high school the man refused to pay fees for her and planned for her to join other girls into prostitution. Since Nomagugu has been one of the transformation centre children, Fountain of Hope did not leave her to struggle but continued to help this girl by ensuring that she goes to school like all other children. This intelligent girl is doing very well in school and we thank God that she was awarded with a prize for being one of the best students in the whole zone.

Thank you very much Bright Hope World for you are really bringing smiles to such young girls who do not have anyone to send them to school. 

Comments

Thank you very much Bright Hope World for your partnership with us in brightening the future of communities affeceted by poverty, we are very much grateful. 

Blessings 

Gideon & Jennifer
(on behalf of Fountain of Hope team)