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Don’t adjust your set Determination, hard work and being in the right place at the right time has brought undreamed-of benefits for a Chata farmer.
Her remarriage in 1980 did not bring much change of fortune, as Brighton’s new stepfather showed little interest in educating him or his siblings. Brighton started to do casual work himself, hoping to raise the money for school fees, but this meant his class attendance was patchy and he did not progress far. A brief respite came when his elder brother joined the Malawi Army and paid for Brighton’s schooling. However, this brother died in 1994. “I had tried to work hard and I was doing well in class. When my brother died I was in standard eight. I had no chance of continuing my education because no one else could pay my school fees,” says Brighton softly, his regret still evident even though he is now 31 years old. Brighton stayed at home, helping his family with household chores. A year later his stepfather left in search of work, leaving the family to struggle on alone. Those were bleak times. “It was then that I met the World Vision Development Facilitator for this area. He mentioned a seed multiplication project that Chata ADP was encouraging farmers to participate in,” says Brighton. The project was distributing 50 cassava cuttings to farmers as a revolving loan. The participants were encouraged to grow the cassava, take cuttings from them, and distribute these to other farmers during the next growing season. Brighton decided to join in. “I worked hard on my cassava crops, which I planted on less than a quarter of an acre (0.1 hectare). The results were amazing. As well as repaying the loan, several other farmers bought cuttings from me,” recalls Brighton. He used his profits to pay a dowry for his wife whom he married in 1996. He also bought clothing and food for his mother and his new family. “My luck continued because that same year Chata ADP bought cuttings from me for redistribution to other farmers,” says Brighton. He earned more than 5000 kwacha from the sales, which in 1996 was equivalent to about NZ$480. Brighton has diversified into sweet potato seed multiplication, employing casual labourers to help with cultivation and paying them in kind with cassava roots and sweet potato tubers. He has trained more than 200 farmers in the skills he has acquired during his involvement in the project. Chata ADP continues to buy sweet potato vines and cassava cuttings from Brighton for redistribution to other farmers. Brighton and his wife used profits from the 2002/2003 growing season to buy clothing for themselves and their three children, iron roofing for a new house they are planning to build, a dining set, gumboots for Brighton, fertiliser for the next season…and a solar-powered television! “Honestly, I have never earned so much money in one go,” says Brighton. “I had very humble beginnings. I never thought I’d own a TV set in my life. I am a living testimony of the transformation in Chata ADP.” |
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