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We’ve only got about 10 days left in Zambia. So little time, so much to do…

I have enjoyed the work with Bukuumo Cooperative's women. Their voice is getting stronger. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Robert feels the building project at Heart of Africa Mission is at the stage where he can comfortably leave the rest up to the workers there. The buildings will house the teacher training college they wish to begin in May. Besides knowing he has headed a successful project, he has very much enjoyed working with the African men.

One older worker, John, 66, impressed Robert with his hard work and good attitude. Robert often drove him home, as it’s on his way. John told him, “People ask me, ‘why does the Mzungu (white) man work so hard? I tell them, it is so that you can learn from him!” That is Robert’s hope – that the men have learned from him – not just to work hard, but also how to do a job well and some of the skills to do so.

Robert hopes he has been able to impart some skills to Sidney and Blackson. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

After the first two days on the building site, Harold was going to send Everesto home again. He was painstakingly slow and didn’t seem to know much. We’re all glad he didn’t. This young man turned out to become a good faithful worker. Robert feels that’s as much a measure of success as the finished project itself. The experience will make Everesto more employable somewhere else.

Yesterday we met with some of the Bukuumo members under the trees of City Square to discuss the issue of the squatters on the farm. Robert told them he was really happy to see them coming up with good ideas and making decisions to move forward. I feel the women have become a stronger presence in the cooperative. So maybe we have helped to facilitate some movement after all.

Michael (left) is one of HAM's most loyal workers, and has worked hard on this project. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Robert and I have an exciting two days ahead of us – we’ve been invited to visit a large commercial farm in the Mkushi area, one of the oldest and largest farming blocks in Zambia. An Indian company out of Nairobi, Kenya, bought 4,250 acres of land there, of which 1,125 acres are under irrigation. We met the owners of this company last year in Nairobi. They were interested in setting up a chicken layer business on the Bukuumo land at the time.

Their Zambian manager asked us to visit the farm with him for two days. He would like Robert’s thoughts on what is happening, or should happen there. I get to go along for the ride. This will be quite a change from working with hoe farmers!

Mama Phiri paid back her fritter loan, and Vivienne wants to come by tonight to repay her fertilizer loan. The women are definitely the most reliable!  Neither woman had to be reminded to make her payments. In fact Mama Phiri has repaid before her due date. Yes, bet on the women!

Bagenda runs a centre for needy community women. Emmanuel teaches art to local children, and the lady on the right runs the pottery. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Facilitating knowledge and information is one of our most important tasks. This morning I took Bagenda, who runs a women’s centre nearby, to Mr. Khumar. Khumar manages Sakisa Spinning, a yarn spinning factory. Two years ago he asked Bukuumo Cooperative if they were interested in helping women’s groups get knitting machines and the yarn to do piece work for them.

Bukuumo never did get on it, but Bagenda was certainly interested! The timing was perfect – Sakisa had decided to open a centre in their factory, and the knitting machines are already on their way. He was very happy to negotiate with Bagenda for some machines for her women’s group. They will both gain – he can sell the yarn, and her women can get some experience and make a little money.

They’re anxious to get the project going as soon as possible. The cold season is just around the corner. Nights are getting nippy now, and we are thankful for wool blankets at night and sweaters and jeans for the morning hours. Sadly we know many people don’t have adequate blankets and clothing for this time of year.

One of the boys Emmanuel teaches art to at the women's centre. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Yesterday we were in Mpongwe and discussed business principles with our farm cooperative members. One principle we stressed is that of protecting your capital. Many people have a small ‘grocery’, often at a makeshift roadside stand or at their house. They buy staple foods in bulk and sell in smaller quantities.

These businesses often fail. Their owners begin to eat the groceries without paying for them; not adhering to the principle of separating yourself from your business. It’s difficult to tell someone who has no money and little else to eat that they can’t take the rice from their grocery without paying for it.

