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Key Person: Rodwell Masanga
Maunga Village is an area where the Government resettled about 63 families (approximately 750 people). They come from a diverse variety of cultures and religions and include people from Zambia and Malawi and other tribes that find it hard to get on together. There is no sanitation, water, schools or health clinic.
Rodwell and Enicia live at Maunga Village but travel most Sundays into Harare where Rodwell speaks at various Day Spring Churches. They have five adult children, three boys and two girls. The youngest daughter is 16 and is still living at home.
Enicia wasn’t in the village during our visit as they had a close friend pass away in Harare. However, we briefly met her and three of their children the next day in Harare.
Visually, not a lot has changed since our last visit there two years ago. However, it was encouraging to see that Rodwell has developed a team around him who all have their separate roles and responsibilities. Rodwell still has Rose working as the accountant for the project, and Phillip in an overseeing role on the agricultural side. Unfortunately, we were not able to catch up with them. Rose was supposed to travel up to Karoi with us for the day, but due to the death of their friend she was tied up back in Harare.
Weekly Cell Groups
They have five weekly Bible study cell groups of about seven people each operating in the village, but the spiritual side of things is slow going. Most of these groups are made up of couples. These are overseen by George Bizonga. They are planning to run a big crusade in September and need Shona Bibles.
Year 1 Funds
• The toilet block has been repaired.
• The home power inverter has been purchased but has not been installed. Rodwell said he was waiting on an electrician to install this.
• The hedging plants for the perimeter of the garden have only recently been planted on two sides. After planting the original shrubs, they realised they had been sold Jacaranda trees by the nurseryman. He apologised and supplied a more suitable hedging plant. Hopefully these are correct. They are wanting to cut down the long grass on the other two sides to make a fire break before they plant the remaining perimeter hedging plants.
• The model garden perimeter fencing has not been installed.
Weston: He is an educated older man who is helping with the planning to establish a school. They have been in discussions with the Education Board and are going to be making a start on a temporary building to house an Early Childhood and Primary School.
Mr Sabuke (Chief Headsman): He has a vision for the community and wants to engage the young people to help fix the road, develop fish farming, and set up a clinic. He is currently assisting the children with education. About 50 children gather at his place for this purpose.
Mama – Health Leader: As the community do not have toilets, she is passionate about getting several toilets built throughout the village areas that would each service a group of families.
Divine: This young man is in charge of the garden. They have planted a hedge around the large plot, but he said he would like to have a wire fence as well as it will take several years for the hedge to grow sufficiently to protect the garden from goats.
Masuka – Goat Project: Divine, Masuka and another young man take turns looking after the goats – taking them out of their enclosure each day into the fields. They have had success with this and recently sold some goats to purchase two pigs.
Personal StoriesWe didn’t have time to meet any other village people, however while we were there a couple came with their buckets to get water and said they were very happy to be able to access water from the well that BHW funded.
Borehole: The work on the second borehole which BHW has already funded is planned to begin shortly. They were waiting until now to drill the bore as if they get it done in the wet season, those drilling the well stop as soon as they hit water. This means that in dry seasons the water dries up. A pump, solar panels and tank are also due to be installed.
Education: The closest public school is 10 kms away, so they are planning to open an ECD centre followed by a primary school. Dhiba and Weston are overseeing this. Dhiba is a retired schoolteacher who is passionate about education. They believe that if the community had a school, then that would help in bringing the various groups of people together.
All the village cows died recently when there was a disease in the area, so now no one in the village has anything to pull their carts and carry heavy loads.
Their main challenges are dealing with politicians, poverty, and drugs and sex among young people.
1) Praise God for the ability Rodwell has in gathering a team around him, and that he is making inroads into the community.
2) Prayer needed for the practical side of things, but he has made a start.
We were disappointed not to see more progress in the last two years since we visited. The model garden had a lot of seedlings planted about a week prior to our visit but there was no thought of continual planting to ensure an ongoing source of vegetables. The huge garden area had been ploughed, and other areas burnt off, despite Rodwell having previously had Foundations for Farming training. We suggested that Rodwell share his FFF training information with Divine as this young man is hungry to learn and is taking ownership of the garden responsibilities but has no training. It would be beneficial if someone like Divine who has the practical skills be trained in Foundations for Farming.
We are also concerned that this project is not empowering the village people at this stage - they are barely sustaining themselves. However, half of the community (350 people) are benefiting from the first bore hole.