Enable 500 Tanzanian youth to feed their families

The Global Prosperity Index Data shows the uneven happiness of the population throughout countries of the world. Poor families are not smiling compared to rich families. Access to food, clean and safe water, better homes and income security determines the happiness of the respective society.

Mboni ya Vijana Group works to improve the prosperity and well-being of the society in Kigoma rural through agriculture, small income generating businesses and enable access to clean water to both individuals and public services. Our work has huge impact in Kigoma and Tanzania at large. The impact we are making to this poor community are bringing smiles to the families and here are selected case studies from the beneficiaries;

Maria is 26 years old with one daughter and hasn’t been smiling for three years before today because she couldn’t meet her family’s basic needs especially enough nutritious food, adequate shelter and clothing. Here she says; “I feel better than good of the past three years, I have access to three meals a day for myself and my family, my young daughter always gives me a smile as she enjoys a better home, food and health. I am no longer worried about income security. I know when we have urgent needs now I can meet them. I praise the mindset and financial attitude MVG have helped me build”.

“I feel blessed being part of this training which leads to successful transformation of our lives. We used to use shifting farming which didn’t give us sustainable livelihoods. Since I begun adapting to improved farming after our training, I can now feed my family with enough healthy food throughout the year, buy clothes from extra agricultural yields, pay for healthcare and conserve the environment. I tell my children how MVG transformed my ways of farming and living with the nature. I don’t want to remember the worst of the past but enjoy with my family the yields of my land.” Christopher the head of household of 7 members explains as he is asked what he benefited with the project at Zeze.

Food is important for health and energy to perform other duties but families also need clean and safe water to drink. Knowing this, MVG deals with ensuring that families can access water for both domestic and economical purposes. The project has established drilling and pumping mechanisms so balanced development is achieved. The impact of water is portrayed by the story by Elidetha who is a pupil at Zeze primary school.

Elidetha says; “it was difficult to get back to school for evening classes when I had to collect water from 4km. Often when I got back from school I found our water pot empty. So I went to fetch water at Kitibitibi stream, 4km away and I spent three to four hours waiting for unsafe water in a long queue. After collecting water, cooking and eating I was often very late going back to school for the evening sessions, and very tired. I was positioned at 40^th out of 129 pupils in my classroom for the past three years. But now I reached 6^th position in our exams. This is because improved food, income and water security at Zeze mean I have more time to study.”

Sustainable farming is also improving the awareness and involvement of the community in participating in conserving, protecting and managing the regeneration of trees either naturally or by planting indigenous local trees at Zeze. This is part of our objective of management of the environment for the better future. Mboni ya Vijana Group germinate trees in our nursery then distributed them to farmers and schools for afforestation. This work is well adapted and is expanding fast as many local farmers are now interested. Furaha is a married woman at Zeze village and she has been benefiting from MVG programs. In 2017 she planted palm trees as part of our support to small farmers at Zeze. In the season of 2020/21 she started as well planting indigenous trees and when she is visited and asked to tell what makes her interested in trees, she says; “I and my husband have learned a lot from MVG about the relationship between human work and the environments. We also recognised that consumption of fire wood can be a problem if it isn’t replaced. We see the values of trees for ourselves and the future of the earth. We started planting a total of 611 trees in 2020 and we are going to plant more in 2021 season so we benefit more as a community protecting the earth”.

These quotes represent thousands of small farmers who are using the strategies developed by Mboni ya Vijana Group in Kigoma rural to tackle social and economic inequalities and build a smiling society that protects the our earth.

Thank you for all your support.