By Benedicto | Project Leader
It is the rainy season in Zeze which means everyone is busy in the fields making the most of the precious water while it lasts. At MVG we've been distributing Sunflower and Moringa seeds and continuing with our microfinance training and loans. So far over 100 women have benefited - here are 3 of them.
Consolata is a 27 year old divorced woman striving to improve her life. She tells her success story, “I sell Mandazi (cakes) and other food. People used to laugh at me. They considered me as an inferior women because I am divorced. I slowly grew my food vending business without listening to what people say. MVG’s training on entrepreneurship and business development, encouraged and inspired me to be strong and do what I have to do. I secured a small loan and grew my food business. Now I have expanded my business and collect clothes in Kasulu or Manyovu (Burundi border) and sell them back in the village. I am now happy with my life and I am finally respected by my family”.
Melania is a widow caring for 7 children while herself chronically ill. "Since the death of my husband in 2012, I had no hope to support my children or to live. I struggled hard with farming but my illness made it difficult. After my MVG training I decided to establish a Tea Café where I sell foods. Now I can hire labourers to dig my fields and send my children to school”. Melania told Benedicto when he visited her at home.
I met Ester at milling machine in Zeze village where she was milling cassava. When she asked how life is, she replied; “Maisha ni kama mnyororo (life is like a chain)”. Her MVG loan means she now buys cassava from farmers and mills them into flour, which she sells to get profit for life support. “I have two children at secondary school – they both look to me for help. It was very hard to support them while depending on farming, but since MVG helped me to start my business, I finally feel in control of my life. My husband left me in 2006 and I don’t know where he went but God is Great and now everything is going well”.
We've also set up a solar light scheme in each of the 3 schools. Students are put into groups of 5 and loaned a solar light so that they can study in groups after dark. One such student is Faraja a 16 year old Zeze Secondary School student, living at Zeze village in a hut without water or electricity. He likes Mathematics, Chemistry, Biology, Physics and Geography. His dream is to get into university and study industrial engineering so he can lead industrial development in Tanzania. “I am determined to use these skills to improve life in Zeze” says Faraja.
We have big plans for 2016 to improve lives in Zeze - next week we will be setting up a plastic greenhouse and seed nursery and the week after starting our welding workshop so that we can make our own water pumps. Currently 8000 people share 3 hand pumps. Next month we will start hand drilling additional water bore holes and train the village on safe treatment of water. In April we'll be teaching how to build fuel efficient stoves to reduce the amount of firewood burned..
All this is only possible because of your generous donation, so thank you again from everyone in Zeze!
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