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Come on a virtual project visit and meet the people of Mavume, a tiny village in central Mozambique. Find out how a project supported by Oxfam Australia is helping to change their lives for the better.
The place
This young boy was photographed walking to school in Mavume. Some children must walk up to ten kilometres a day to reach the school, which teaches up to standard three. School sessions are held in two shifts: morning and afternoon. The Mavume project means that many more children are able to attend school, as having cattle and vegetables reduces people's workload and gives them income to buy their children school books. Photo: Paul Weinberg/OxfamAUS.
Mavume is about 10 hours' drive north of Mozambique's capital, Maputo. It is situated in Inhambane province, not even a third of the way up this long, narrow country. The landscape is dry and flat - yellow-white grasses dotted with prickly pear, cashew and baobab trees.
Life in Mavume has never been easy, yet people lived well enough here before 17 years of civil war ripped the country apart. There were cattle to plough the land, and hunting was good. Families had enough to eat, to store for the lean times, even to sell for income to send their kids to school. The war changed everything. Most people fled as the soldiers came through, looting and slaughtering both people and livestock. Many are now returning to rebuild their lives on their ancestral lands.
The project
The first phase of the Mavume project began in 1999 to enable local communities to rebuild their livelihoods in a sustainable way. Through the project, people have received cattle, ploughs and carts to cultivate more land and deliver produce to markets. They have learnt how to establish fruit and nut tree nurseries and build wells, and have received seeds to plant vegetables. They have received training in agricultural techniques which are more resistant to drought and flood, vegetable cultivation and basic veterinary skills to keep their cattle healthy. In the current phase of the project, Oxfam is helping to raise awareness to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS among their communities.
The beginning
The first step was to meet with the community and start conducting surveys about the type of crops grown, what animals they would need and what the specific needs of women were. The second phase involved group training.
Cattle
Boys in Mavume have responsibility for taking the cattle to pasture, and driving them into the project area for dipping in the dip tank, rehabilitated by the Mavume Project. This calf is too young for the dip tank, and will be sprayed separately for ticks and other parasites. Cattle are extremely important to families in Mavume. The project has distributed over 400 cattle to families who lost everything during the civil war. Photo: Paul Weinberg/OxfamAUS.
Cattle are the wealth of communities like Mavume. Some locals call cattle "the poor person's bank". A cow means people can plough much more of the hard, sandy earth to plant crops and feed their family. A bigger harvest means that people can sell the excess to earn money that allows them to send their kids to school and pay for health care. A cow also provides transport to take their crop to market, and gives a family something to sell if times get really tough.
The project has distributed more than 600 cattle, mostly female, to families in Mavume. People were asked to form "cattle groups" of five families each. The lead family has responsibility for the cattle, which are used to help plough the other families' fields. As time passes, the cows breed, so that eventually every family in the group has their own cattle.
The communities have selected various people from their ranks to be trained to care for the cattle, giving them inoculations and treating them for injury or illness. Since the project began, very few cattle have died.
Wells
Rafael Zaqueu, an engineer and Joao Xavier, a technician, building a well in the Mavume locality, near Funhalouro town in Inhambane province, central Mozambique. The well is part of an integrated agriculture and food security project funded by the Australian government. The well is built by digging in a concrete ring, then digging inside the ring so it sinks, and another can be placed on top. Around five rings are needed usually to reach the water table. Wells have greatly reduced the incidence of diarrhoea, a major health problem especially for children.
Photo: Paul Weinberg/OxfamAUS.
Before the project, community members used to obtain their water from a communal water point, which was unsealed and used by both animals and people. This means that animal faeces often got into the well, making people sick.
Wells have been built, which have particularly helped provide water for the vegetable gardens and for livestock. The project provides technical expertise, tools and large molded concrete rings which are used to form the well.
Community committees
Community development committees have been set up to enable communities to self-manage the development processes. The committees meet weekly and comprise community leaders, project participants and other community members. About 50% of members are women.
The committees develop and implement action plans, identify and solve project-related problems and distribute the cattle and seed among families. Most importantly they exchange information and ideas, not only between members, but between committees.
They are currently engaged in opening access routes for vehicles and carts, opening and promoting local markets to sell produce, participating in HIV/AIDS awareness-raising activities, improving classrooms and providing technical assistance in the construction of pens and cattle treatment centres.
The committees are essential to the long-term sustainability of the Mavume project.
Vegetables, fruit trees and crops
Watering the vegetable gardens in Mavume. Wells have been provided by the project, as well as seeds, tools and agricultural training to enable community members to grow a great variety of vegetables, which have enabled Mavume's people to survive much longer in drought conditions without need for aid. Photo: Paul Weinberg/OxfamAUS.
