Highlights of Projects in the Village of Marare
Earlier I shared with you three of the projects that are underway in the village of Marare namely biogas projects, school building project and savings loan. Today I want to update you with other interesting projects that are alive and running in the village including dairy cow project, school garden project, cascade leaders' group and protected spring well project.

Dairy Cow Project
The dairy cow project is made up of 5 families. The FH gives a cow to the leader and she is expected to take care of the cow and ensures it calves and in turn gives the calf to each member of the team until everyone has a cow. This project is intended to help the families to generate their own milk, use the waste from the cow to generate biogas. We visited with one of the leaders in this dairy cow project and she shared amazing story of how through this project and others, she has been able to take care of her family and in fact had started building another modern house.

A cascade leader, also a leader in the dairy cow project

Cascade leader standing beside her current house

Cascade leader standing in front of her new house under construction

School Garden Project
Through the partnership of Northgate, FH Marare acquired 3 acres of land to plant and harvest crops in order to feed the school children.  With this project, training and supplies as well as seeds and cuttings are being supplied. Oxen and Ox-ploughs were procured to assist the process and enhance the learning experience for students. The younger students will enjoy meals of porridge, while the older classes will have meals of beans and posho (a dish made from corn flour).
We visited the school garden project (picture below) and the people of Marare pray for rain - please let us keep them in our prayers that God will send rains to the land in abundance.

Marare School Garden Project

Cascade Leaders' Group
FH philosophy of raising and developing leaders from grassroots is really effective. To avoid cultural invasion and achieve program effectiveness, FH select reputable and respectable household leaders from the village and train them various skills for survival and sustainability. While there, we met with the cascade leaders in their meeting and they showed us one of their lessons for that day which is to learn about cough- its prevention and cure. Through these various trainings and self-empowerment, the cascade leaders now move back into the village to train other people. With this strategy, the people are more eager to listen to the cascade leaders as they see the evidence of transformation in their lives.

An FH Staff in teaching session with the cascade leaders

Protected Spring Well Project
As anyone knows that with clean potable water, one can prevent so many water-borne diseases including cholera, dengue fever, diarrhoea, polio, typhoid, malaria, to mention but few. When FH got to the village of Marare, the source of water in the village is a puddle, unsettled water that is unsafe (see the picture below). However, through the protected spring well project, the village now has safe, functional and potable spring well. These protected spring wells also have chlorine bucket which is intended to be used on demand basis. When this water is not being fetched by the villagers, it runs to the rice field down the hill.

A natural spring before the project

Protected Spring Well

An FH Staff standing in front of the chlorine bucket

Through all these projects, FH in partnership with Northgate, ensures that the village is sustainable and able to fend for herself, be a good example to other neighbouring villages.

Stay tuned!