How Eswatini’s flourishing vegetable gardens are helping reduce crime in maphatsindvuku community

Matsetsa – These farmers never imagined or even considered that the money they earned from their own labor could bring in as much as E6000 (US$400) per month or more? The Dlamini family from the Maphatsindvuku Community claims that's how they make money from their gardening enterprise.

Makis Dlamini, a member of the Maphatsindvuku Community Garden under Mpolonjeni Area Programme stated that this business had done wonders for him and his large family. This garden initially started with 25 members back in 2010 and now crows a total number of 81 members because of World Vision’s intervention. This has positively impacted over 500 children in the community.

Before venturing into the garden business, none of them were employed and life was quite a challenge. They lacked basic things, which now they afford easily.

“I have been able to pay for my children’s school fees over the years and feed my family. Actually, the quality of life for my family has improved and those who are dependent on me. In total this garden feeds about 11 children from my family,” Dlamini said.

Dlamini also mentioned that this community garden had drastically decreased the rate of robberies that this community was experiencing over the past years. This is because most families are part of the garden scheme and their basic needs are catered for after selling their produce.

World Vision did not just impact the members of this community garden’s lives, it actually benefitted the whole community. Robbery incidents have dropped severely since almost everyone can provide for their most basic needs through this business.

World Vision Eswatini provided fences, pipes, an advanced water irrigation system and seedlings, to support this small enterprise in the Maphatsindvuku community. Maphatsindvuku Community Garden is where you find vegetables such as lettuce, cabbages, spinach, onions, tomatoes, chilies, and basically almost every vegetable you could think of. It boasts a variety of clientele all over the Siteki township and surrounding areas.

“We really are grateful to God for blessing us with this organization and I would also encourage the youth to invest in entrepreneurship, it really has a lot of money”, Dlamini concluded.

Besides meeting the basic needs, these families have accumulated assets such as livestock and constructed good houses. Some even started other side businesses to generate more income.  

His wife, Zodwa, echoed this. On a daily basis, this couple dedicates a few hours to working in the garden and selling their produce.

“None of our children dropped out of school because we couldn’t afford to pay school fees. After my sister and her husband passed on, I made sure that their three children were provided for all their needs,” Zodwa said.