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Zimbabwe Community Gardens
Growing Independence
For the families living in the Nyimai community of Zimbabwe, the lush green community garden is more than a beautiful oasis in the dry, overgrown land.
For them, the garden means independence.
CARE came to the community in 2001, after a cyclone destroyed the dam that was helping provide water to eight villages in the community. CARE not only helped the community rebuild and improve the dam, it taught residents how to build an irrigation system that used gravity, instead of expensive machinery, to feed a patch of land nearby.
On this patch of land, CARE taught community members proper farming techniques, provided the materials they needed to protect gardens from livestock and other animals, and helped establish a community garden that covers three hectares.
 Nearly 100 gardeners “own” a plot of land in the gardens, and approximately 90% of these are women. This has resulted in a new generation of women leaders emerging in Zimbabwe. The women form community organizations and have exercised great leadership skills in developing and maintaining the community gardens. They are truly agents of change.
One woman named Gladys Maware, and her neighbours who participate in the community gardens initiative, grow tomatoes, sweet cabbage, onions, beans and other fruits and vegetables. This provides healthy food for the women’s families, as well as an income for them. They are able to sell their remaining goods at the side of the nearby throughway to South Africa.
“Before the gardens, I had problems paying school fees and clothing for my children. I was planting in a dry area and I didn’t get enough crops to support my family,” said Gladys. She is the widowed mother of five children. “But now life has improved since the gardens.”
The women’s leadership is praised by all in the village, even by men who were not used to taking orders from women. This shift in gender roles and perceptions is creating a more equal, sustainable, and empowering community.
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