The awesome women of Thamdanda have recently been able to celebrate a huge achievement – they got legally registered with local government as a Community Based Organization (CBO), achieving the rules and regulations required for this. This now enables them to apply for different programs at their Rural Municipality and then receive their quota of fertilizer, enabling healthier and more productive crops in the future. This group is the first registered CBO of Thamdanda and surrounding areas. It’s a wonderful achievement for them and their institutional development process.
They have had a great winter production from the vegetables planted. Most women are receiving regular and substantial amounts of money from selling vegetables. Padam had a lovely story to share about one of the older women being able to donate to her local monastery to support them in the construction of a new temple building. She is so happy to be able to use her regular income to support the work of others. It’s just one of many positive outcomes for these amazing women.
Following further visits to the community, we are so heartened to see the positive steps these women continue to take to better themselves and their whanau. All seed distribution for new crops have now been issued and we continue to support them in horticulture training. They are currently focusing on growing onion, garlic, cabbage, coriander, and tomatoes. Among these crops, onion and garlic are growing incredibly well.
What has become apparent is the need to have an outlet building near where they sell the produce. This is for storage, meetings, and shelter for the kai and the people. So we’re excited to say, that with the help of the women themselves, HLF has been able to fund work immediately on the construction of this building. We know this will help these women continue to grow their businesses and provide long term stability to their communities. Presently the steel structure is in place with work continuing at a rapid pace, and it will be completed by early March.
