By Daran Rehmeyer | Executive Director
"Identifying resources that have little or no value locally and making connections to markets where they do have value"
This has been our model since beginning to work in economic development in impoverished rural eastern Swaziland. So marula nuts which are normally discarded and moringa seeds which are ignored on the trees have little or no value in the rural communities we work in. A local Swazi gentleman, Thokozane, was hired recently to begin working full time in the communities spreading information on gathering the seeds from older women (gogo’s) so they can begin to have some income from their efforts. They have to crack the marula shells to get to the marula kernels. This is traditionally done using a large rock on the ground and one in the hand to crack the hard shell.
Thokozane collects the marula kernels in the community and then stores them in the new Kudvumisa offices in Maphiveni. Once he has a reasonable quantity, he runs the kernels through the press to generate marula oil. The oil is collected and left to sit so it settles. The last step is to run it through a filter and then deliver to a lady who makes soaps and creams in Swaziland. She sells the creams to generate money to send local children to school who can’t afford the fees.
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By Daran Rehmeyer | Executive Director
By Daran Rehmeyer | Executive Director
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