Chengeto is an enthusiastic member of a flourishing community garden in Machakata village. Like most women in her village, Chengeto had a hard time producing enough food for her family. But with training in biointensive farming and nutrition, Chengeto’s family is on a new path towards better health and immunity to disease, and self-sufficiency. She now grows a variety of vegetables for her family’s consumption, and also dries vegetables for sale. Dried vegetables, or mufushwa as they are known in the local Shona language, are highly desired by others in her village and provide an easy way for families to add nutrients to their diet. Chengeto has stocked a large quantity of mufushwa which she sells for $1 for a medium-sized plate. She also sells bundles of four onions for $1. With the income she earns, she is able to help support her family and send her children to school and to participate in a village saving and loan group through which she can save and borrow for more significant needs.
As a member of one of Bopoma Villages’ community gardens, Chengeto learned about rainwater harvesting. She brought this learning home and together with her family developed rainwater harvesting contours and trenches at her homestead. The rainwater harvesting work they completed entitled the family to two fruit tree saplings from Bopoma Villages which will soon provide them with nutrition and shade, and help to keep water in their soil. More importantly, during this rainy season their contours and trenches are capturing and storing rainwater that will nurture their soil and garden beds for months after the rains have stopped and save Chengeto hours she would have spent hauling water to keep her garden alive and growing.
Bopoma Villages works in rural Zimbabwe to equip families like Chengeto’s with critical skills to help them break the intergenerational cycle of poverty and take big steps forward towards health and self-sufficiency. Learn more about how we work here.