Those are the times we realize it is so easy for us to talk, but we have no idea really, of what it would be like to walk in their shoes. But the business principle still applies even there – you can’t eat your capital or your business dies.

The tools didn’t turn up and Robert payed the guys, but he deducted 10,000 from each of their wages (that’s half a day’s pay for most of them). He calculated the cost of the tools and divided the cost between them. They weren’t too happy about that. But if you do nothing, it will happen again. At least now they know there are consequences.

The Easter holidays have passed and we hardly noticed except for the Easter Sunday service we went to. There is very little commercialization of Easter here – I didn’t even see chocolate Easter bunnies in the supermarket this year. Many businesses are closed from Good Friday to Easter Monday, but for most life goes on as usual.

Zambia's future, her children. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

We spent Good Friday in meetings – first with Bukuumo Cooperative, since that’s when most of its members were free. We had a good meeting – with the biggest attendance since we arrived in early February. One of the main items was the issue of squatters on the ZamTan Farm.

The farm is directly adjacent to a poor suburb which is sprawling over its boundaries. There hasn’t been much movement on the farm over the last year, after the chicken layer project was scrapped. It seems some people have seen that as a license to move in and use the land themselves.

When Robert, Ruth Myanza and I went there last week to stake out a plot to grow vegetables this coming season, we found vegetables already growing where we had planned. And they weren’t ours. Shanty houses stood besides the gardens. It seems there are at least five buildings on the land now, with grass slashed for another one or two.

So we have a problem. It can be a long weary process to get these people to move, and they can cause a lot of trouble. This morning three of us women from Bukuumo Cooperative went to city council office to try to get an appointment to see the mayor. I tell you! (a favourite Zambian exclamation…)

I believe there is a huge amount of time, energy and money wasted in Zambia on waiting around. Waiting for people to meet together, waiting for the mayor’s secretary to come to work, then waiting for her to call us… Why can’t we just phone the office like in Canada?

No, three women have to get a taxi (two don’t have their own vehicles), and spend half their morning trying to get an appointment.  We failed to get it, as we have to follow some other procedure first – one that will waste more time waiting.

Lisa explains how to prepare the soil for planting using the special chako hoe. Beside us a team of oxen rips the soil in readiness for planting corn. Along with 23 other farmers from the Kitwe area, I am at Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust to learn all I can about conservation farming for small-scale farmers.

Lisa demonstrates a planter that seeds fertilizer and seed at the same time. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

The group gathered around Lisa and Victor is fully attentive. Many are taking notes. Others break in to ask questions or get clarification. Everyone is eager to get the most out of these precious hours.

We travelled four hours by bus to come here. The money for transport was dear for most. Some had to be sponsored. No one is disappointed.

“Oh, I tell you, knowledge is power,” exclaims Vivienne. She is so excited to have this opportunity.

Staff members at the trust are well organized and do an impressive job of demonstrating conservation farming methods. Then they show us the results in the field. Everyone has a handbook, but seeing is better than reading.

The aisle of the bus going home is crowded with tree seedlings: Musangu, Moringa, Neem and others I don’t recognize. Almost everyone has bottles of Musangu seeds with them. I joke that the copper belt is going to be covered in Musangu trees. “Nothing could make me happier,” Eva says.

Musangu, also called the fertilizer tree, has the unique property of shedding its leaves just as the planting season begins, so it doesn’t compete with growing crops. When mature, the tree provides enough nutrients under its wide canopy to grow a good crop of maize.

A young musangu tree growing among the corn. One day it will shed enough leaves to fertilize a large area under its canopy. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

“If we do not use it (the musangu tree) we will never be rich”, Victor tells the group.

It takes 14 years until the tree is really productive, but as Murray Sanderson told me, “the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The next best time is today.”

