Boost for My Beautiful Home in Zimbabwe

Judith Phiri, Sunday News Reporter
A local Non-Profit Private Trust, Ekhaya Gaia based in Bulawayo donated prizes worth US$10 000 to 82 participants in Matobo who were selected for the My Beautiful Home in Zimbabwe project.

The 82 participants were selected from over 800 participants who enrolled for the competitions. The prizes were in the form of 2 000 litres Jojo tanks, various sized water containers, wheelbarrows, ploughs, shovels, various tools, rocket-stoves equipment, bee hives, solar kits, day-old chicks with feed starter packs, Matopos Research Centre seeds for stock feed and maize seed among others.

Ekhaya Gaia director and My Beautiful Home in Zimbabwe project founder, Mrs Veronique Attala said the project inspired the people of Matobo to turn their homesteads into tourist attraction areas.

“People from each and every ward in the Matopos participate for the competition, My Beautiful Home in Zimbabwe every year. Women have done such an amazing job which requires hard work to design complex, intricate, some humorous designs that tell a story. Instead of just going to the Matopos to see rhinos and the Cecil John Rhodes grave tourists can also cycle around the beautiful homesteads to see the amazing designs,” said Mrs Attala.

She added that their goal was to uplift the people of Matobo and give them a sense of cultural pride expressed through the paintings.

Participants were graded into three categories A, B and C depending on their interior, exterior and overall homestead designs.

“Some might have great interior design but their exterior design might be poor. We photograph each and every homestead and give a conclusive judgment. Our first prize winner received US$500 to build traditional huts at their lodge,” she said.

Mrs Attala said there was no loser in the competition and every participant walked away with a prize of something valuable that they could use to sustain themselves or start a small business.

One of the project directors, Mrs Shuna Herscovitz said apart from the competition materialistic prizes, some of the participates were equipped with skills on bee keeping and rocket-stove making.

“Those who would have won bee hives also receive bee keeping trainings and knowledge on how to make business by selling honey. The same goes for those who win rocket-stove equipment they are trained on how to produce more for business so that they can generate extra income to sustain themselves and their families,” said Mrs Herscovitz.

She added that the project has gone far beyond awarding the people of Matopos prizes for their enthusiastic and hard work represented in the designs, but to a more sustainable initiative.

The project has promoted the use of eco-friendly products. The paints are made from organic natural substances by crashing rocks.

Mrs Herscovitz also noted that they were engaging in poultry projects with the community so that people are able to sustain themselves.

“It is very hard to get eggs here in Matopos. So we saw the need to encourage villagers to start small businesses like egg production and selling so that they can be able to feed their families. We are empowering them to develop their region and at the same time improve their lives through generating their own income. We donated day-old chicks, the feeds and also trained them how to be breeders,” said Mrs Herscovitz.

She noted that funding was predominantly from within the country and crowd funding for the projects to become successful and that they were willing to accept more donations from national, regional and international well-wishers.

My Beautiful Home in Zimbabwe project was birthed in 2014 with only 30 participants enrolling and over the years the number of participants gradually keeps growing with over 800 participants having registered for this year’s competition.

The project promotes traditional hut painting and improving conditions of life in the rural areas while preserving the environment.
Ekhaya Gaia also works with the National Gallery of Zimbabwe in Bulawayo and Amagugu International Heritage Centre in the project.