The Mangwende Orphan Care Trust is working to improve the livelihood of the local people and wider environment through education and demonstration of organic farming methods.
One of our projects is based on youth education on agroforestry. Below is the inspiring story of Matthew Tinashe Shoniwa, who is now working as a youth trainer on the site.
“I was born in Murehwa, in Zimbabwe, and grew up in Muza village. I went to Dombodzvuku primary and secondary school, which is 1km away from our homestead.
In 2013 I completed my O level ,I wrote 7 subjects and I managed to pass 6 subjects. My father passed away when I was in grade 4. Life was very hard by that time my mother was one who paid for my school fees. So I started to work as an assistant in construction from 2014 to 2015 that’s when I met Evans Mangwende.
He started to help me with the ideas of how to survive, he is the one who introduced me to organic farming and it was a good idea. Evans Mangwende gave me the opportunity to join the Moct [Mangwende Orphan Care Trust] that’s when I started to work with him.
In 2019 we went and attended a Permaculture course in Chimanimani for 2 weeks. That course helped me to understand a lot about organic farming methods needed to be done for us and other communities to survive. Moct helped me to go to Bindura university in 2020. It was paying everything for me so that I will learn more and start helping our community members and other youths surviving skills through smart agriculture. It was a great achievement in my life to be in university so I worked very hard and I managed to complete my diploma in agroecology in 2023.
Now my main aim is to help the community, especially youth out there to adopt agroecology (organic farming) which is a good farming method which will not destroy our soils, mainly we use our available resources. Through organic farming quality food are produced which will reduce some of disease caused by synthetic fertilizer and other chemicals used to spray crops.
Moct has a program called Zunde raMambo where communities come together and start to grow crops on one field to feed vulnerable members in the community. This is where we [youth] will take part to teach the whole community about agroecology and introduce organic farming. When the youth understand where we are going and we are coming from, I think I will encourage them to go to the university to study agroecology so that we will help our community, other communities and the whole country.
For me I think as time goes by, when I have capital, I will start a project for youths (agroecology for youth) . Here in Zimbabwe many youth are taking drugs due to lack of jobs, this project will help them to create jobs for them so they will run away from drugs and start doing something which will help their families and other community members. If we come together as youth in the community we will make a big impact and change the community and we will help the future generations.”
Mangwende Orphan Care Trust 