Showthem Sikombe sees hope for the future in Nsunda village.<\/p>\n
Supported by Self Help Africa, changes in farming practices, production by farming households of new food and cash crops, and improvements in both livestock quantity and quality point to a positive future for his people.<\/p>\n
But it is in the near complete surfaced road \u2013 passing beside Nsunda, and linking the district\u2019s main town, Mbala, with neighbouring Tanzania, -that Showthem sees the greatest potential for his own future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the road is completed we\u2019ll have a better access to markets. We won\u2019t have to sell our produce to passers-by, who set the price low,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n
On his four-acres land, 52-year-old Showthem grows cassava and millet, alongside beans and sweet potato, crops that were introduced by Self Help Africa. He has also started rearing improved breed goats, \u2018an insurance policy\u2019, he says, that can provide him with income in the event that he needs money quickly.<\/p>\n[youtube https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=rArnAadszLM&w=640&h=540]\nDespite the progress that Showthem sees around him, he admits that life is still a struggle, and that it remains difficult to support his young family. \u201cAt present I can afford to send just one of my seven children to school,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Torrential unseasonal rain waterlogged his fields last year, and the general unpredictability of the weather has meant that poor yields and crop failure remain a constant risk.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are experiencing a drastic change in rainfall,\u201d he explains. \u201cTwo years ago the rainy season started badly with showers only once a month, but at the end of the season the fields were flooded, and my crops rotted in the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n
Like many in Nsunda, Showthem battles regularly too with poor health \u2013 as he speaks he shakes with the fever of malaria that is a common visitor in his life. \u201cI get sick maybe once every year. I have headaches, but even with fever I must go to my fields to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Showthem Sikombe is hopeful that the future will bring positive change. As a result of his farm work his family diet has improved. He is also planning to start buying fish from a nearby town and to sell it at the local market to supplement his income. \u201cWith the new road this kind of business will become possible,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
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