Loice Musongwe
Loice grew up with her extended family in her home village in the Bindura district. She loved swimming and the swimming competitions they had in the river against the boys. "It didn't matter if you were a boy or girl. We were brothers and sisters, nothing more."
As with any family during that time, farming came first before school, "We would only go to school after plowing the land." Loice believes this was her family's way of teaching her how to fend for her family. Today, she has a small piece of land, a few kilometers from her residence in Mufakose, which she plows with her children.
Loice practices organic farming as she is wary of the vegetables sold in the supermarkets. The soil she plows on is loose and classified as too dry, but her grain still grows. Before she plants her seed, she applies a handful of soil from an anthill, "The soil from an anthill is rich in nutrients. I plant the seed in that soil and cover it with the dry soil" she explains, this gives my seeds a fighting chance.
Her ngano directs us to always be specific, giving instructions to third parties. Without specificity, your instruction can be ignored or misconstrued by the receiver. Likewise in this environment, people should be given information that is specific to their environment that way they do not ignore it. Loice is using the current lockdown to pre-pare her land for the plowing season this October.
[Whispering Silence] This project was made possible with support from Africalia and the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation of Belgium.
