Chronicle Editor
Stanford Chiwanga, Saturday Chronicle News Editor
TEN kilometres to Zvishavane from Mberengwa, at Dadaya turn, in the middle of almost nowhere, there’s a beautiful man-made garden.
It contains sporadic splashes of colour, Great Zimbabwe-inspired towering structures and an impeccable lawn that would not be out of place on a well-maintained football pitch.
If you are to visit one man-made garden in your life, let it be Canaan Gardens. Agatha Makumire’s green garden restaurant is something out of a magazine. Located in an arid region, the park is split into two parts — a garden with wooden gazebos that are painted green to complement the lawn and rural setting-inspired grounds with grass-thatched gazebos.
A few metres from the garden stands a concrete and iron bar shelter that serves as the braai area where the proprietor Makumire (52) and her staff cook and roast meat for a clientele that waits patiently to be served.
Since 2019, Canaan Gardens has been a weekend staple for people from Zvishavane and a stopover for travellers in need of a break.
Before Makumire and her business partner, Tamuka Moyo laid out the gardens, the area was nothing but a thicket.
And Makumire was nothing but an ordinary teacher.
“I was a teacher for 29 years at Shurugwi before I started this business. This is a business partnership with my brother, Tamuka Moyo who was also a teacher. We saved money to start this business. I did not like working for someone. I built this for myself knowing I would be hands-on, running my business on my terms.
“Before we settled for this location, we viewed different places before we had the initial concept of this place.
We set it up 10 kilometres from Zvishavane because there are limited places in Zvishavane, people would travel out of the city to do their leisure hence we decided to start the business.
“I enjoyed the idea of running my own business and I decided to start mine and become an entrepreneur. It was very expensive starting this business, this place was a bush. There was work to cut the trees, clear the grounds and groom the lawn as well as building to make it appropriate for people to chill at,” she said.
The mother of two is married to a Seventh-Day Adventist pastor. Not surprising, Canaan Gardens does not serve alcoholic beverages or pork.
Makumire said: “I have two boys, the eldest is 28 and he is a pastor like his father, he is currently in the United States of America. The second is 25 years old and is an IT engineer. Now that my sons are all grown up, I am free to concentrate on running Canaan Gardens.
“At Canaan Gardens we do cater for everyone, but we do not serve alcohol due to religious reasons. Our menu includes salads, beef, sausage, chicken and soft drinks. We also host birthday parties, weddings, business events and couples’ fun days. Anyone is welcome to come to enjoy their day here.”
Makumire’s business partner, Moyo, is rarely at Canaan Gardens as he runs other businesses, but she does not see this as a burden.
“I have never been demotivated because this was something that I wanted to do for myself. I am not a professional cook, I started this out of interest and it blew out to be something worth more than I thought it could be.”
Online Reporter