Page 57 - SCAT Rural Voice II - 35 Stories for 35 Years

THE POWEr OF rUrAL
Women WoRKInG aS one
Nomfiki Mgobo and Zingisa Gombo committee members from Tyinira Rural Development Agency speaking to paralegal officer Thando Hlangu.
Staff and committee of TRDI discussing an issue in the community.
NOxOLO NTAMO WAS ONE OF A GROUP OF PIONEERING WOMEN FROM THE RURAL VILLAGE OF TYINIRA, WHO STARTED FARMING VEGETABLES AND LIVESTOCK AND THEN SET UP AN ADVICE OFFICE TO ADDRESS ISSUES OF UNEMPLOYMENT AND POVERTY IN THEIR COMMUNITY.
I am a 49-year-old woman from Tyinira village, Mgxobhozweni in the ngqamakhwe area. We live on dry land far away from Butterworth where the basic important things to human life such as clean water, transport and electricity are found. The town is very far from where we live it takes about 2km just to get to the tar road.
In 2012 we as women in my location decided to start an organization to fight poverty. Children were going to school on empty stomachs. Some households were drowning in sorrow. The parents would drink alcohol without providing for their children. you would find the children crying, the wife being beaten up by her drunk husband demanding food, fully aware that there’s no food in the house. We decided to name our organization Tyinira Rural Development and Advice Office. Our plan was to farm both vegetables and livestock for food as well as to create job opportunities in the community.
We started by farming pigs, later changed to chickens, then started a garden and added a section for an Advice Office. Even though we have had break-ins where our chickens were stolen, a small farming space and a lack of financial support and information, we have managed to improve our lives. From our first batch of one hundred chickens, ninety were sold immediately. Our farming project changed our lives as members of the organisation because we could now provide for our families.
noXolo ntAMo
RuRal Voice ii: 35 stories for 35 years
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FOOD seCUrity