“Following the building bridges training I decided to get into vending and this has since helped me to supplement my family income. As a woman and a mother, I have been uplifted because I no longer have to keep asking my husband for money. I now actually have money to give without asking from my husband”
Picture 1: Shillar Muchemeranwa seated by her vending table
A story of social recognition and empowerment through financial independence. Responsibility given as part of community programmes bringing about change that also facilitated ability to manage her own business in a remote rural village in Hurungwe District in Zimbabwe
This is Shillar Muchemeranwa’s story
I have been living in this community since 2002. I am married and have 5 children. Two are from my previous marriage. I am 49 years old.
For Livelihood I rely on selling as a vendor and I also do some farming with my family. My educational journey ended at primary school level due to lack of school fees. I got married at 27 years to my second husband who is a Primary School teacher and a traditional leader. Before my exposure to Envision’s trainings, there used to be so much conflict in my home, my husband could not fully accept my children from my previous marriage. We did not have skills to deal with our conflicts. I heavily relied on my husband to take care of us. We fought and argued a lot, I was failing to even visit my own aged parents and offer them any assistance in their old age. As my children grew up some of them moved to South Africa, but because I did not have funds to travel, I could not visit them, I could not ask my husband to assist too.
Now I am able to run my own projects, plan on how to use the money, visit my parents and plan together with my husband because he now respects that I am contributing to the household needs. I have been part of Envision Zimbabwe since 2012 and I have been fortunate enough to undergo several trainings in conflict transformation under Envision’s Building Bridges project. I and my husband have been part of the community Peace Gardening initiative as well and have received skills and knowledge from the interactions with others to improve our own garden. Most recently I participated in the Internal Savings and Lending (ISALs) scheme which has greatly improved my finances. My husband had tight control of finances which also led to many fights, but ISALs liberated me. With my new found confidence and despite my very limited literacy, through gender and women’s rights and empowerment project from Envision, I now have awareness of my rights and can contribute and make decisions.
I was able to get a passport and can travel out of the country to visit my children and at the same time procure goods to sell at my vending stall.
For me the ISALs have really transformed my life, I am now economically empowered. The group of women that we work together with is now my support group, we share a lot of challenges and give each other advice and we are now more like a sisterhood. I feel like if we resolve conflict in the home it brings development. The community is now more aware and respects women’s rights and gender equality.
In addition, I was made treasurer of my ISALs group. This responsibility gave me skills such as book keeping and managing finances. These skills I am even utilizing in my own business.
“Since what I desired was to supplement our family income, I appreciated the ISALs project. This enabled me to start vending and keep getting an inflow of funds. I could now order stock and sell. I am financially independent and happier”
Picture 2: Shillar Muchemeranwa selling some goods to a customer.
My participation in the ISALs has enabled me to invest in our family project to access clean water, we have drilled a borehole in our home and now have expanded our source of income to market gardening. This for us is a huge development as most families rely on the communal boreholes which at times are difficult to use or people have to walk a distance to access the water. My family can now improve on our gardening which will be focusing on vegetables, onions, butternut, as well as maize.
“I am now a source of respect in my community, other women and men now look up to me as a leader, given the transformation that I have undergone. This knowledge that I have is not just for me. I desire to see continued knowledge in the community as we feed off each other and our successes and grow as a community.”
I am grateful to Envision Zimbabwe because the trainings and the knowledge they brought us as a community and to me as an individual are valuable. All that knowledge is feeding into projects that now sustain us as a family.