By Charles Mgbolu
The Ndau people are stretched across eastern Zimbabwe, and have their livelihoods based primarily on agriculture.
Coincidentally, the name Ndau means 'land', and so tilling the earth to produce food has always been a key cultural component for many generations.
However, UNESCO warns that traditional farming techniques across many communities and indigenous crops are being replaced by genetically uniform, high-yielding varieties due to market trends and changes in diet.
‘’With a projected 30% decrease in rainfall over the next decade due to climate change, local communities are searching for alternatives to mitigate this worrying situation,’’ UNESCO said in a report on Thursday.
The cultural organisation has commended Philips Kusasa, a teacher at Chikore High School in Chipinge, southeast Zimbabwe, who started the ‘Ndau Festival of the Arts’ as a clarion call for communities to appreciate and safeguard the indigenous agrarian culture, which was slowly eroding.
The educational sessions also serve to provide socio-economic empowerment for small-holder farmers, who are predominantly women.
On the sidelines of these educational sessions however, is a festival filled with entertainment, with bursts of cultural dance performances from dance troops representing communities across the region.
The heart of the festival nonetheless is when the hands-on training begins, where farmers are taught by their elders how to grow indigenous vegetables like “Mutikiti” and "Muchicha,” which are native pumpkin leaves.
Kusasa does not only work to pass on this knowledge to farmers but also doubles efforts to make sure the children who will form the coming generation are also taught the significance of preserving indigenous foods.
His work in Gaza Primary School, one of the 24 participating schools in Namibia and Zimbabwe, where the project aims to integrate these farming lessons into the basic education system, has been highly commended, both locally and abroad.
“Our culture is our legacy, and if we do not find a way to protect our way of life, it will be lost,’’ Kusasa said.
Part of the project activities is for schools to develop whole school action plans, which guide school administrators and teachers on how to integrate the trainings into the schools’ education material and activities.
“We are thinking of starting a garden of indigenous vegetables, which will be used for their meals at school.
''The students will learn about traditional agricultural systems and the nutritional value of these vegetables. This garden will then be a place where science, geography, mathematics, heritage studies, and food and nutrition are taught,’’ Kusasa explained.
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