*   *  *

Robert just came home from the building site. Two hammers and his Leatherman’s multi-tool that our youngest son bought him for Christmas have been missing for a couple of days now. Tonight he told his workers that tomorrow is payday, but there will be no pay until those tools show up again. We learned that method from another farmer. He doesn’t have problems with tools missing anymore. It is a sad fact of life here that theft is rampant. Robert is disappointed. He didn’t think his guys would do something like that.

One of the older workers said that maybe they have to consult the witch doctor to see who the thief is.

Conservation farming uses a special ripper when using oxen to prepare the soil for planting. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Excerpt of an e-mail from a Zambian friend: “Just help to remember me in your prayers as I continue kneeling to ask for a farm of my own.” This woman rents 25 acres to plant corn and vegetables for sale.

We find it interesting how many well-educated Zambians with good jobs want to farm. There seems to be a perception that farming makes good money. Maybe farming is equated with security – you have a piece of land that is yours; you can build a house and grow your own food. Many people return to their villages when they retire. Life there is much cheaper than in the cities, you have family to help you, and hopefully food.

Kunda, an elderly gentleman, hoes his garden. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

When people hear we are farmers working with farmers, they are almost always interested. Few are without ties to the villages they once came from. Many have land or would like to own land.

Especially in this time of economic crisis, being able to provide your own food has become valuable. It reminds me of Uncle Bill from Alberta. He once told me that during the Second World War, if you had land, you could build yourself a shack and grow your own food. You had it made.

The steep drop in commodity prices has really hurt Zambia, whose main export product is copper.  A Greek restaurant owner told us most businesses are down 30 percent or more. Thousands of mine workers are laid off. They don’t have cash to spend, or money for rent and adequate food.

Many of the unemployed are going back to their villages, in the hope they can at least grow food there. The problem is, many villagers aren’t growing adequate food either, because of lack of resources, poor crop management or poor money management.

No wonder helping small-scale farmers to be sustainable is high on the list of priorities for the Zambian government, at least in theory. This is why we are here.

Roadside bedroom? Furniture store? A carpenter displays his wares. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Tomorrow we are off on another trip to visit the conservation research plots of Golden Valley Research Trust near Lusaka. Many of those who took part in the Kapiri Mposhi field day will be coming with us. This time we’ll be the only ones present so there will be lots of time to ask questions and check out the fields.

I’m excited that interest is so high in learning the conservation farming methods. I just have to remember Mr. Moomba’s fields to believe we’re on the right path.

I’ve just come from my first bookkeeping class. I didn’t teach it, Christian did. Johanna taught Christian and Ronald, two staff members from Heart of Africa Mission, basic bookkeeping. She not only taught them to keep good books, but also imparted good business sense.

Christian passes on to others what he has been taught. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Along with the loan for fritters, we offered to teach bookkeeping to Mama Phiri. One student grew to five and maybe more. We asked Christian to instruct the class, knowing that teaching what you have learned deepens your own understanding.

Johanna would be proud of him. He taught in Bemba, but I understood enough of what was going on to know he did a good job of covering the basis. I could also see that his students understood.

Because Christian used the vernacular, they caught on much quicker than if I would have used my Canadian English. Most of the students have a limited understanding of English and are not used to sitting in school. They are so eager to learn.

One of the first questions Christian asked the class was how to separate yourself from the business. One woman said it was difficult; she often used the business money to buy food or other things.

Mama Phiri proudly gave her answer. She told about how Johanna taught her to put the fritter money into jars — one to buy new supplies, one to pay back the loan and the other was her profit.

This man walks two hours to work every day on deformed legs, and is always cheerful. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

That was also exciting. We taught something that someone is using, and passing on. Sometimes it’s that simple to make a difference. Later I walked by her house and she was fiercely scolding another woman for not coming to the class. I wouldn’t be surprised to see that woman here next week. Mama Phiri is the matron around here.

When Mate, the Bukuumo chairman, heard I was teaching bookkeeping, he asked me to teach him as well. Maybe we should offer a few sessions to the co-operative members. It’s not just about keeping books, but also talking about business principles. It’s capacity building.

