2017 News

Gardening with a Water Pump

Wednesday, 6 September 2017

The Rupemba community is a beneficiary of the Showers of Blessing small project fund. After visiting the garden project, which had a membership of 37 women, I realised the hardships that the women were going through to water their garden. The women had to walk an average of four kilometres to the garden, in the African heat, and had to fetch water from the nearby Ngezi River 200 metres away, and carry to the garden a 20-litre bucket of water on their heads. This process is repeated no less than 30 times per day, three times a week. This task is difficult for the women given the fact that, culturally, rural women in Zimbabwe are tasked to provide water for their family’s household use and meal preparation. Showers of Blessing provided the women with a pump and cement to build a tank, which has made their task a lot easier! The water is now pumped into the garden! There is no need to walk long distances with buckets of river water on their heads. This development has attracted more women to join the garden project – now 50 women can provide fresh food for their children. The reduction in the workload means an increase in the vegetable varieties, and the women can sell vegetables to others in the community, increasing household income levels. Showers of Blessing have also provided boreholes near their homes for safe drinking water and which they also use for household purposes. This has decreased their walking distances from five to two kilometres to access water.

Boniface Mpofu,
Zimbabwe

 

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