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Sunarma and Long Term improvements
Amarech
is a 60 year old widow with one son, Fikadu. A series of wrinkles across her forehead tells a story of its own. A life full of ups and downs.
Early Life:
Amarech was born to a large family in a village near Debre Birhan town in 1948. Her parents separated when she was four. She moved to her present village in Wuchale woreda with her mother. Her mother was married to another man. Amarech was herding cattle and only 14 when her parents arranged a marriage with a man she hadn’t met before. She got two sons (Fikadu and Tibebu) from this marriage, but Tibebu died when he was still young. After six years of marriage, Amarech left her husband and went back to her parent’s home with her son Fikadu.
Amarech remarried. She also left her second husband prematurely. Right after divorce, she decided to remain single and focus on upbringing her son Fikadu. She remained strong and brought up her son properly. Now she is a grandmother of five. She is seen locally as a dynamic and enterprising woman. Amarech says she has really benefited from training provided by SUNARMA and has been particularly inspired by experience sharing visits to groups working in other parts of Ethiopia. She has used the knowledge gained from these visits to experiment on her own land. She has transformed her compound with raised beds, a kitchen garden and compost heaps. She grows a range of vegetables which she sells locally. Amarech says, 'Men have for so long monopolized the production and commercialization of farm products, however, they often leave all their earnings in the first drinking house they enter.
Today, a woman who brings home money seals her equal place in the home.' In order to maintain her vegetables Amarech works tirelessly carrying water uphill from water sources on the lowland to her garden. This is difficult at her age and in the future, with assistance from SUNARMA, she would like to invest in a donkey to assist in transporting water. She has already benefited from poultry donated by SUNARMA which provide food for the household and additional income from selling eggs at the local market.
Training
It was in 2006 that she heard about SUNARMA. She was among the first community members to form a SUNARMA group, Gemechu which means happiness. Seeing her energetic and sociable nature, SUNARMA selected her for training on gardening, livestock management, compost making, fuel efficient stoves and group saving practices. Today Amarech is busy with passing on her skills to other members of the local community.
Gardening
Using the training she got from SUNARMA, Amarech grows potato, carrot, beetroot, cabbage, Swiss chard and lettuce on her backyard. In 2008 the area was hit by a severe drought due to failure of belg rain. The belg season (February-April) offers the right time for harvesting crop. Growing vegetables was the most important thing to save the local community. And Amarech grew various vegetables in June 2008. She started to harvest her vegetables in August. Since then she has been using her vegetables for household consumption and sale. “I earn Bir r20-25 per week,” Amarech said. “I use this money to buy edible oil, salt, coffee and other household items.” So far Amarech earned more than Birr 500 from vegetable sale alone. Amarech particularly values potato. The potato she harvested from her plot supplemented her food supply from June to October 2008. She combined potato with wheat flour to bake injera. She didn’t feel a lot about the food shortage caused by crop failure due to the drought. In addition to Birr 50 from potato sale, Amarech estimated the ones she used for household consumption to Birr 500. “If I hadn’t grown these vegetables last season, I would have moved to Mukaturi town to find a job as a labourer which is really difficult for my age. Thank you SUNARMA for this,” Amarech said.
Poultry and sheep
Amarech received four chickens from SUNARMA in 2008. She sold the male chicken and one female for Birr 125. So far she sold eggs for Birr 50. Currently due to decline in vegetable sale, Amarech sells every week eight eggs for Birr 8 to cover consumption items (edible oil, salt, coffee and other items). Amarech received two ewes from SUNARMA in 2006 on pass on system. Sometimes later the ewes produced two rams, and Amarech sold them and bought two ewes and passed them to her group member. Her ewes recently produced and now Amarech has owned four sheep.
Compost making and fuel-efficient stove
Amarech has nine cattle, two horses, three donkeys and 4 sheep. She has already cut on amount of animal dung as a fuel using the fuel-efficient stove she received from SUNARMA and invested more on compost making. Presently she is preparing compost for the coming vegetable production season.
Revolving fund and group saving
Amarech is a member of SUNARMA group called Gemechu which means ‘happiness’. The group is composed of 21 members. SUNARMA has facilitated a revolving fund scheme for groups. As a Gemechu member, Amarech received Birr 700 from her group last June. She made business with the money and made a profit of 200 from teff, 450 from a bull and 200 from coffee. Amarech bought a young bull for Birr 400. She also spent Birr 250 to cover food items due to last year crop failure. She has put aside Birr 165. She at last returned Birr 735 to her group where Birr 35 is part of group saving.
Emergency Seed Programme
Due to crop failure of last year many residents of Wuchale Jida woreda left without seed for the summer harvest. SUNARMA Seedbank project supplied the community with teff, vetch and wheat seeds. Amarech received 32kg of teff from her SUNARMA group and sowed on one hectare of land already harvested. Amarech said, “I will expect more than 7 sacks of teff from this harvest.” Amarech is one of the 273 female SUNARMA project beneficiary at Wuchale Jida woreda. In line with the project’s market oriented approach to the conservation of natural resources, many beneficiaries are making extra income from the production and management of inputs like livestock and vegetables varieties.
Amarech's son, Fikadu,
is known by other local farmers for his hardworking and generous nature. He is 42, married to Bahiru Giza, with 6 children aged between 1 and 14. He farms 0.5 hectares of land, owns 3 cows and 2 oxen. After the death of his father he became responsible for his mother's household as well as his own. This was a real struggle. He says, ‘'previously, I could not stand the pressure coming from two households. My mother is too old to support herself, she cannot plough the farm. Therefore, I am the man breadwinner for both households. Now I feel like the burden taken off my shoulder. My mother and my wife are active in the project initiative and take part in managing the animals and taking care of the vegetable plots, while I work to grow seasonal crops". Fikadu also works to pass on the knowledge and skills he has gained to other farmers in the area.
Fikadu previously had little faith in the work of NGO's. 'Many other organisations have come and gone', he says. 'All of these people did what they thought was good for the community, however, all turn out to add more and more problems. They provide trainings whose applicability is always difficult. Everyone is keen to see real changes, nevertheless, the so-called "solutions" only brought problem after problem'. Both Fikadu and Amarech report that the SUNARMA project has brought major changes to their lives. Previously the land around their compounds was unused, a major contrast to the current situation. Fikadu is passionate about the activities and achievements that have occurred since SUNARMA started working in the area. He says, 'this project has brought new knowledge and a regular monthly income for my family'. Amarech also believes that even if SUNARMA stopped working in the area they now have enough training and knowledge to continue their activities. They are both keen to express their gratitude for the help SUNARMA provided with emergency seed distribution at a critical time when there was no other forms of assistance available.
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Sunarma is a charity registered in the UK (Charity number 1093680).