You guys all know that PAF basically started with planting fruit trees and handing thm out to people in need. Of course back then we set up a greenhouse to protect the saplings. This one was, how can I say…quite improvised and by far too small for our needs.
So one of our major goals for 2018 was to get a better and bigger greenhouse, and have it close to PAF Center.
All that is easier said than done. A lot of research was needed on how to construct the new one, what kind of shade netting to get, what kind of poles etc. … Wesley and the guys have been running up and down to get the necessary info and samples of the materials.
So now the construction of our new PAF greenhouse has started. This time it is supposed to be much longer lasting and more professional.
That’s why we had our personal super pro advicers around at all times:
Our gang of young consultants looking smart 😉
As usual we used our Zambian ways of doing things. Lets say you wanna bend a pole…well, we have been using a tree to do so:
Bending the poles
Or drilling a whole into one of the poles…easy with the right equipment. We only had a hammer:
Drilling holes Zambian style
Or lets see how we cut the poles:
Cutting the poles Zambian style
After all that it took a massive amount of hard work and even more teamwork. Everybody helped cementing the foundations of the poles, puzzling all the pieces together and last but not least painting the poles in a stylish green and grey colour.
Sorting through the puzzle pieces
Manifestations
Pole Skeleton
The guys figuring “it” out
Materials
Wesley and Kanondo
Getting more stability here
Getting the paint and brushes ready for action 🙂
men at work
Women Power 😉
Green and Grey…that’s how we roll
Painting
Almost done
Skeleton stands
Cementing the poles for stability
The only thing missing now is the shade netting. We will soon update you on this matter. Pinky Promise 😉
Many times did we announce that PAF is trying to find a caretaker for PAF Center. And guess what…after years of waiting we finally found someone. Meet Sonic, everyone!
Ready for rumble 😉
Name: Sonic
Age: 21
Marital Status: married
Family: wife and 2 small kids
Education: gold panner
Place of Birth: Lusaka
In Chinkonono since: 2017
Sonic, you’ll say…sounds familiar in many ways, musically and catchy for sure, not to mention a popular video game hero. But yes…Sonic, that is his real name. 😉
He is 21 years old, happily married and a proud father of two cute and cheeky kids.
Sonic and his wife and baby
Sonic and his young family meeting Wesley and Lloyd
3 guys and 2 kids 😉
Sonic is a resident of Chinkonono. He arrived in the village in early 2017 from Mwembeshi, which is part of Lusaka rural area. Living in Mwembeshi he worked as a gold panner along the Momboshi River.
His new job as caretaker will be completely different. Sonic will now be taking care of the “green gold” in our greenhouses and garden 😉 He will also be in charge of running and maintaining the hammer mill, protecting the PAF grounds and the general upkeep of the PAF Center.
Meet our new PAF Center caretaker, Sonic 🙂
Sonic woking at PAF gardens
Leave that man to work, people 😉
In return a house was constructed for him and his family, so he can stay and work at PAF Center full time. Also, and that is an absolute milestone in PAF history, he is the first person to get “payed” by recieving an incentive for his work. Let me explain the concept here: PAF gives him money to buy diesel for the mill. People come to PAF Center to grind their maize. 4/5 of the profit goes back to PAF to buy new diesel and to invest in other projects. Sonic gets to keep the remaining 1/5 of the profit for himself and his family. Looking at a normal month that is about 90 Kwacha (roughly 8 USD) every 2 weeks for Sonic.
This a way forward for PAF as all members are volunteers and come to work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Fridays….definitely a concept we are looking to expand and transfer to other parts of PAF activities. 🙂
Of course we had to make sure, Sonic is the right one for this job. So he had to apply for it and undergo serious “interrogation” by some of our PAF members.
Sonic at the “formal” interview for the job as PAF caretaker with some of our members
You already know that maize and tomato are 2 of the core ingredients of the majority of Zambian and sub-saharan African meals. But we also have to add cabbage to that list. It is full of nutrients and keeps the belly full for a long time.
Of course our villagers and PAF members in Chinkonono are growing cabbage for their own use. But our member Raphael is doing it big style. He has a huge cabbage garden and is growing it for his family’s consumption and for sale.
But Raphael doesn’t only grow cabbage. In his garden you will also find onion, egg plant and tomato.
We say: well done! But take a look!
Proud farmer 🙂
Hard work pays off
Raphael harvesting
now that is one big cabbage
On a side note…Lloyd is also trying other good foods 😉
Since we moved our PAF garden closer to PAF Center it is much easier to grow veggies. People work hard to make sure they supply their families and the village with veggies. This season we focus on tomatoes. Besides cabbage tomatoes are among the most important and popular ibgredients in Zambian cuisine. So it only makes sense to grow a larger quantity of them at our PAF garden.
