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Case Studies
Bonga
Couples’
Life Undergoes Transformation
Haile
and Worke are the parents of five and heads of one of
the 64 households whose lives are highly intertwined
with the Wacha forest. Before the FARM Africa/ SOS Sahel
PFMP intervened, the Manja ethnic group, to which both
belong, used to suffer from food shortage for as long as
nine months. Today, due to their new way of life, they
are coping with life much better.
Haile
and Worke's bees welcome visitors marching out of the
two Kenyan top bar modern hives in the backyard. The
family has not yet harvested honey but hopes to get far
better output than the traditional hives.
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Their
farmland is covered with crop varieties such as maize,
sorghum, inset (false banana), godere, potato, coffee
and wild pepper. Out of the 4.5 quintals of potato that
Haile produced last year, he sold 3.5 quintals while
storing the other quintal for food and for next
production season. Encouraged by the result, he plans to
produce more potato this year. “I know planting maize
on my half-hectare farmland is not economically as
viable as planting potato. I cannot get more than 80
birr worth maize on this land but I harvested 400
birr worth potato from the same plot last
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year, " says Haile with a sense of accomplishment. From what he has earned
the previous year, Haile has bought a heifer which he
hopes to breed with the ox he borrowed from the Wacha
Forest Conservation and Development Cooperative.
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Worke
on the other hand is happy to have been recognized as a
social equal. The Manjas have been living as hunters and
gatherers for a long time. Worke remembers the
humiliation that she suffered when she was called
‘michiti’ which is a derogatory word meaning ‘the
wood vendor’. “Now I go carrying carrots or cabbages
that I grow on my backyard to the same market place
where I used to be disgraced. This time, people call me
‘madam’”, she proudly stated. Worke owns
seven goats and two sheep whose offspring she plans to
sell and buy a cow.
Haile
enthusiastically took us to his false banana plantation
in the backyard to show us the fruit of his hard work.
Worke equally proud stated “wood saps your energy
while inset gives you all the energy you need,”
testifying the hardship she faced while her life
depended on cutting down trees and selling wood.
Haile
who used to cut trees daily to meet the family needs now
spends most of his time conserving and developing the
forest because he knows he can use it without destroying
it. Forest coffee, honey, wild pepper and cardamom are
some of the products he gets from the forest. Haile and
Worke are now confident that even if the project phases
out they can manage to continue the sustainable way of
life they have stared. “The project will leave the
area but as long as we have the knowledge and
experience, we can do the job,” they claim
confidently.
Read
about the Bonga project >>>
Other
case studies from Bonga
A Day in
the life of Haile Yesho >>>
Beehives
and Abebe Tesfa >>>
Gone
are the Days of Hardship >>>
Livelihood
Supports >>>
Manja
and the Bonga forest: A story of successful interaction
>>>
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