Qualified Zimbabwean Boiler maker turns to farming to survive

A professional boiler maker from Diepkloof Zone One has been out of work since August last year, so he uses his farming skills as a means of survival and simply because it is his passion.

Manpranga Tyanai is a qualified boiler maker who came to South Africa from Zimbabwe to not only better his life but his loved one’s too. Tyanai is a legal resident in SA with a legitimate passport and was granted asylum status and protection.

Tyanai was class one in the trade of plating and welding as well, but his unemployment status was not enough to break his spirit down. As a refugee who lives alone in a foreign country, Tyanai had to find ways and means to survive hunger while having no income whatsoever.

Tyanai said, “I use my exceptional farming skills to feed myself and those around me, because not working can lead to starvation.”

Tyanai has a shack in an old abandoned church in Diepkloof Zone One where he shares the yard with people like Gogo Tshidi Modipe. Gogo Modipe is so old she could not even recall her age.

She helps tend and guard Tyanai’s garden and crops because people who pass the exposed yard see the ripe vegetables and enter to steal.

Modipe said, “We eat and survive because of the garden. I plan to go plant my own crops in another field because here the space in shrinking.”

Tyanai has been in SA for only six months and already has a good and healthy garden of spinach, maize meal and peanuts.

Tyanai refused to be desperate because of hunger so he planted a garden of his own and advices people to at least water their spinach once a week. He elaborated how he believes that the maize relies on the rain and the grace of God.

The yard that Tyanai and Modipe and the others live in has no power and water.

Tyanai explained how he hopes to get a work permit soon to start earning a living or return to his family in Zimbabwe if things don’t work out.
People with any job opportunities in boiler making, plating and welding, or information on how to get a work permit in SA, can reach out to Tyanai on 074 076 2219.