Ofelia Matuque Group 3
Adopt this farmer Reg Code: Mab96/28
Fight for water - Donate Reg.Code : Mab96/85
Inter area visits - Donate Reg Code: Mab96/124
Local pig farming-Donate Reg Code: Ung96/84
Ofelia is the women on the right in the picture . the older women help them to work and to look after the children .
Ofelia is 30 years old and her husband, Thomas is 42. Thomas is working in South-Africa, but has not got a permanent job. He does lose jobs and try to find money to buy some cattle for the family. They have got 3 children, but there are 7 people who eat from her house every day.
The family owns now 5 goats, 10 cashew nut trees and 1 mango tree. She is working very hard in her fields to prepare for the new rainy season. She is not a big woman, but she can do any job that a man can do. When there are no food, she take the axe and cut poles to sell and then to buy food.
The bad things in her life are only that her mother died. She has only got one smaller sister. She feels lonely many times. It makes her very happy when her husband calls to say that he found a new small job. He will return home in December and if they have got enough money then to buy 2 cattle, he does not have to go away again.
Her “never forget “story: Although she is a woman, she was cutting wood. When her husband saw her the first time, he was not interested in her. He was thinking that she might be sick from something like HIV, because she was so thin, but she knew that she was only thin because she worked so hard. He first left to Maputo and then when he came back, he saw her again and then he started to be interested. Now she is married to him and they have got 3 nice children and they are happy.
If she would get a lot of money to support the agriculture of her area, she would certainly de-bush enough land for everyone who is interested to plant food. She would also make a shop for agricultural items in the area. They have no place to buy the things they need on the farm.
Their income is more or less Mt 30 000 / year (USD 500)