Constance Mawela - SocioTech

BBL PARTICIPANT: Constance Mawela, Maubane, Northwest Province

In a Nutshell

Constance Mawela from Maubane has added to her horticultural knowledge through SocioTech’s Broad-Based Livelihoods (BBL) programme. She enjoys teaching within the Phinda-Phinda programme and is looking forward to gardening with her granddaughter.

She says…

Constance Mawela Maubane 20241115_122752 (6)

I think I inherited my love of the soil from my ancestors. When I was a little girl, my grandfather grew almost everything we ate. He had mielies and pumpkins, tomatoes, green beans, spinach, lerotse, maphuzi and maraca too. He ploughed his fields using a donkey. He had goats, pigs and cows.

We always had fresh milk (cow and goat) and we also made amasi in a calabash. These days people only know cow’s milk and they are afraid of goat’s milk – my kids refuse to even try it – which is sad because it tastes wonderful, and it is very nutritious.

We ground all our own maize meal. The taste of that freshly ground maize meal is so delicious. It is hard work to grind it, but when you have done so, the flavour is wonderful. It wasn’t just food that he produced. Almost everything we needed, my grandfather could make. He even wove baskets and made leather from the cow hides. When my grandfather got too old, my mother continued his work. She loved farming.

Even though I had a childhood background in farming, I hadn’t done any serious growing for many years. I had a smallanyana garden but nothing significant. It was only in 2022, when I met the people from SocioTech, that I began to get back in touch with those earlier days. SocioTech facilitators have taught me so many things. They have taught me how to prepare my soil and create deep trenches. I learnt how to plant seasonally and to make my own organic fertiliser (with banana peels and cow manure). I don’t have a big problem with insects, because Jabu taught me how to make a mixture of chilies and marigolds that keeps them away.

Thanks to the SocioTech tunnel, some of my plants have shade when they need it and protection from rats. Sadly, the tunnel only covers a portion of my garden and where there is no tunnel the rats are a menace. They love to eat my lettuce, parsley and the young spinach plants. I have made a scarecrow to frighten birds away, but nothing frightens a rat.

When you start with SocioTech it feels like a lot of work. All that digging and bone collecting. All those tins! But having done all that, my soil is now so beautiful. Thanks to mulching it keeps moisture, and I don’t need to water every day.

"....you will never need to buy vegetables again."

Because my soil is rich, my vegetables are very green and very big. People love them. I sell door to door and customers also come to me at the house. I have put my products on Facebook too. A lot of the spinach I grow goes for weddings and funerals. Just through my spinach profits, I have saved enough money to buy a JoJo tank. I would love to have access to more land and more water. I feel that I now have the skills and experience to expand.

In order to get the tunnel, I did a lot of Phinda-Phinda training of other people in my community. SocioTech teaches us to always share knowledge. Through the Phinda-Phinda process we spread the word and increase those who have been helped. I am so glad that this part of the programme is there because I love teaching. I love telling people to stand up for themselves, never to feel lonely or sad, just at peace in their garden. I tell new participants to work hard and never give up. Challenges come along the way, but they will make you stronger. I tell them that once you have your own food garden you will never need to buy vegetables again. Even in bad times you will be able to make money, and you will never starve. Even if you have no work, you can sell vegetables and be your own boss.

Every morning, I wake up, go into my garden and pray. I am praying with my plants and feeling God’s glory in nature. When it is quiet I can feel the vegetables enjoying their water. As I pour, I can see them dancing. I sing them church songs.

My daughter-in-law is pregnant at the moment. The baby is a girl, and they are going to call her Constance, like me. Sometimes when I am in the garden, I talk to baby Constance. I tell her about all the beautiful plants that I am growing for her. I tell her that one day we will work this land together. In my mind I can already see her helping me. My children are not keen on gardening, but I am hoping that the love of plants has skipped a generation, and that Constance is coming to be my farming partner. That little girl is already so special to me. Together we will pray with the plants and tell God all of our dreams.