The Rotary Club of Hunyani, with the guidance of PDG Chris Molam in Harare, has partnered with Environment Africa to work together to improve the lives of children and local communities through the implementation of nutrition gardens and water wells in schools. The ultimate goal is to enable these vulnerable communities to sustain themselves and to keep children in schools.
Ownership of any project is essential if long term sustainability is to be achieved, hence the involvement of the community is critical. Water wells are dug and constructed by members of the community and an elephant pump is placed on the top. The pump utilises simple technology that is easy to operate, enabling children to use it. It is based on rope and washer technology, which is easy to install and maintain and provides a simple solution to lifting water.
Once the well has been installed, Environment Africa assists the school and the community to plan, design and plant nutritional gardens, taking local conditions into consideration. Areas of focus and education include: water harvesting techniques, fruit, vegetable and herb production, including uses, processing and storage. Training on low input cost techniques, alternative methods of pest and disease control incorporating permaculture and integrated pest management. Small livestock production, livestock fencing and composting methods are also taught.
Flourishing gardens
Before this project, we were not able to produce anything on our dry barren land, but now we have water and flourishing gardens, says a form 3 pupil at Kwayedza Secondary school in Chakari District of Zimbabwe.
Chakari is in the agro-ecological region 3 and 4 characterised by erratic rainfall patterns and frequent crop failures. Environment Africa has established a GREEN Schools Programme in this area which has the full support of the Ministry of Education together with local councils, local leaders and the community.
The success of this project has resulted in Rotary recently securing support from Rotary Clubs around the world for 30 more wells and nutrition gardens in the area. 25 wells have already been dug to date. The schools have become centres of excellence and members of the community are now replicating the gardens in their homes.
The gardens are managed in partnership with the community and in one school, cuttings were taken from a nutritional garden and 30 more gardens were then established in the area. Mupamombe and Montana Primary Schools have already become water provision centres for the community.
We need more funding to extend this project to other areas in Zimbabwe with our next focus being schools and communities within the Green Zambezi Alliance (GZA) www.greenzambezialliance.org. It costs $5000 to support a school with water and nutrition and we encourage you to get involved or get your Rotary Club near you involved in supporting our target of 200 schools. 38 schools have received support to date. Together we can make a difference.
Dont miss our article next week on two overseas schools, one in Wimbledon, UK and another in the USA, who by participating in Walk for Water and local fundraising initiatives got involved in helping schools in Zimbabwe.
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