Villagers empowered through chicken
After years of struggling to get employment, residents of Vondo village, outside Sibasa, joined hands and started a chicken farming project which is now helping them to support their families.
LIMPOPO – The Vondo Multi-Skills Primary Cooperative has thus far managed to create employment for five people who are responsible for the daily running of the business and they hope to employ more in the future. The cooperative specialises in selling fresh chicken at an affordable price to their villagers and they in turn use the money to send their children to school.
“Our vision started in 2013 after seeing that most of the youth in Vondo, and surrounding villages, were unemployed, but we also did not have money back then to do something. We were only lucky to have been funded with an amount of R350 000 from the government last year, which helped us to buy equipment and kickstart the business,” said the CEO of Vundo Multi-Skills Primary Cooperative, Talifhani Tshitwamulomoni.
The cooperative was initiated by Tshitwamulomoni who decided to join hands with four women from disadvantaged family backgrounds. These women are now able to support their families and children thanks to the cooperative which officially opened its doors for business on Valentine’s Day this year.
As the shortage of water continues to be a big challenge to the residents of Vondo village, the Vondo Multi-Skills Cooperative is also helping the local community with a water supply from the borehole which they have inside their yard.
“Our main aim as a cooperative is to restore hope to the youth who have already given up hope in their lives.
“We are here to provide opportunities for them to do something with their lives, in the coming months we will be employing more people from our village who are financially disadvantaged,” said Tshitwamulomoni.
“I am now able to look after my family, thanks to the cooperative. The community of Vondo is lucky to have a young person like Talifhani, who is not greedy and is always thinking of new ways to empower and develop his home village. Our country needs more people like him,” said Ella Mlambo, one of the four women who is benefitting from the cooperative.
