With the excitement building up due to the success of the mushroom project, the Marange community is getting ready to take things a step further. The community in Marange has had a long-standing tradition for allocating a piece of land where the community worked together producing food for the “communal reserve”
The piece of land was referred to in Shona as Zunde raMambo. Produce from this field was stored in the communal reserve and only to be released in cases of emergencies and or as aid for the elderly and vulnerable of the community. Over the years, the tradition died out as members of the community had to focus on making ends meet for their families, taking up all their time and their limited resources.
Thanks to the success of the mushroom initiative carried by the young orphan girls and women in the community, now there is hope that the Zundera Mambo will return with a focus on supporting young orphans. A field is in the process of being allocated for the upcoming farming season. We will teach the community about conservation farming while producing food for young orphans, especially those who have had the fortune of having someone paying their school fees but can not afford to go to school due to an empty stomach!
We are well aware that the soil is very degraded but that does not discourage us at all. There are a number of families who own a cow or two, we have the waste from our mushroom production (spent mushroom substrate), and we will have a part of the land that belonged to Chido Govera’s grandmother where Chido farmed as a little girl. We have what we need to start the adventure!
