Just this week the U.K. based Economist Intelligence Unit rated Zimbabwe’s capital city, Harare, the worst of 140 cities worldwide in which to live. According to VOA, “The report said Harare’s chronic water and power outages contributed to a mere 38 percent “livability rating” in the study . . . [The] threat of civil unrest, poor health care services and sketchy, overcrowded public transport [are] also serious drawbacks to life in Harare. The group said phone and Internet services in Harare are sub-standard as well.”
So with this report lingering in the back of our minds, we were overjoyed when an email came through from our friends in Chiredzi with an update on Elias’ house. As phone and internet services continue to deteriorate in a horrid fashion, communication from Zim is like gold these days.
Now then to the true reason for this post – in checklist fashion here’s what has been completed since we last had an update on Elias’ house:
- Roof is fully complete.
- Chasing for electrical conduit is done.
- Kitchen extension is complete.
- All doors and windows are secure with lintels.
Now that this list is done and dusted, the construction moves on to these next targets:
- Plaster over electrical conduiting
- Purchase and install doors and windows
- Secure building
- Chase for Plumbing
- Build retainer wall as required by building inspector
Quite exciting to have continual progress forward given the nature of things in Zimbabwe. We’re anticipating the day Elias, Servi and the boys will be able to move into their house . . . and surely that day is not far away. If you’d like to contribute to the construction of Elias’ house, please consider making a donation today. Thanks!
Construction on Elias' house continues
We have an exciting announcement this month coming from our partners in Zimbabwe. Stella, who was our latest scholarship graduate back in January, was recently hired by the renowned Save Conservancy in southern Zimbabwe. The job fits perfectly with her degree in Tourism and Hospitality Management, and we could not be more excited for her. In a country where unemployment easily tops 85%, this opportunity for Stella is extraordinary.
Over the years so many of you have generously supported EF’s educational scholarships under the premise of our mission to spread hope and opportunity in Zimbabwe. As Stella moves forward with her employment, her story is the ultimate representation of success for the entire EF community.
Through your generosity EF empowered a local initiative in Stella’s hometown, which in turn provided a scholarship for Stella to attend university. Equipped with higher education and training, Stella was capable of seizing the employment opportunity as it arose at the Conservancy. What once seemed a distant dream, Stella can now build a hopeful future free of the mire of poverty and unemployment. This, of course, comes full circle back to you.
The scale of poverty and injustice in Zimbabwe, let alone the rest of the world, is often overwhelming; yet, Stella’s success reminds us how grassroots change is the most powerful path forward. Whether or not we live to see the day Zimbabwe is set free, we have seen a disenfranchised orphan girl empowered through education to become a self-sufficient woman building a stronger future for herself.
And so, to all of you who have contributed over these past couple of years . . . thank you! Your generosity has played an important role in the story of Stella’s success. If you would like to continue your part in EF’s story of spreading hope and opportunity in Zimbabwe, please consider making a secure donation today.
You have probably heard we have revived the project to build a house for Elias and an agricultural training farm. As we continue to raise awareness and funds for this project, we thought it wasimportant to breakdown a bit more information on the agricultural training portion of the project.
A collaboration between our partners in Chiredzi and the Zimbabwean-based organization, Foundations for Farming, the pilot farm will sit on two commercial plots in the rural town of Chiredzi. The farm will function both as a training facility and a source for income for our partners.
The actual training will utilize curriculum and techniques developed by Foundations for Farming. The main focus being zero-tillage practices in addition to proper crop nutrition through mulch cover, composting, vermiculture, crop rotation and low-volume irrigation. These techniques have implications for both urban and rural subsistence farmers, with past results proving increased crop yielding by nearly 300% in some cases.
More than just agricultural training, the curriculum also instills the footing necessary to turn a profit and run a successful enterprise. As such, food security is increased and access to capital is made possible. Through this expanded productivity and profitability, the opportunity to prosper is created.
In the end, like the Elias Fund, Foundations for Farming believes Africa can feed itself by empowering the local community with the tools and techniques requisite for poverty eradication. Together we want to toil to this end, building from the bottom-up; and with this is being the Elias Fund’s largest undertaking to date, we need your help. We hope you’ll consider being an intricate part of breaking Zimbabwe’s poverty by supporting this joint-project.
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