Our team is the driving force behind our success

McDenis Banda, is the trusted driver working under the SoSuRe project based in Mulanje. He joined SHA/UP on the 1st December 2015 and has over 7 years of experience in vehicle operation and fleet management. His core responsibilities include driving project staff as they implement their various activities, fleet management, and undertaking various other duties as assigned by management.

"I enjoy my job as I get to meet and interact with people from different backgrounds. I enjoy the field work and get to learn more about other people's cultures when I travel to new places. Whenever I am given an opportunity to travel, I try my best to learn as much and apply it in my life to help me grow. My dream is to study Transport and Logistics so that I could be the head of the Fleet Department someday," he happily shares.

STORIES FROM THE PEOPLE WE WORK WITH: VILLAGE SAVING AND LOANS KEY TO FOOD AND INCOME SECURITY

With the increasing cost of farming, he bought a motorized water pump in 2020, valued at K120,000 using K80,000 from his savings from Village Savings Loans (VSL) and 40,000 from his profits made from selling Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato (OFSP) produce. Ever since he bought his pump, he has minimized his expenses, saving K70,000 per farming season and now only using K16,000 towards the pump for fuel.

Besides farming, Kamtedza has been a member of a VSL group for over 2 years, where has has been trained in VSL leadership, group dynamics, borrowing and loan management. He was selected to be the Community Based Trainer (CBT) for Msungwi Village Savings and Loan (VSL) Group. The group had 11 women and 5 men. Today Ephraim is a CBT, overseeing 5 VSL groups comprising of 20 members on average (a total of 100 farmers.)

Before he leaves for work every morning, Ephraim Kamtedza prays for guidance over his daily work. He picks up his hoe and takes off to work in his garden before he has his usual breakfast of porridge. His green field is visible from a distance, evidence of Ephraim’s hard work to make sure he has food available throughout the year. The 48 year old has six children and hails from Austin village, Traditional Authority Phimbi in Balaka. He is a direct beneficiary of project interventions by Self Help Africa/United Purpose through Action on Poverty, with funding from the Australian government. Balaka district usually experiences erratic rains, so farmers practice irrigation farming for sustainable agricultural farming. However, irrigation has been a challenge for most farmers because of a lack of resources to purchase farming inputs and the necessary technologies.

"At first I used to hire a pump to help with irrigation it would cost me a total K70,000 for one whole farming season (10,000 per session). For the crops to mature I needed to irrigate seven times, and this was very costly and time-consuming.

“Before SHA/UP’s interventions, the food we farmed usually ran out by November forcing us to buy food from November until February. Purchasing food was inconsistent as my income was not stable, meaning our family struggled to eat at times" lamented Kamtedza.

When tropical cyclone Ana hit the country, many of the farmers in Ephraims community were heavily affected with the Cyclone. Fortunately, after the storm Msungwi VSL was still active and Ephraim obtained a loan of K200,000 and bought 5 bags of rice, each weighing 50 kilograms that he was able to sell and he invested the profits back into his farming, making additional income to support his family.

"Thank you, Australian government, and SHA/UP, we've not only learnt how to grow Orange Fleshed Sweet Potato, but we've been able to sell and make profits from OFSP and invest it in so many ways" he said smiling. Targeting 4000 smallholder farmers in Balaka, the project aims to increase farmer incomes through increased and diversified agricultural production, increased food security, and better market access.