Robert is at mission every day on a building project. One of his bricklayers, Richard, is a cheerful and capable worker with a strong upper body. He walks with an obvious waddle. His legs are abnormally shaped, Robert tells me, but he walks two hours every morning to get here. Robert picks him up whenever he sees him on the road.

I’ve done the herbal thing: chewed a bitter guava leaf and washed down the hay-like leaf powder of artemisia with euphorbia hirta tea. If it doesn’t kill me it will cure me. I’ve got malaria again, as I do every year. I took Coartem, the best malaria medicine, but still have the dysentery that I always seem to get too. It’s likely two different parasites. One is the malaria parasite. The other could be giardia, which is rampant here.

Euphorbia hirta, the wonder weed. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

I e-mailed Dr. Hans Martin Hirt, the German pharmacologist who wrote Natural Medicine in the Tropics. He said I should use euphorbia hirta tea with guava leaves, and take four teaspoons of artemisia leaf powder a day.

From him I learned about using artemisia leaf powder as a malaria preventive. It would be probably be much worse if I hadn’t used it. Besides, there are no side effects with artemisia, as there are with chemical counterparts.

I also learned about using euphorbia hirta to cure intestinal parasites such as giardia. Every year it seems Robert and I are in the country about two weeks when we start getting stomach cramps. This year was no exception.

Euphorbia hirta is a common weed and grows right outside our door. I thought I’d try it. I picked a handful every morning, boiled it for 15 minutes in a half litre of water and we drank it throughout the day. Both of us felt great after two days but we did the full eight day treatment. We were excited. The chemical treatment for giardia is quite harsh.

I started the euphorbia hirta treatment right away, along with the Coartem, but it hasn’t worked so well this time. Dr. Hirt insists that if the weed tea, as I call it, doesn’t work, then the chemical pills for giardia won’t either. It could be a bacterial infection, so I may need to use an antibiotic treatment, Ciproflex, which I have with me. I’ll give it another day.

Our friend Mate, chair of Bukuumo Co-operative, says parasites are his cousins. They live with him. I’m not very fond of his cousins.

We took a few days off together before dropping Johanna and Harold at the Lusaka airport. Robert and I will be in Zambia for another five weeks.

"Look! Conservation Farming Pays" sign in front of Mr. Moomba's field. For him it really does pay. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Eva told me we should try to visit a farmer south of Lusaka. She heard he was a big inspiration to anyone interested in conservation farming. She heard right.

Moomba and the Conservation Farming (CF) fieldsman for the Kafue area, Saint Njovu, were waiting at the side of the road for us, beside Njovu’s motorbike. The farm was another 200 metres from the road. A model farm, it looks very much like the research plots at Golden Valley Agricultural Research Trust outside of Lusaka. We were impressed before we even got out of the car.

These are the discussions we hope will help other farmers too. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Moomba began using the CF methods about 11 years ago. “We had nothing, no animals. I have land but I was not getting anything, just two bags (of corn).” Then his wife took a course in CF farming with Program Against Malnutrition. She showed her husband what she had learned and life changed for the Moombas.

They didn’t stop with that first course 11 years ago. They both took more courses and continue to attend CF field days to learn more. That is unusual for a Zambian small farmer.

Now they have 16 animals – four oxen to plow and 12 beef cattle. They cultivate six acres, planting corn, beans, cowpeas, peanuts and sweet potatoes. Some women were harvesting in the bean field while we were there.

Mr. and Mrs. Moomba with their 'last born', as Zambians say. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

“You don’t expect hunger from Mr. Moomba,” Saint says. There is still corn left over from the year before. Moomba has successfully sent his six children to school, and started the foundation for a roomy new house. All of this was done from the profit of this small farm.

Why isn’t everyone around him farming the CF way? Says Njovu: “They come and say Mr. Moomba uses juju (witchcraft) in his field.”

