After a few days of mourning a relative of the village headman who had passed away on the day the women’s group started their project, the women resumed their work on May 27, 2016. They woke at dawn in search of water to wet the soil to make it ready for the men to start moulding bricks. Our presence was indeed a blessing for the team, and we could see their happiness and encouragement upon our arrival.
The visit to Mbetazigone to see the progress on the Cultural Kitchen project and registering children and their dates of birth was successful. The MIMAMO team joined them and helped with the making of bricks. There is no grocery in this village, so we had to send someone on a motor bike to search for sugar. Women had already cooked sweet potatoes through contributions, and prepared tea when the sugar arrived. It was also fun for the kids who could not resist expressing their curiosity and insisted on showing what they were capable to contribute.
The children joined their parents in moulding bricks and were excited to learn that their dream of getting education will come true in the near future. During tea break, the children expressed in a video recording their desperate need for a school to come to the village. They could hardly make a speech but did shout “Escola, escola, escola!” which means “school” in Portuguese (see the video here). Many of the children did not know their birthdates, and their parents, not knowing to read or write, had been unable to keep records for them or indeed themselves, except relative estimations based on when the war began and ended. Nonetheless, we recorded the information as accurately as possible.
From our observation, this collaboration with the Academy of Light will greatly benefit the community. The school is such a necessity to give life to these beautiful faces. Bumblebee’s efforts together with other well-wishers out there to bring a school, clinic, water, and holistic climate agriculture programs is a very welcome development.
The village people are looking forward to learning from the holistic food program, as they have not been able to utilize their resources for their needs due to lack of knowledge. They are very happy to be working as an interfaith team to make URI’s vision come to life in their community. It would be praiseworthy in the eyes of the divine to bring this project to reality since the people themselves have given so much effort and time.
Pauline Crosbie from Bumblebee has brought so much effort and heart to this community, and we hope to see the fruits of her effort continue to flourish through the Mbetazigone women’s work. Women here often express their happiness over the project, and explain how they will develop their skills to boost the work. They describe their initial worries from previous projects that were never fulfilled, and outline the areas that desperately need help. These include maternity care, the lack of a local hospital, and problems of access to water and education.
They have named their women’s group AZIMAYI TIJIMUCHE (in the Yao language) or AZIMAYI TIUKE (in the Nyanja language) which can be translated as “Let’s Wake Up, Women”.
The village’s men support the women’s project, including the village headman, a Muslim sheikh, and others who express gratitude over this project’s development.
