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By Siyileni Malinki*
7:00 A.M. EST Jan. 10, 2011 | BLANTYRE, Malawi (UMNS)
Tereza Katumbi, center, displays a crop of fresh oyster mushrooms she
helped grow for a United Methodist-financed business in Malawi. UMNS
photos by Siyileni Malinki.
View in Photo Gallery
The English poet Janet Erskine Stuart advised, “You must grow like a tree, not like a mushroom.“
But it is the lowly mushroom that is giving new life to eight United Methodist women in this central African nation.
The women, ages 35 to 50, this year have built a business growing and
selling mushrooms with the help of an $800 grant from the Agriculture
Committee of the Malawi Missionary Conference.
The project, which began in May, is one of several across the
conference designed to help women, in particular widows and those living
below the poverty line, become self-supporting.
It is already bringing hope to the workers in Blantyre.
“The project will bring tremendous change to my life because I will
be able to have proper meals and sustain my family,” said Tereza
Katumbi, a widow working on the mushroom project. “I will be able to buy
my medication on time, improve my housing, even get better clothes.”
Planting spores
In addition to the mushroom business, the Agriculture Committee also
is funding and monitoring pig farming, horticulture, maize production
and irrigation projects across the conference.
Khephas Mtambo, committee chair, said the mushroom business is
designed to empower the women so they can contribute to their families
and the church.
“Your proceeds are not to sustain the church, but to bank them,”
Mtambo said. “When accumulated, then share. From your shares you can
tithe, contribute in church activities and keep an amount for
reinvesting. Avoid the spirit of begging from your pastor and other
people.”
The humid climate; short, multiple growing seasons; and the
relatively small start-up costs are among the reasons growing mushrooms
is seen as a source of hope for promoting economic advancement in
Africa, particularly among women.
The women underwent training for one week, and in May began
collecting maize leaves and stalks on which the mushrooms grow inside a
15-square-meter shelter covered with grass and plastic. Planting tools
are sterilized to kill any other microorganisms apart from those needed
for the growth of the mushroom.
The women collected the first harvest in the middle of August. They
expect to harvest some 25 kilograms (55 pounds) a week when the growth
rate picks up and the shelter fills. Each kilogram sells for $5 “when
demand is high, but less when demand is low,” Katumbi said.
Fruits of faith, hard work
In a land of scarce resources, the women had to scale back their
original plans. The initial costs were projected at $2,000, but only
$800 was available.
This meant they had less money to buy spores to allow the business to
operate at full capacity. And the shelter was made of grass instead of
wood, which would offer a permanent structure.
Yet, their initial success already has some of the women dreaming of diversifying the business.
“We wish we could eventually also venture into poultry and piggery,” Katumbi said.
For now, they thank God for the work and for one another.
“Working together as a group, especially as women, has helped me to
be tolerant to others,” said Hope Kanguwo. “This has promoted unity and
being able to support and bear each other’s problems.”
*Malinki is a United Methodist communicator for the Malawi Missionary Conference.
News media contact: Tim Tanton or Heather Hahn, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or newsdesk@umcom.org.
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