Emerita Iipinge: 'Our village really changed'
Emerita Iipinge lives in Epyeshona and has two daughters. She has a homested rain water harvesting unit. With the water from the rainwater tank she waters a small garden. Emerita is chairman of the farmers operating in the ‘green village Epyshona’.
How did life in your village change?
Emerita: 'Our village really changed, our village now is so very developing because some of the houses have a garden. Even a small garden for tomatoes or for spinach or green pepper, guavas, mangos and some trees. Now the people understand how they can plant and how they can make their own food.'
How did your personal everyday life change?
Emerita: 'Now my life is so changed, because every day I have some money from my garden. Now that we have a dollar in our pockets, people from our village know how to business their things.'
What do you have to do in your garden?
Emerita: 'We work early in the morning every day to water our gardens. We plant and harvest the vegetables. And we sell them on the market.'
For which other purposes do you use the tank water?
Emerita: 'It is for watering vegetables but because it is still raining I can wash my clothes. It is not recommended for drinking. If you want to drink it, you have to boil it first.'
What about your grandchildren?
Emerita: 'They are also trying so very much. When they grow up they will continue. I am training them.'
What do you think of CuveWaters in general?
Emerita: 'CuveWaters teaches us many things: even how to save our water, even how to save our money, even how to save our food. Now we have a lot of food because we plant tomatoes, green pepper and carrots and we can make our soup. Now the life is better.'
What did you learn during your training?
Emerita: 'The training teaches us how to plant the things and how to make the compost manure. And also about the diseases, how to spray and how to support our plants.'
What is your idea for the future, your vision?
Emerita: 'My vision for the future is to improve our business, to sell our things. We already improved even the business for this year, it is not like last year. We can try again our best, like step by step – not downwards but upwards. I will make a green house for myself. This month I will buy me a green net and put it outside at our field or around the house.'
Thank you for the interview!
The interview was made by Patrick Rickert