Unfortunately it doesn’t come that easy. With dry season around it is very difficult to water the plants. Mostly women have to carry buckets and buckets and buckets from the river or a well to water the plants. Not even mentioning the actual gardening work. You get the picture…
But just a few days ago all the work started to pay off and the first harvest could be brought in. What a joy 🙂
Of course we have to face the fact we cannot conserve tonatoes properly. But we are trying new methods to keep them longer. One of them is to keep ashes from cooking and put the fresh tomatoes in a box with cold ashes and store them away in a dry and cool place. Let’s hope it works out!
You guys all know what it is like: you just feel an itch and wanna go buy some stuff or go window shopping.
All that is impossible in Chinkonono. You eat what you grow, you wear what you sew or can get on rare occasions in town. The next shop is about 6km walking distance away. And you know…the items you buy will have to be carried back home again.
So PAF decided to re-use the sewing room and make it a shop.
Wesley nd the rest of the members kickstarted this whole project. Shelves have now been carpented and will be set up in the next few days.
Once the shop is all set up our members will sell tomatoes and veggies, bread and maybe cake, the clothes and bags we sew. Step by step we will try to widen the range of products. But to do so we need to find out what people are interested in.
Hopefully the shop will attract and draw more people towrds PAF Center. But it certainly will save our villagers lots of time and effort.
Of course using the sewing room is only a temporary solution until we manage to construct another building amd move the library there to seperate it from the buzzing business 😉
Time flies, folks. Bruni is already back from her 10-days trip to Chinkonono. We are currently working on another slideshow for you guys to see what happened and also some other cool surprises.
But what we can do for now to make the wait worthwhile we want to show you a little tour around PAF Center. Bruni will guide you around and talk about it. It is in German language, but we added the English subtitles for you guys.
Hope you enjoy and are as proud as we are about what happened there in the past years and how far we have already come.
You know people say that education is the key and reading educates. Well…it is true. So one of our main objectives at PAF is to educate our villagers, both kids and adults. Building a library was one of our top priorities. By now it is open everyday and as you can imagine people come and read all the time.
our book shelve
I guess we need more novels 😉
Even adults sit down to read and learn new things 🙂
fixing some educational posters in the kids reading corner
new chairs for the adults 🙂
As by today we have 260 books in stock, most for kids and teenagers but also some for adults. Topics range from science to novels and kids stories. We are trying to offer books in English and Chitonga.
Most are educational books with topics on agriculture, geography, science, literature, religion and health. But of course fictional books are not missing in our library. People can read novels like Harry Potter or Robert Ludrum in English. But also Tonga books like Tuli Bayuni (We are Birds).
The library is open to everyone in Chinkonono and the surrounding villages. People can come and read books inside or sit outside and enjoy the sun while diving into another world. Insides we have 2 kids reading tables along with 8 kids chairs and also 1 adult reading table with 2 adult chairs. I know…it sounds very small. And you are right, it is. But for now that is the best we can do. And lets be honest…the books is what matters most. And also people can of course borrow books for 2 days and read them at home.
But what am I telling you here? Let Lloyd take you on a little tour through our small library:
And yes…just like in any proper library, we do have a new librarian. Obert Milandu is taking care of the library and is giving out books and making sure they are all being returned.
Hey, if you want to come by and read a book…our opening ours are:
Week Days: 14:00hrs to 17:30hrs
Weekends: 08:00hrs to 17:30hrs
Thanks to all those kind donations, especially from Australia, our kids and adults are now in tune with the rest of the world. And I mean…who of us can say he never got lost in the magical world of Harry, Hermionie and Ron? We are so glad that Chinkonono people now can too. This library is making such a big difference and impact on people’s lives.
Since lots of adults in the villages don’t know how to read and speak English we are working hard to get Chitonga books. But we also still plan to set up English courses for adults.
I know…good read so far and you are waiting for the catch. And I don’t want to disappoint you here 😉 As you can imagine, books are not easy to come by in the Zambian bush. So we kindly ask for your help. If you have any spare books and want to send them to us to stock up our library, please feel free to do so. Since we plan to expand the library there is still space in the shelves to fill. Asking for money is always something that feels bad, but of course you can also donate and we will buy books for PAF library.
Postal addresse:
Planting A Future
P.O. Box 620288
Kalomo
ZAMBIA
Let’s work hand in hand to help our Chinkonono people to get access to literature and books. Thank you guys so much for taking the time to read this and maybe considering a book donation 🙂
