ZIMBABWE
by Sara Butler and Simon Marijani
PLANTING SEEDS OF KINGDOM GROWTH Supported by the Mustard Fund, the Foundations for Farming project in Zimbabwe has led to personal and community transformation.
Y
ou look out over the Zambezi river, to the mountains and trees surrounding you. You hear the distant roar of waterfalls, but here, all is serene. The powerful river contained within the curved walls of a mighty dam. A dam that was built to bring electricity and light to the nation. But has brought darkness to the people who once lived on the river’s banks. The Tonga. A resilient people group, relocated to an inhospitable part of the Zambezi valley, renowned for malaria and valley fever. Impacted by drought, their maize crops regularly fail. Outside aid, however well meant, has not always been constructive, increasing the Tonga’s sense of dependency.
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OM workers in Zimbabwe have brought training and hope. Over the last four years, the team have trained 120 Tonga people in sustainable farming. They have seen communities transformed, as the trainees go on to train one or two others, who in turn also train another one or two more. One person at a time, entire villages are transformed. The farmers learn sustainable skills while returning to traditional crops, growing small grains that fare better in their environment. Families can now grow enough to meet their needs throughout the year, and many have surplus to sell. These surplus grains are sold to a drinks company, which uses the grains to produce nutritional drinks for school children. The
OM WORKERS IN ZIMBABWE HAVE BROUGHT TRAINING AND HOPE. ONE PERSON AT A TIME, ENTIRE VILLAGES ARE TRANSFORMED.
profits from their sales go back into the community, and the drinks are helping the children to thrive.
SHARING THE GOSPEL Discipleship sits alongside the farming training. As participants experience God’s transformational work in their lives, they seek to see other villages impacted. A once unreached community, they are now looking beyond the mountains, to other Tonga villages that have never been reached with the Gospel. Thank you for partnering with us. Your gifts to the Mustard Fund are helping people like Lwiiyo to break the cycle of poverty and experience God’s transformational power in their own lives and in entire communities.
