A farm in Africa…a vision of what could be
Ntate Thabang, a
local grower in the District of Mohale's Hoek, became our consultant in
developing a business plan & grant proposal to set up a greenhouse at the
St. Camillus Centre. A greenhouse would
enable the Centre to plant & harvest vegetables for the children year
round. Up to this point the Centre planted one large field for maize that, once
dried & ground, would supply the children the Basotho staple of papa (a
cooked corn meal dish similar to polenta
only thicker so one can use fingers to scoop it up to eat). In addition, the
farm had a smaller field for moroho (chard) & still smaller plots for other
vegetables such as beans, tomatoes, & more moroho. Excess vegetables were
sold to neighbors & street vendors who in turn sold the moroho to the
community. Mme Mamelo, the farm's
day-to-day manager, once estimated that the Centre received about
200Maloti per month in vegetable sales
($15-20 USD depending on exchange rate).
 |
| Raised bed field - before |
It took very little time for Ntate Thabang to see the farm's potential; he advised Sr. Juliana that if the Centre could install an irrigation system & implement improved agriculture techniques, a high yield, profitable commercial produce business was possible. Sr. Juliana agreed & over the course of several weeks we began meeting regularly to discuss the farm's transformation. However, after having spent a good portion of the prior year working with Rethabile to create a financial plan we knew that we needed to go into this venture with some careful planning. I asked Thabang to create a 3 year crop rotation plan so that we could assess expenses & potential income.
Coincidentally at
this time, Peace Corps hosted a project management workshop that I attended to
learn about available Peace Corps grants. A great opportunity for the Centre
was a grant funded by PEPFAR (a US program: President's Emergency Plan for AIDs
Relief); we would qualify for up to $3,750 USD to implement a program to
support orphans & vulnerable children (OVC) & people living with
HIV/AIDS (PLHIV) if we could contribute $1,250 USD.
 |
| Preparing the Fields |
Over the course of
July Rethabile & I collected all the necessary budget data for the grant
& wrote a compelling justification. Meanwhile, Sr, Juliana used existing
funds to begin purchasing irrigation supplies while Thabang, his staff &
St. Camillus farm workers cleared the fields, dug trenches, laid the pipes
& installed the sprinklers in Field 1-Cabbages; work on Field 2-Green
Peppers would follow.
 |
| Bo Ntate: Thabang right, Pinda left, Komitsi center |
Caring for the Children
Meanwhile our work
with the kids continued. Rethabile lead training sessions with the matrons, the
nutritionists visited & weighed the kids, & we introduced a weekly
menu. Successes were slow to realize but
the greatest win was seeing that the matrons became increasingly involved &
supportive of our efforts. In all our
work, Rethabile & I, engaged the matrons & supported their
contributions. Our interactions with the Mohale's Hoek health system also began
to improve; nurses & nutritionists acknowledged our efforts to address the
nutritional & weight status of the kids.
 |
| Attending nutrition class at hospital |
 |
| Kids getting plenty of fortified rice |
