Rufaro Makamure

There are now 3 spaces I will be watching. In all the spaces, improvement in production is the only thing that will improve quality of life.

One: The plot, the change that occurred is the attitude  of the guardian of that space. She has a new found interest in agriculture. Because of this I have bought plenty of cow manure and a hose pipe to support the work that will be done. If the plot can generate some money to take care of people and give back the capital for the hose pipe and the manure, then we can look at the next growth stage.

Two: My home, where I now have time to start growing things. I was given chicken manure and I found a place where I can get some soil, to build small gardens with. I will use this place to experiment with mixed cropping, if it works I can show mai Kumbi, so that we can adopt this at the plot. I bought a fence to protect the garden from rodents, and the savings I can make through getting food from the garden instead of buying should give back money for the fence and provide income to grow to the next stage.

Three: peanut butter business, which has improved it's system. I will see if there is any improvement in the amount of peanut butter produced as well as in the attitude of the employees,  whose working condition has been made better, and if this will improve revenue. If there is a positive change, the next step in growth is to improve the salaries that the business gives it's employees, so as to reduce labor turnover. This depends on whether Apo sees it as a need or not.

The running motor is functioning better. It can now run lower loads. It still heats up, and fixing these issues will be on going. The other motor is still being looked at, before it is mounted. Apo is putting a pause on this so that he can go and buy nuts.

Apo was able to get the electrician he wanted but couldn't get because he had jobs. He was partially available today and the short time he looked at the motors he was able to note some things that the other electrician couldn't see. We are yet to see how things go after he gets more time working on the motors.

Apo is strangely calm and hopeful.

The motor that was put on the roaster is working but is heating up. Apo is still working on the system. I am getting worried now.
The motor can handle big loads and cannot handle small ones and it can roast nuts, but heats up fast. Apo is almost done qith roasting the nuts he had, and it is clearly a convenient set up. We need to work on the system to make it work smoothly. This is something that should be done without affecting production too much.

Mai Kumbi has come through for me. When she saw my sisters she was out to please them. She sent vegetables and eggs for them and the girls are excited. There is less pressure to convince them that we need a little more time to start breaking even at the plot.

I am giving the girls time to bond and create memories, we went for ice-cream, taking walks, using home grown products for our meals,and we even experimented making banana ice-cream, which we all enjoyed. All these things are things we might have found hard to do had we all been busy with the rat race. There is an alternative life, which needs a couple of sacrifices, that we can create for ourselves and those within our circle of influence and I will take every chance to sell this lifestyle. So far its going great. In the mix I am working on gardening so that it is a part of everything and the stereotype of gardening being a low class activity can be removed.

A disappointment I had was that yesterday it was very hot and I was so overwhelmed with trying to have the house in good shape before leaving, as I was organising to get the girls out for ice-cream, I forgot to water the seedlings. My work for the past 3 weeks was destroyed.

The motor is now working. I had the honors to meet the man who did the stand and aligned the gears. He was in South Africa for a very long time and he only has three weeks since he came back home, after he felt unsafe because of some people who are chasing foreigners out of their country. He was working with his son, for the first time and he was training him his trade. Witnessing this was an amazing feeling.

On my way back home, I  saw a vendor whose stuff was being taken by the city council police and he went under the car as a way to protest. ( I talked about how a lot of people are selling in streets because of lack of jobs, in my earlier posts). There were about six people who dragged him from under the car and he was hand cuffed and literally thrown into the back of the car. It's  not a scene I could take a picture of because how everything happened is not something I think leaves someone with a sense of dignity. There are laws to mantain order, it's just so hard to know when we are taking things too far sometimes.

I had two extreme experiences today, the first one had so much hope, and the second one makes you continuously question yourself if we are doing enough to leave the world a little better.

Home maintenance mattered at a different level yesterday, I put my all in fixing the house and I used every second I had before the girls came and they were delayed which was a really good thing for me. The re-purposed water bottles and the little nursery I made might be of very little significance to the girls and they are the things I am most proud of from yesterday's cleaning. I went an extra mile, and I made sure that I cleaned my hair, picked out nice clothes ( I picked black as the safest color and wore a long skirt to cover my dirty winter shoes) and made sure I was smelling nice. I even had time to make a facial mask and I put so much lotion, to moisturize my skin. They got home and I had cooked a hot tasty dinner for them.

