January 2013

Ruth and the farm

When Ruth was at Makupo in 2012 she talked about starting a business, selling chicken snacks to the local school kids or buying and selling salt and sugar. Separately Rhoda had come to me with a similar proposition. She had learned about small business ideas from the course she took to help her adapt to her recent blindness. I encouraged them to get together and ask other girls to join them in order to come up with a proposal that I could seek support for. They had discussions before I left but hadn't come to any consensus.

My second evening in Makupo this January, I was sitting on the front stoep of the guesthouse with my visitor and a couple of the older men, when Ruth, Rhoda and Cecilia arrived. The elders moved aside to let the women talk with me. Ruth challenged my lack of response to her September proposal, which was her way of teasing me. I told her that it hadn't been very substantial and she laughed me off in her charming way. However, her reply was astounding. ”We have decided that we want to move to the farm at Kawamba. We will live there next season and grow crops as commercial farmers.”

I was gobsmacked as the Brits like to say. The farm has been such a blank hole. This season 2 young men were prepared to work it to see if they could make a go of it. The village wanted to have people present to maintain the property and look after the house. Everyone was discouraged that after so much energy and investment it had returned nothing.

I had tears of joy in my eyes as we discussed what they needed to do and we developed a plan of action for them to go to town and learn from the agricultural extension officers and plan a trip to the farm to actually see what they were getting into.

I was particularly overjoyed because this meant that Ruth had committed herself to staying connected to her roots here in rural Malawi and making a go of things. She is a natural leader and a quick learner, so her abilities could be an important factor in making such a venture work.

It became even more serious if not also a bit funny, when the next evening she and Rhoda came back to talk again. Encouraged by my positive support as well as that of some of the elders who had listened in, they declared that they were ready to start as soon as this week. They explained that the growing season was still early enough that they could get in soya, maize and potatoes and produce their first crop before the rains ended. They had consulted Frazer, the wizened old man farmer, and he had told them it was possible. We discussed it for a while and we all finally agreed that this enterprise was going to take more planning before they jump sight unseen into such a major undertaking. I agreed to fund a trip for 4 of them – 3 women and Kenny – to go to see the farm and the local community in the next couple of weeks. They in turn agreed to get into town and meet the agriculture extension people the microloan foundation and others involved in assisting and supporting smallholder farming. The goal is to have a plan ready to seek support before the end of February when I leave.