Opportunity Arises pt 2

Justins 30m x 30m plot ready for tomatoes

Justin carrying his solar pump to his water source

Solar Pump

By Molly Manhanga

Opportunity Arises pt 1

Justin Thebe

An opportunity arose for Justin Thebe, one of the advancer students at Ebenezer, to become a model tomato farmer in Mablauwuni. He has a 'never ending' water source - a spring, at his homestead and with the help of Jacques Dupreez, he was able to set up a 5m x 5m demonstration plot. The tomatoes in the plot are doing extremely well.

5m x 5m demonstration plot

He is now venturing onto a 30m x 30m area. So far he has dug 20 lines with 150 planting stations each. This equates to 3000 tomatoes. If all works out well for him, he could harvest 4 tonnes off his 30m x 30m plot.

Justin will be using a Kerry Solar DC Pump which has 2 x 120w panels and runs 45 litres of water per minute.This pump can effectively water 3 by 30m x 30m plots but Justin will start 'small' and then expand.

By Molly Manhanga

Meet France Mahlangu

France (Quite a unique name in rural Kezi) Is 18 years old and comes from Magobeni village. he attended Whitewater Secondary School before joining Ebenezer in July 2011. He has a 30m x 30m plot where he has planted onions. France's favourite food is sadza and chunks and he enjoys playing football. His favourite subject at the moment is Business. He hopes to be an excellent farmer when he leaves Ebenezer.

By Molly Manhanga

Crops are looking good!

Water melon

The tomatoes picked from the demonstration plot at Ebenezer are looking good and so are the water melons from the apprentice fields.

Tomatoes

By Molly Manhanga

Meet Happiness Nyathi

Happiness is 18 years old and he comes from Silozwe. He attended Silozwe High School before joining Ebenezer in July 2011. He is working on a 30m x 30m plot. He has planted onions which are doing pretty well at the moment. He hopes to harvest in August. Happiness has lots of friends at Ebenezer. His favourite meal is sadza and beans and his favourite sport is soccer. He enjoys lessons particularly agriculture.

By Molly Manhanga

Land Preps underway at Ebenezer

Apprentice field

Farm employees preparing a plot

Molly Manhanga

Meet Qhubekani Ncube

Qhubekani was born in 1992. He is 19 years old and he comes from Magobeni. He went to Nduna Primary School but didn't attend High School. He lives with his parents. He enjoys eating sadza with.......anything! Qhubekani enjoys soccer. He joined Ebenezer in July 2011 and at the moment he is preparing his 30m x 30m plot. He enjoys English and is learning to be more articulate.

By Molly Manhanga

A huge Thank You

Donation of a bike from Ekhaya

Ebenezer graduation was held on the 14th December 2011. There was great community support, great attendance from folk living in Bulawayo and great speakers. Not to mention the apprentices that were graduating being the highlight of the event.

In and amongst the presentation of awards, donations were made in the form of a bicycle from Ekhaya and soccer t.shirts from Puma Zimbabwe.

T/shirt donation from Puma Zimbabwe

A HUGE thank you goes out ot Ekhaya and Puma Zimbabwe who supported the event. The apprentices have truly benefitted from this generosity. A huge thank you also goes out to Rodney Spencer, Ebenezer's marketing 'guru' for the effort he made in getting the donations. Well done Rod.

By Molly Manhanga

Meet Pesiline Dube

Want to know more about Pesiline? She is 20 years old and come from Mapane village. She attended Nkhulumani High until the second term on form 4. She joined Ebenezer in July 2011. She has peas growing in her 30m x 30m plot. All her peas have germinated. Pesiline's favourite food is rice and chicken. her favourite subject is Business. She has 3 young sisters and 1 young brother.

By Molly Manhanga

Meet Prayer Ndlovu

Prayer is 20 years old and he comes from Mablauwuni village. He lives with his parents. There are 8 siblings and he is the first born. He attends Crossroads Community Church. He did his Secondary education at Whitewater School. He has a 30 x 30m plot at Ebenezer which he is preparing for onions. His favourite food is sadza and meat and he enjoys soccer. His favourite lesson is Agriculture and currently they are learning Foundations for Farming.