It paid off, they commented on how clean I looked, how good I was smelling and how nice the house looked. They were very impressed. I will see today how they feel about the outside. I wanted them to know that, I do like looking good and presentable and I acknowledge how important it is. It's just that when these come before things I feel are major priorities, it's not worth it, to major on looks.

I had moved into my sister's room, a day after she left. I saw a rat go into my room and there was no way I was going to sleep in there, alone. So I took everything I needed and moved to my sister's bedroom. I did not ask her and she does not like people messing with her room. Yesterday, in all the fixing of the house, I had to move back to my room, leaving no trace of me having used her room and I succeeded. She has no idea I slept in her room. As for the rat I made sure the door to my room was open for most of the day and my other sister shared the room with me, so last night was not too scary. I didn't hear a thing the whole night, I think the rat is gone.

PS: They total amount of extra water storage I got from the bottles is 125l. It can take care of the plants I have for the week.

My siblings have been more than nice to me, allowing me to use our properties to develop my things. To keep them with this mindset, I want them to get something out of their properties. I believe an income is somewhere in the pipeline. For now, I will be devoting my time to creating a beautiful home and growing food for them at home to cut on expenses. I have been home alone, and I was meant to be alone for a little longer, but things changed, and my sisters are coming back home today.

I have been working on both the inside and the outside yard. There is a pile of broken tiles that I have been moving, and I am using these to form a platform for putting some plants. I have also been cleaning an old chicken run, and I am filling up all the bottles I have been keeping with water. We only have at most two days of running water, and we have to store the water we use for the week somewhere. We have containers enough for us to fetch water for the week, but this is without adding the garden and pot plants I am  starting. So that is why I am adding these bottles as storage.

I had hoped that by the time my sisters came, the spinach in the keyhole garden would have grown, and this would have added the beauty of the place. I guess I have to work with what I have. If I win their hearts with the house maintenance, it will buy me some time with the plot. They do not know they are investing, and I really hope their property and their willingness to allow me to explore how taking care of the earth and people, can become productive, will pay off one day. In my head, I have so much hope.

I am glad I trusted Apo's decision making of processing his peanuts before he left for Harare. He should have fitted the motors he bought, yesterday and tomorrow he had planned to go and buy more peanuts in a different place called Gokwe. Right now he is still working on having the motors installed, it's taking more tie than we had anticipated. The reason is because he was looking for a welder who could be trusted,  so that he can make a stand for the motors. One guy had promised him yesterday but did not turn up, and he is afraid of just getting anyone because a lot of people claim to be skilled in something and they mess things up.

He got contacts for someone who was highly being recommended by his colleagues and he was unreachable, he looked for where the guy stays and found his place, only to find out that he had been arrested for public drinking. Apo knows things, and he knew that he could get him out if he tells the police that he wants to give him a job, so he went and got him out. The guy was pleasantly surprised to be released and seeing a complete stranger rescuing him was even more confusing. I hope the motors will be installed today. I was now starting to feel uncertain of my persistence to have him buy motors before going to buys his raw material. He seems excited so that's a relief and I still believe upgrading his process is necessary for his growth. I am crossing my fingers it makes his life easier.

I am finding every step of putting motors for the peanut butter making project interesting. It is easy to share ideas and overlook the ideas of people we feel like we are helping. Even though Apo's choice would have been to buy raw materials, everything that has to do with his sytem upgrade, he knew, and he is putting more than enough effort to see this through. I cannot help but think of big organizations helping people. Maybe most projects do not succeed because they are usually imposed on people, which is a mistake I nearly did. The first proposal for Apo's system was to buy a line of new machines from the start of his production process to the end. I feel this is ultimately where we need to be, but I think this upgrade which is coming in small steps is helping Apo mentally grow into a space where he actually sees his business ready for technology which helps it produce smarter. All the hiccups that were unforeseen have solutions that are being made easier because he wants this progress and he is the one who knows his environment. He is the one looking for his own solutions.

I am happy his business got someone out of jail.

Apo called me....!, in a bus, and he is now traveling back.He went for the interview. I am so happy he called, I didnt have to call, it means so much...He traveled 270 something km to go and look for upgrade things, that's all he went for, and he is coming back..!!! I pray to God things work.