06/15/2026
Elia lives with his wife and six children in Hanang District where he farms an acre and a half. That is, he farms all of it now. Previously, a quarter of his farm was considered useless due to the amount of rainwater runoff passing through it.
Elia uses his land to provide for his family, so having a large section that he couldn’t use meant that they had less nutritious food to eat. During the hunger months, he borrowed food from grain vendors, did casual labor and cut trees for charcoal-making in order to survive. “Our meals consisted only of ugali (a local stiff porridge made from maize flour) and beans, vegetables were only available during the rainy season,” he said.
When Elia joined a Village Savings and Loan Association group, not only did he begin saving, he began participating in training. He learned about vegetable gardening, tree planting and rainwater harvesting. He took all of the training seriously and began practicing it on his farm. Soon, he was able to harvest the runoff water that used to make part of his farm useless and instead use it to grow vegetables and fruit trees.
Now he is able to provide for the family’s nutrition needs and more by selling vegetables, bananas and other fruit in the village. He earns about $10 a month during the dry season – something that didn’t previously seem possible.
“That (formerly) useless part of the farm has changed my life and our diet. We eat green vegetables almost four times a week and sell some for income. Nowadays we do not borrow food, the money from selling vegetables is used for buying the food we need for the hunger months. My wife is happy, and I am happy and healthier.”
The Tanzania Hanang program is led by Mennonite Central Committee - MCC and local partner One World Sustainable Livelihood. For more information on this program and ways you can help, visit our website: https://www.growinghopeglobally.org/program/tanzania-hanang/
