A Sweet Investment Brings Success

If you invest in one potato, can you double that investment? How about triple it? One of CWS’ program participants in Tanzania, Charles Dzombo, has the answer to this question. 

Charles is a program participant in CWS’ sweet potato project and was excited to share his story after receiving support from the food security program in 2023. He is a smallholder farmer, farming a range of plants like green grains, maize and mangoes, which he sells from his farm to provide for his family of seven. The returns Charles received from his farming are meager and can barely meet the ever-growing needs of his family, let alone himself. As the sole provider for his household, he uses the funds to purchase food, sustain household needs and pay school fees for his children and some extended relatives. After being informed of the CWS program supporting farmer groups to plant sweet potatoes, he was eager to see what the future would look like.

Since he had never farmed sweet potatoes in his life, Charles was an active learner during the crop production classes and constantly communicated with agricultural extension officers and CWS staff during the planting season. Excitedly, Charles shared photos of the growing vines as soon as they flourished, and when the rains threatened to flood the farm in the first month, he still shared his fears and hopes with CWS staff and sought advice. Subsequently, Charles was selected as a lead farmer for his location and self-help group. CWS invited him to additional training to support his fellow members with more knowledge and skills on sweet potato production and help scout for markets to sell their crops.  

Charles and other members of the self-help group were encouraged by the fact that sweet potato farming required lower financial input than other plants yet promised better returns. With this, additional farmers requested that their neighbors join and assist them, growing the number of participants from 16 to 25. Charles recounted how impressed he was that the maturity of the vines took two and half months to grow, a much shorter time than the four months that he expected. The bountiful harvest fed his family and left Charles stress-free. “Ever since I started harvesting my potatoes, my children have always had something for breakfast which satisfies them, and I am even happier I now [can] provide them more nutritious foods. When they go to school, they sometimes carry potatoes for lunch, or we use funds from the sale to prepare something else.’’ 

In addition, Charles and fellow self-help group members have established themselves as suppliers of sweet potatoes to their neighbors, including the teachers in the school where his children study, besides becoming core suppliers to main markets within their neighborhood. He stated that he believes their farming has improved the overall cost of sweet potatoes in the market, as both sellers and buyers benefit from fair prices. The group’s receptiveness to sweet potato farming led the group to invite an extension officer to train them on how to make dried and fried sweet potato crisps, use its flour to make bread and other ways to drive their harvest further.

Making a profit three times his investment, Charles was able to pay fees, have extra money to meet his household needs, maintain a stable food supply and even purchase a goat to diversify his investments. He thanks CWS for empowering them with the project, constantly working with them, and diversifying his communities’ resources. He finished by saying, “Now that I have tasted the goodness of planting sweet potatoes, I am now going to make it a priority. As we are speaking, I have prepared two additional sections of land to replant to ensure I can have a constant supply of sweet potatoes.’’

While his sweet potatoes have brought him success, the greatest success is found in Charles’ commitment to working with his neighbors to make their life a bit sweeter. 

We would like to thank our partners, the Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, as well as Global Affairs Canada for allowing this assistance to be possible. To learn more about this emergency response, click here. You can learn about our programs in Africa here.

Harvests of Hope

In the dry and parched lands of Laisamis in Marsabit County, Kenya, life appeared to depict sorrow and hopelessness. People were living one day at a time, reeling from drought and flash floods, confronting cattle rustling and banditry, facing poverty and early marriages, and struggling with illiteracy and political exclusion. For many years, residents of Korr/Ngurunit in Laisamis hung on thin lines of hope for a better tomorrow. 

“We had despaired and lost hope when drought wiped out our livestock. Men and boys migrated and stayed for many months, with reports of livestock deaths. Amidst the fear of cattle rustling, we constantly lived in fear of losing our men,” said program participant Ntaato Lepurote. “Our boys left school to accompany men in search of pasture and water. Indeed all hope was lost.”

Shortly after, however, the community was reminded that hope is never truly lost. “God remembered us when CWS came with food from Canada and for a whole year, we ate good food, a lot of food. Our hope was revived. When we thought it was over, they came to look for us again, to teach us how to produce the food,” she said with excitement.

Ntaato is a member of the Naliapo Self-Help Group and is among the 330 participants of the early recovery program supported by Church World Service. Through training and input development, she was able to establish a vegetable garden as well as set up a small plot for the production of green grams and cowpeas. “I had never imagined in my life that I could grow food by myself!” she exclaimed, adding, “I don’t have to wait for relief food anymore.” 

 The harvest of green grams and cow peas from the small farms is a harvest of hope for many people in the Ngurunit location. The community never imagined that the solution to their greatest problem was right below their feet. 

This harvest of hope highlights the importance of investing in people and their potential to drive sustainable change. Through continued collaboration and dedication, we can pave the way for a brighter future for all, where communities thrive and individuals can realize their full potential.

We would like to thank our partners, Canadian Foodgrains Bank and the Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, as well as Global Affairs Canada for allowing this assistance to be possible. To learn more about this emergency response, click here. You can learn about our programs in Africa here. 

Clucking to Success: Mama Nguyo’s Inspirational Journey

Kitui lies in the rolling hills of eastern Kenya, about three hours west of Nairobi. Highways lead to dirt roads, which lead to communities of people living in remote, difficult terrain. In the rainy season, the landscape comes alive with green grasses and flowing streams, but it is often dry with patches of red dirt and sparse vegetation. Growing crops can be difficult, and natural disasters often bring worries of hunger and thirst.  

It was here, just outside her home, that Felistus Nguyo stood waiting to greet us in a bright, beautiful dress and a warm smile. 

Felistus is known in her community as Mama Nguyo. Widowed and the mother of seven children, she has seen hardships and joys throughout her life. When locusts swarmed her community and destroyed much of their crops, Mama Nguyo became increasingly worried about how to feed herself and her family. 

Through the support of CWS, Mama Nguyo received the building blocks she needed: three chickens. Because of the care she provided to her small flock, Mama Nguyo now has 20 chickens and was able to buy a rooster of her own.  

Mama Nguyo proudly showed us her chickens while telling us about the impact they have had on her life. She calls them her “business and her livelihood.” Her garden, which feeds both her family and her flock, is thriving because she can use the chicken waste as fertilizer. She has made enough money from selling eggs and chickens at the market that she was able to not only provide food for her family but also buy new and comfortable chairs for her home.   

The chickens that changed Mama Nguyo’s life clucked in the background as she told us, “I am happy and doing so well” now. It was apparent that the support she received from CWS didn’t just help her survive the locusts’ swarm—it gave her the tools she needed to build a more stable future for herself and her family.  

You can support programs like this one by joining your local CROP Hunger Walk. You can learn more about our work in Africa here.