By Daran Rehmeyer | Executive Director
Each year, marula fruit is collected and used to brew a local beer called buganu. The pits are discarded into ever-growing piles, to slowly rot back into the soil.
Inside the pits are kernels high in a good quality oil. While historically, the kernels would have been used in preparing food, the availability of cheap vegetable oils has relegated the use of the kernels to the aging generation that remembers growing up with them years ago. So instead, most kernels are discarded and end up unused and left to rot.
However, the oil from these kernels is in high demand for use in cosmetics and creams. So Kudvumisa buys the kernels from (mostly) women in the communities we serve, providing an income form a resource which holds little value in the rural communities we serve. The kernels are pressed for oil which is then sold on to people who manufacture the creams and lotions.
Impact of this economic development project? Zwakele cracks the pits at her homestead and carries the kernels to the Kudvumsia office in Maphiveni. The money she earns allows her to purchase food for her family!
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