![\"nelisi350\"](\"https:\/\/selfhelpafrica.org\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2013\/12\/nelisi350.jpg\")
<\/p>\nFor 60-year-old Nelisi Tembo, her vegetable garden is a place of hope.<\/p>\n
She has used money earned from the small plot at her homestead in Mwachilala village in Southern Malawi to construct a new tin-roofed home, to buy a treadlepump for irrigation and to pay school fees for her children and grand-children.<\/p>\n
Earlier this year Nelisi also bought a passport for her eldest son – to enable him to emigrate to South Africa for work. \u201cThis garden has changed my life,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grow tomatoes, onions, mustard and other vegetables twice a year, and am earning more than I ever did before from farming.\u201d \u201cIt has given my family a chance in life.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
My son is now in South Africa working, and is sending money home to support his brothers and sisters.\u201d Nelisa took part in a small-scale irrigation project supported by Self Help Africa, and received training in vegetable production, seed, and other support.<\/p>\n
She sells her produce in the local market, and also sells to local tourist hotels along the road to the capital Lilongwe, where she lives. \u201cNext year I plan to buy an ox cart, so that I can transport my own produce to market\u201d she says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"