Hope came thanks to the solarized community borehole and garden established by the local community with support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funded Takunda project, a consortium led by CARE Zimbabwe in 2023. The project enrolled 53 community members from Ward 10, including Marita, to be part of a solarized community borehole and garden and each person was allocated 28 beds.

For Marita this became a lifeline. It was not just a source of vegetables for her family’s next meal but also a source of livelihood and hope for her family in this drought prone district.

She planted various vegetables and started selling the produce. “I am currently selling rape, covo and tomatoes since I harvested the other crops. On a weekly basis, I get roughly US$12 to US$15 from tomatoes only,” says Marita.

Marita is now able to provide for the needs of her two daughters using income she gets after selling produce from the garden at the nearest Chivi Growth Point. This is a significant amount of money for her because she only used US$3 to buy seedlings, US$1 for pesticides and Marita uses organic manure to improve her soil quality.

“ I use the money that I get from selling produce from this garden to pay rent and buy food for my two children who are on attachment in Masvingo. Takunda assists them with school fees and food when they are at school but since they are now on attachment, I have to assist them,” shared Marita.

Her two daughters are studying carpentry at Mushagashe Training Vocational Centre and are part of the 2 500 youths who are supported with school fees in various centers under the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) component being supported by the project.

The hardworking and ever smiling Marita held her two year eight-month-old granddaughter strapped to her back as she expressed how grateful she was for the knowledge she has gained because of the trainings she received from the project. “Takunda gave us knowledge, the project did not give us money, and this helped us a lot to do things on our own and to survive,” shared Marita.

To make sure that the garden is sustainable and continues to prosper under the dry conditions in Chivi, garden members as part of the resilience design spearheaded dug contour ridges which are 40cm deep to assist in retaining moisture.

The garden has also provided a relief for other community members who are not part of the project, but now have access to clean water for household use after the project drilled and installed a solarized borehole and connected a community tap a few meters away from the garden.  Additionally, both the young and the old now have time to rest or to engage in other household responsibilities since they no longer have to herd cattle for long distances in search of water, thanks to the water trough constructed by the project just outside the garden.

“Community livestock now have access to water because of this garden,” says a smiling Marita who is also the Chairperson in the garden committee officially known as Asset Management Committee (AMC).

 Marita and her community are now happy that they have access to water and have big plans for the future. The sales from her produce also enabled her to invest on goats. Marita and her community are hopeful that in the next few years hunger will be a thing of the past in their community since they have now been uplifted and given a solid foundation.