Raphael and Salmina Eliash.
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Adopt this farmer Reg Code: Mab59/28
Fight for water - Donate Reg.Code : Mab59/85
Inter area visits - Donate Reg Code: Mab59/124
Local pig farming-Donate Reg Code: Ung59/84
Location:
Mozambique, Inhambane Province, Unguana
Sector:
Semi – commercial farming
Who are Raphael and Salmina ?
Mother Salmina , their only boy , 1 grandchild , the one daughter and Raphael on the right .
Raphael Eliash is a 53 year old albino man , who lived in the Unguana area for all his life . He is married to Salmino , who is 44 years old . They had 6 children , but unfortunately 1 died at the age of 2 ½ years . The number 6 child has been the only boy born for Raphael and Salmina . All other children are girls . Also the grand children living with them, are only girls . At this stage Raphael has got 14 people eating at his house everyday .
The family owns 4 cattle , 1 pig , 4 goats , 6 chickens , 8 mango trees , 2 coconut trees , 9 citrus trees and 50 Cashew nut trees . They have got 9 ha of land, of which 2 ha are de-bushed and on which they plant maize , peanuts , sorghum and beans . They lost everything during the war , and even the first few years after the war have not been easy to do anything . They were to uncertain and had no hope for the future . They are very positive to work with AgriServi to change their piece of land into a semi-commercial farm .
Happy Story – One day when they had no money and no food , the nearby hospital asked him to come and do some piece jobs . With the money he earned , he could provide for his family again for that week .It gave him enough hope to continue with a new spirit in his daily live.
Sad Story - The war was very bad for them , but they do not talk about it and like to leave it in the “do not remember" file in their heads . The most sad thing that happened to them , was when their child died . The little girl of 2 ½ years has not been sick at all and was playing around until 8 January 2015 , when she suddenly died .
Never forget Story - Raphael and his nephew were helping their grandfather with his bee hives one day when they were still young boys . His bee hives were high up in the trees , and he needed to bring them down , one-by-one , to take out the honey . Their grandfather would go up in the tree and then ties a rope around the hive , without disturbing the bees . The boys at the bottom of the tree had to give a little rope all the time and their grandfather would then guide the hive down the tree to take out the honey . When the hive was down , they wanted honey , but was to afraid to try and take . When the grandfather was down he laughed at them and made a yoke by taking 2 pieces of honey from the hive and threw it towards them , without thinking about what the bees are going to do . The bees came out of the hive and started chasing the 2 boys , who were running for their lives . Grandfather lost them and was worried to death . Later he went to the grandmother to tell her what happened and that he is very sorry for being so stupid . He was thinking that his grandchildren died somewhere in the bushes and that he will never find them again . After a while Raphael and his nephew appeared from a nearby bush . They were covered with bee stings and all swollen up . Their grand parents were very happy to see them alive . The grandfather started taking out the stingers with his pocket knife , while both of them were sitting on his lap . Their grandfather felt very bad and gave each of them a huge bottle of honey. He then tried to explain that they were not suppose to run away , because then he would have been able to take out the stingers right there on the spot . They still laughed at grandfathers reaction for many years and they will never forget this story .
Dream for the area: Salmina told us what she would do if she received a lot of money to help the area with alleviation of hunger . She would use all the money to make boreholes and put up pumps and pipelines to all the houses . Then they would be able to water their gardens when there are no rain . They would also be able to have more cattle and other farm animals .
Their own dream : If they would receive some help , they would first use some money to help them to de-bush more of their land . They would then plough it and plant more maize . At this stage Salmina and the daughters try to do de-bushing by hand , but it is a never ending story . As they go front , the bushes grow again on the back and before they realy made a difference , the first bushes that they have cut , are grown out again and needs to be cut again .
Present income : They calculate their income on USD 600 per year for product that they can sell and then the food that have for the family .
Extra : Raphael and his family also look after Raphael`s mother , who is very old . They do not know how old she is , but know that she is still very stubborn . She refuse to come and stay with them , and continue to stay in her own little house , a few 100 meters away from them . She also do not want to eat at their house . Salmina and the daughters must go to her house 3 times a day , to prepare food for her in her own pots and at her own house . They do it without complaining .
Interested to look at their land on Google Earth ??? - Here are the coordinates:
RE01 S23 06 05.6 E35 14 41.5
RE02 S23 06 08.1 E35 14 34.1
RE04 S23 05 51.9 E35 14 41.8
RE05 S23 05 55.0 E35 14 31.9
RE06 S23 06 03.6 E35 14 28.0
RE07 S23 06 06.6 E35 14 28.9
RE08 S23 06 07.8 E35 14 26.5
RE09 S23 06 11.8 E35 14 28.9
RE10 S23 06 08.7 E35 14 35.2
RE21 S23 06 30.4 E35 14 56.8
RE22 S23 06 26.7 E35 14 57.6
RE23 S23 06 26.9 E35 15 00.1
RE24 S23 06 31.3 E35 14 59.4