Guru Sand Dams - a story from Mozambique

My name is Themba (pseudonym to protect identity) and I'm 56 years old. I was born here in Thichira and I have two wives and seven children. I am very happy because this year I produced a lot of kale, cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes and onions that I had never before cultivated in my life.

When the Christian Council of Mozambique (CCM) came to Thichira to talk about a dam construction project for helping our agriculture, no one believed that we would be able to produce twice in a year. But our life in Thichira changed a lot. I say this because before, our kale from our farms would spoil at the market because it was the only thing we were selling and no one was able to buy it. In my field I have banana, orange, tangerine and mango trees, aside from the vegetables I am producing. I grew up thinking that a person who owns a fruit tree would die when it produces fruit. These were our traditional beliefs.

But also another big problem was there was no water for watering plants. In the summer, I don't even have water to drink and I turn to the Luenha River that is 20 kilometers away for my source of water. Today my oxen drink here in Thichira. It is an open hole and I have water to give to the animals.

Here and throughout Guro manioc was never produced.  But CCM is teaching us to produce here in Thichira and it is very good because in times of hunger we will have the cassava leaves to eat and fruit if the fruit trees are also productive.

I have strength to work the land and to feed my family. I thank God because CCM gave me seeds and taught me good ways of farming to have more food in my house. Life is better. I have a picture of my farm and of two oxen drinking here in Thichira in the open hole.

The Guru Sand Dams are a project of MCC in conjunction with the Christian Council of Mozambique. Once the dam construction is complete the annual rain runoff is retained and sinks into the soil. Over time the dam fills in with washed in sand increasing its absorptive capacity. Within three years (or less) the water table is regenerated making it possible to put in wells and have water year round.