Mr. Moomba tries to tell them the only juju he uses is cow manure and fertilizer. I think he should add the work of his own hands. This man is a committed farmer.

It does take commitment to do a good job of CF, which stresses the importance of timely land preparation and weeding while weeds are still small. The concern for those seemingly small details makes the difference in success or failure, as it does in farming all over the world.

I think the CF extension worker was right: “If a million Zambians would farm like this, there would be no hunger in Zambia.”

“What are those wide white stripes at the side of the road for,” I wonder. We’re driving the beautiful paved road to Mkushi, one of the best farming blocks in Zambia.

“That’s a grain dryer,” Robert tells me, laughing. He’s right. The corn harvest has begun for some of the small scale farmers. They use the warm pavement to dry their shelled corn, laying it out along the side of the road. I think the corn, mostly a white variety, is also for sale.

Gideon stands before the drying corn of another small scale farmer. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

Soon we turn into the yard of a big commercial farmer, a South African who came to Zambia 10 years ago. Ross plans to harvest his corn at the end of the week using a brand new John Deere combine. He’s selling the shiny JD9660 that’s still standing in his yard. He’ll dry his corn using the modern grain drying system with two large steel bins.

An African woman comes around the bend of the path by his buildings, carrying a basin. Her movements and dress are so very African, and seem oddly out of place in this white man’s world. They’re not. The two worlds are closely intertwined on this farm.

The large commercial farms in Mkushi are almost all owned by white Zambians, South Africans or Zimbabweans.

Ross, a South African farmer in Zambia is getting his dryer system ready to use this week. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

The workers, including some of the management, are black Zambians. The Zambians are glad for the jobs the farms create. The government is thankful for the greatly improved food security the farms have provided.

After leaving the farm, we pass the African villages again. Children play in the mostly clean swept dirt yards before tiny mud huts with grass roofs, with small fields of corn or groundnuts (peanuts) nearby in the high grass.

It’s a stark contrast. The village that could be out of Abraham’s time right alongside the huge commercial farms that rival anything in North America.

The banana plantation at Heart of Africa Mission is a wonderful place for a stroll when the sun burns hot. It looks much better than when we came six weeks ago. There are some beautiful bunches of bananas hanging there now. Zhita, the plantation manager, maintains it’s the fertilizer, but it’s hardly been a week since they applied it.

A beautiful bunch of bananas at Heart of Africa Mission. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

They’re clearing another hectare of land beside the bananas. Originally the plan was to extend the banana plantation. Zhita would like to plant soybeans there. I like his idea.

We took Zhita to the conservation farming field day at Kapiri Mposhi.

“That mami, she’s doing very well!” he says. He’s decided he will use chicken manure too, next time he plants corn, instead of basal fertilizer, and will only use urea to top dress. So he learned something there. That makes me feel good.

Zhita asked me if, when he harvests his corn and pays back the fertilizer loan of 400,000 kwacha, he can have it back to start another project with 100 broiler chickens. It’s great to see him look beyond the corn profit and think of reinvesting.

I explained that we try to do two things with a loan: help people financially and teach them how to run a business. He was happy to take me up on the offer to teach him to keep a simple set of books.

Johanna suggested we give Mama Phiri a loan for supplies to make fritters. Along with the loan, we would also help her develop business skills. She sometimes makes fritters to sell but always runs out of money.

Mama Phiri carries home her fritter supplies. (Photo by Marianne Stamm)

We used a simple system. First, we worked out together what it costs her to make a batch of fritters, then how much she will sell them for. After each batch of fritters is made and sold, the income goes into three jars. One jar is to buy the next supplies. That jar is not to be touched. The next jar is to repay the loan in increments. The third jar is her profit to do with as she wishes.

She came up with the idea to put some aside so she can buy a bigger bag of flour, which is cheaper.

Mama Phiri was smiling broadly when she left. We look forward to seeing if the system works for her.