By Marsha Winsryg | Director, AACDP
The Zambezi farmers want to thank you for all your support - your donations have enabled us to accomplish so much. Last year we were able to improve the irrigation system, which has really boosted productivity of our staple crops.
We hope you will help us take the next step toward becoming a self-supporting farm.
It's time for GlobalGiving's Little by Little campaign. From April 3 - April 7 GlobalGiving will match donations up to $50 at 50%. This is a great time to make a small donation to help Zambezi Farm grow; the value of your gift increases by half again.
And please tell your friends about the farm. Just think - if you donate just $10 (which will bring an extra $5 from GlobalGiving) and get 3 friends to each donate $10 (which will bring an extra $15 from GlobalGiving) you will have turned your $10 gift into $60 for the AACDP communal farm - six times your investment!
The map of Zambezi Farm below shows projects that are completed in pink, and future projects in green.
Sydney Mwamba, our invaluable manager in Zambia, has organized the first stages of infrastructure. A simple 2 room house has been built so the farmers can stay over for a few days. A bath house has almost been completed - adding the roof, plastering and painting will be done soon, then fixtures can be installed. Irrigation is underway, however the second well which was installed led to much less water than was expected, so it will be used for watering animals. We have upgraded the first well with a more powerful pump, which is capable of moving water the distance to the staple crops fields.
That irrigation provided a good maize crop this season! The fresh corn is now ready for harvest, but most of the crop will be left on the stalks to dry, then stored until it can be ground into mealie meal, the basic ingredient of nshima, the staple food of Zambians.
Our plan for the next few months includes building a shed for storing the dry maize, completing the bath house, and installing lighting for the farmer’s house, and some outdoor lighting for security. Also fields still need to be fenced to prevent theft and damage from animals.
The map also shows some of our dreams for future projects:
The more diverse future projects we can create, the more sustainable the farm will be.
The Little by Little campaign is next week. This is a great time for for first-time and small-dollar donors to really make their contributions count. Please tell others about our cause! With your help, we hope to raise enough funds to complete the bath house and to build the maize storage shed.
Your much appreciated donation will bring us closer to our goal of making Zambezi Farm self-supporting. Thank you thank you thank you from the farmers and the entire AACDP community.
Links:
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
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