The project has introduced new forms of cereal, legume and vegetable cultivation to Mavume, to ensure people have enough to eat during lean seasons. Cereal and vegetable seeds distributed have included cabbages, lettuce, onions, peanuts, sweet potatoes, nhemba beans and maize.
A nursery has been established to cultivate fruit and nut trees and cassavas to distribute to families throughout the project area. Varieties include mangos, oranges, paw-paws, pineapples, coconuts, avocados, bananas, guavas and cashews.
Local people have been trained in various planting techniques including seed beds, crop transplanting, spacing, rotation, selection and conservation, and pest control methods using tobacco and chilli.
The new techniques have led to an increased yield for some families and a more diverse diet. Most families produce an average of five crops, each with different harvesting times, giving communities greater access to food year-round.
Occasional surplus food is sold either through the plots or in small local markets, providing a small amount of income. The project has found that pineapple has the potential to be an important cash crop for Mavume, due to its adaptability to poor soils.
As a result of this project, it is quite normal today to see three or four fruit trees being cultivated in family gardens.
HIV/AIDS
Activistas (women peer educators and home based carers) singing and dancing at an HIV/AIDS education performance in a beira on the outskirts of Maputo. These activistas are supported by MULEIDE, a women's human rights organisation that is a member of the umbrella AIDS organisation MONASO, an Oxfam partner.
Photo: Paul Weinberg/OxfamAUS.
This part of the project is still in its early phases however the aim is to have 10 communities design and implement HIV/AIDS community response action plans.
Community awareness meetings have been held where peer educators share information and promote discussion and debate around HIV/AIDS. Information exchanges also occur at weekly community meetings attended by local peer educators, local nurses and the local program co-ordinator.
Many of the discussions are held with small, separate groups of men or women, conducted by an HIV/AIDS facilitator of the same gender. As well, 19 men and 18 women have participated in a HIV/AIDS workshop designed specifically for community leaders. As a result, awareness levels about HIV/AIDS have been raised within the communities and access to condoms has increased.
HIV/AIDS is being discussed more openly through the work of the activists and coordinators and is recognised as a key issue to be incorporated into community action plans.
The people
Paciencia's story
Paciencia Raul Majonjue was just six years old when her family fled the brutality of the war. They returned in 1994, but with her father having died, she was forced to support seven people. In 1999 her life changed. The Oxfam project started in Mavume.
During the first phase of the project, Paciencia was chosen to run a nursery that propagates fruit trees for distribution to community members. With her quick head for figures, she also helped run a small shop where people could buy things like salt, sugar and washing powder without travelling 40 kilometres to the nearest town. The project has also brought in a grinding mill.
"The mill helps the women," Paciencia says. "Without the mill it takes a long time to grind, soak and cook the grain - three to four hours every day. With the mill it takes less than four minutes."
"The project has changed things in the community," says Paciencia. "Me for example - I have got cattle, I have got a job. I am learning many things. I will stay."
Pacienca is now the coordinator for the HIV/AIDS activists, meeting regularly with community members, activists and the local nurse to share and update information on HIV/AIDS.
Salomao's story
Salomao Mazive with his wife Elisa Ngulele and their young children. Salomao lives with his family not far from one of Mavume's new wells. He lost everything during the war, but now has nine cattle to help plough the land to cultivate maize and feed the family. He has also been trained as an agricultural extensionist. This means he was selected by his own community to receive training in animal care and vegetable cultivation as part of the Mavume food security project. His role is to help community members gain these skills.
Photo: Paul Weinberg/OxfamAUS.
Salomao Mazive, 38, participated in the first phase of the project from 2000 to 2002. He lives with his family not far from one of Mavume's new wells. Salamao lost everything during the war, but now has nine cattle to help plough the land to cultivate crops and feed the family.
"There is a lot of change because of this project. Those people who used to have cattle before the war, all the cattle were taken by the soldiers to eat. Then we had nothing. But now, because of this project, we have gone back to having cattle, and we are now being able to plough our fields without using our hands.
"Now we have a drought, we do not only plant maize in the fields, but we have vegetables that we produce on the land. We got seed from the project. So this has the potential to be good also. The other thing that we have got is the carts, so the cows can transport things, and also the ploughs. We have got a lot of help from the project.
"We have water from the well that the project has made. We have got vegetables that they have given us, so even if it doesn't rain, we still have this support in terms of water and in terms of seed.
"From the project I learned how to use one cashew to breed others. I have also been trained to treat the cows. We never had orange trees before, but now we have orange trees here and paw paws also, as well as cassava cuttings - we got those from the project. Our children are healthier because of the project.
"Even if the project ends, we can survive now, because the project has given us a start, and it has shown us how to live and how to deal with life. So we can survive on our own even if the project stops."
