Utete, TZ – KCM Garden Shop Year in Review – 2014

2014 Achievements
Family Gardens Built: 19
School Partnerships: 1
Water Connections Installed: 5
Small Business Loans: 1
Home Building Loans: 2
Education Loans: 1

The Kikundi Cha Mafanikio (Success Group) Garden Shop built FAITH Organic Vegetable Gardens with 19 new families in 2014. Throughout the year the team has worked to maintain garden quality, despite difficult environmental and economic conditions. The team also started working in the neighboring town of Utete, continued to expand water access to families in Kindwitwi, and helped families qualify for small-business microloans.

A family garden in Utete.

The KCM Garden Shop started in the village of Kindwitwi. There are approximately 100 families living in Kindwitwi and by June of 2014 the shop had built organic vegetable gardens with 21 families. In order to improve their ability to continuously expand the gardening program, the garden shop team decided to begin building gardens in the nearby town of Utete. The shop is focusing on families with family or work connections to Kindwitwi. This means even their work outside the village will benefit Kindwitwi, and it means their clients will still have access to Kindwitwi Development Association services. Since branching out to Utete, the team has been able to maintain their schedule of building a new garden every two weeks.

The team also facilitated the installation of four new water lines for public distribution points. These new water lines will provide clean, fresh water for drinking, cooking and irrigation. Organic vegetable gardening uses a lot of water, so proximity to water is a critical factor in the success of family gardens.

KCM employee Asha and her family working on their new house.

Successful organic vegetable gardens helped two families qualify for small business loans. One loan was to start a business selling used clothes, the other was for a personal water connection at a family home.

As the KCM Garden Shop team prepares for another exciting year, they hope to continue building new gardens and to focus renewed energy on helping families overcome two of the biggest challenges of gardening in Kindwitwi. The first challenge is marketing. The team is helping families develop consistent markets so that they can sell all of their extra vegetables. The second challenge is difficult growing conditions. Kindwitwi is hot and dry with very sandy soil. The team continues to help families try to improve garden productivity while lowering the amount of time and energy needed to maintain a garden.