THE BOEKENHOUTHOEK STORY: From the eyes of SocioTech Facilitator KWENA CHIPI
In a Nutshell
SocioTech Facilitator, Mr Kwena Chipi from Moteti, Mpumalanga shares his memories and insights on how SocioTech’s highly successful Boekenhouthoek BBL Programme started and flourished.
He says…
The Boekenhouthoek project began by accident. Bra J from Bundu and I were driving along the tar road on our way to a completely different community. Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a field of spinach, next to a river in the valley below. So, I said to Bra J: ‘Let’s go and see what is happening there.’ We turned off the main road and went down to find out more about the field that we had seen. When we got there, we found Bra Willi Modau working in his field. We talked and he told us about his farming journey. He explained that he was trying hard, but that he was struggling to succeed. I told him about SocioTech and explained that communities in the Schoeman catchment area were eligible to participate.
I asked Bra Willi if he would be willing to help us mobilize other farming families in the community. He took us to meet pastor Mtsweni, who generously agreed to let us use his church as a training facility. He said that the church belonged to the people and that to do so, would be honouring the Lord.
One of the things that I love about Boekenhouthoek is their commitment and focus. At our first training session we had about 60 participants and by the grace of God, almost all of those people have stayed with us. They have a strong sense of self determination and a very good work ethic. They were very receptive to the concepts of soil preparation for vegetable crops and the Farming God’s Way method of planting grain crops. In a very short period of time there has been a widespread move away from chemicals and an adoption of manure, aloe, wood ash and other natural ways to promote growth and protect against pests. People here had the mental and physical strength to push forward with deep trench digging. The energy and commitment shown has been wonderful to watch. Mr Modau by now has prepared forty-two trenches, each 20 meters long. Miss Linky Maleka has 15 trenches, and she is continuing to dig – sometimes at the rate of two trenches per day! Mr Nyalunga has five trenches of 60 meters each. These are just a few examples amongst many.
This community is not only energetic. It is generous too. Participants have been teaching others the techniques. Those who, for whatever reason, were not able to attend the training, have received support and training from their neighbours. No one is left behind. It is not just about quantity of trenches; it is about the quality of crops produced. The results speak volumes. I suggested that all those who were already farming, should leave one section under their pre-existing cultivation methods, so that they could compare the results. The trench bed sections outperformed the original sections in every case. Many of those who joined the original
training were only expecting to use their crops to feed their own families, but very quickly surplus crops were generated. Participants had more than they could eat at home and businesses were born out of that surplus. It is a great example of SocioTech’s BBL method in action.
They are asking for additional training. Some of the younger participants have gone onto the SocioTech website and read up about MyFuture and MyBusiness training programmes. They are eager to start working towards those targets. Many of the participants ask for recipes. They want to do jam training, dried fruit and vegetable training. Those with mango trees want to learn how to make atchar.
I think that the pastor being part of the project was a big motivating factor. Especially for the younger participants. The youth were impressed by how hard this elderly man of God was working. They saw someone more than three times their age, energetically digging his own trenches and they were inspired. If he could do it, so could they.
I have been impressed and pleased seeing how the work at Boekenhouthoek has influenced the surrounding communities. Almost every day I get calls from neighbouring villages asking for SocioTech training. As I am driving around the area, people wave me down and ask me how they can join the training programme.
The same month that we started training in Boekenhouthoek, we also started working at the community that we were initially invited into. The one that we were on our way to when we found Boekenhouthoek. Every community is different and has its unique challenges, but I have been very interested to see the differences. These are two villages that are very close to each other with similar problems. In Boekenhouthoek the participants are much further along and much more successful. I think it is about the attitude of the participants. In Boekenhouthoek the church was the training site. In the other community the training venue was inside a charity soup kitchen. That is a site of dependency. The response to training has been slow because those people are already eating soup. Their motivation to change and grow is not as strong as the people of Boekenhouthoek.
We do still occasionally come across people who reject the philosophy. There are those who continue to laugh at our participants asking them why they are digging “graves”. To these people I say we are burying hunger, we are burying poverty, we are burying self-doubt. I believe with all my heart that God wanted us to find Boekenhouthoek that day. SocioTech is part of God’s plan for the area.