By Molly Manhanga

On a more relaxing note!

Honest Mushandirwa challenging Steve Manhanga to a game of checkers

Apart from soccer and volleyball, draft - better known as checkers to some, has become the passtime at Ebenezer. There are a group of young men who love to challenge Stephen to a game of checkers. The concentration is quite intense and victory is sweet for whoever wins. I guess it's a good way to get the brain stimulated......

By

Molly Manhanga

Sun scorched crops

Groundnuts

Not only has the maize been affected by the lack of rain, other crops like the groundnuts and baby marrows have wilted too under the scorching heat. Let's hope they can be saved!

Baby Marrow

Molly Manhanga

Water stressed crops

Maize tasseling prematurely

The "no rain" kind of look in the Research and Development plot at Ebenezer has left the maize crop tasseling prematurely. The last good rainfall was December 26th or 27th and after much prayer, a downpour came yesterday afternoon. Those who know more about agriculture say that they are not sure if the crop can be saved. What a pity!

Molly Manhanga

Meet Tshuma Zwelihle

Tshuma Zwelihle, better known as Zwe or Zweli is 22 years old. He comes from Gulathi Mahlabathini. Zweli is in his 2nd year at Ebenezer. He really likes lessons especially spiritual with Steve Manhanga as this has changed his life. Zweli's favourite food is rice and chicken and he enjoys playing football and volleyball. He has cabbage and sugar beans growing in his field at the moment.

By Molly Manhanga

Catching up with Beyond Belief field officers

Beyond Belief field officers with Steve Manhanga and Augustine Nyamayaro

It was excellent seeing and catching up with the 6 Beyond Belief field officers who are based at Mapisa. They came to Ebenezer for a meeting. Steve Manhanga & Augustine Nyamayaro spent some quality time with them over lunch......

By Molly Manhanga

What's with the chickens?

The chickens are now 4 weeks old and are weighing 1.2kg. The target weight is 1.8kg - 2kg which means they are doing pretty well. There are 3220 chickens. The apprentices them feed the chickens 400kg of chicken finisher per day. There have been 82 fatalities so far. The chickens were vacinated this afternoon for new castle disease - an airbourne disease.

Generally,the broiler chickens are doing well. They will get slaughtered at 5 or 6 weeks depending on their weight!

Molly Manhanga

Get to know Talent Maphosa

Talent is a first year apprentice. She was born in 1993 and is turning 19. She lives in Mablauwuni village and attends Crossroads Community Church. Talent enjoys church life. She is working on a 30m x 30m field planting peas and she hopes she will get a good harvest. Talent has one friend at Ebenezer. She enjoys Ebenezer food especially sadza and matemba (small dried fish). Another favourite dish is mopani worm. Talents says this dish tastes nice. She fries the mopani worms and eats them with sadza...

Molly Manhanga

Crops in the ground

Demo plot of Tomatoes

Peas looking good!

Maize in the girls fields

Lets hope the crops do well.

Molly Manhanga

The Advancer Programme

Moreblessing Moyo

The Advancer Programme - formerly known as the Graduate programme, is well underway. It was good catching up with one of the young ladies on the programme. This is what she had to say:

The lessons that I am doing are Spiritual, English, Business, Mathematics and Agriculture. In Spiritual,we are studying from the Book of Acts at the moment. I've learnt that you can be healed in the name of Jesus, as christians, we must be united and be in one accord and I've learnt that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. There is nothing impossible with God. In English, we are reading novels and doing comprehensions. In Maths we are doing ratio, simultaneous equations and numberlines. In Business we are covering Budgeting and how to save our money. I am enjoying the Advancer Programme.

By Molly Manhanga

Meet Gracious Dube

Gracious Dube is a first year apprentice. He is 20 years old and comes from Zamanyoni village in Mapisa. He has a 30m x 30m field at Ebenezer and he is preparing to plant onions. Gracious has made quite a few friends at Ebenezer. He attends Brethren in Christ Church. His day starts at 5:30am in the field and finishes at 12:00noon. The afternoons are taken up with lessons which he enjoys.

by Molly Manhanga