Kufunda Learning Village

September 2005

Community Projects

The Kufunda Preschool has come off to a great start. We have 23 children coming in every day from 8-12 as a part of an initiative started by Patricia Mutsvandiani a community organizer from Ruwa. Pre-schools and day care centres for orphans have been iniated in all of the communities that Kufunda is working, and so this is a wonderful opportunity for us to learn more about how to work with children in the best possible way.

Zvimba has built 66 of its goal of 100 compost toilets. It is a group of primarily women who have rolled up their sleeves and got busy. They received support from Friends of Kufunda (Wolfgang Oels and friends) for the material needed.

Barr Fellows at Kufunda

In June we hosted the Barr Fellows from Boston for five days, as part of a two week learning journey of theirs to Southern Africa to experience life-affirming leadership. You see them at Kufunda to the right. Of the different experiences they had at Kufunda, the most amazing was probably the visit to the community in Rusape where we were welcomed and celebrated by the whole community, hosted by the community organizers, and visited their projects. Although it was an experience of people from radically different backgrounds and realities meeting, it was just as much a sweet coming together of human beings.

March Learning Journey Coming Up

The March Learning Journey is drawing nearer. It will take place March 1-12. In the face of an incredible economic meltdown and in the midst of political distress, life goes on and people continue to make the most of what they have. And they have much. This is a journey to share the gems and riches of Kufunda, the communities we work with and Zimbabwe as a country. It is an opportunity to connect with wonderful people from around the world, and incredible folks from rural and urban Zimbabwe. We will spend time together at Kufunda living the life of the village, and getting more of a sense of Zimbabwe today. After this initial settling in, we will go on a trip to a rural community, and then out into the wilderness of the African bush, and Victoria Falls. Email Marianne@kufunda.org for a full programme and/or registration form.

Job Opportunity for someone from abroad

We are looking for a Income generating projects co-ordinator at Kufunda. It is two year position open to anyone from outside Zimbabwe as a part of a programme run by Belgian development organization Volens.

Kufunda's intention is to support communities in moving towards economic self-reliance. The job is a two year position to focus on building economic self-reliance in both our partner communities and at Kufunda itself. The position includes business training, coaching and on-going support to project teams. You will also be developing Kufunda's strategy around economic self-reliance through income generation. You will work with a team of people at Kufunda engaged in income generating projects and community outreach. Current projects at Kufunda which you will be supporting include bee keeping, mushrooms, permaculture and a herbal project. In the communities it is a little more varied. Start by January 2006. For more information please email Marianne@kufunda.org

Recent Workshops

We have just completed a workshop in building Chengeta Huni stoves (see picture to right). It is a low cost (free in fact, except for labour) stove which uses very little firewood. 18 community organizers participated. We look forward to seeing many new stoves in the communities.For more on the chengeta huni stoves, check out www.probec.org

We also recently hosted an oyster mushroom workshop. The workshop was run by David, our security guard, who five months ago started a mushroom project at Kufunda. He shared his knowledge and experience with others by popular demand.

Coming up is the second Vipassana meditation retreat of this year, already attracting many community organisers. Later in October we have a caregivers workshop for the many women in the communities working with AIDS orphans.