Netiwe's chickens - help a family in Zimbabwe

Hello. I'm Andrew. I’m inviting you to join me in creating a small but innovative fund that could change a family’s life - and more. We're now in the second phase of the project, and we are looking for further donations to take it to the next level!

Further down the page, you can read about the original objectives, but first, here is the latest news. We raised over £3,000 and this has mostly been used to buy the chicken houses, equipment, food and of course the first batches of chickens. Netiwe and Stanelly have managed to start producing eggs as well as broiler chickens. The seeds of a successful family venture have been sown. Watch this video to see for yourself.

We are continuing to fundraise in order to create a small reserve fund, and to get the related Social Fund off to a quicker start. Please give generously!

How the fundraiser started...

Not long ago, Stanely got in touch with me from Zimbabwe to ask if he could volunteer for my small organisation. Having grown up as an orphan, he worked hard to get educated and gain qualifications. But now, at 42 years old, just when life should be starting to reward them, he and his wife Netiwe are unemployed, doing what odd jobs they can to provide for their two bright, well-brought-up young boys. They even have difficulty paying the fees required to keep the boys in a local state school. They are proud, honest people, sustained by deep religious faith, initiative and good humour but let down by a lousy system.

Last November, I visited Zimbabwe for the first time. It was an eye-opening and humbling experience. The country is suffering economic collapse, with rampant inflation, unemployment perhaps as high as 90% and all but the wealthiest struggling to make ends meet. But people still embody hope and humanity.

This lovely family welcomed me into their small home. Netiwe and Stanely told me they used to breed and sell chickens, which gave them a purpose as well as income. But they had to cash in all the birds to keep themselves afloat.

I am asking for your support to help them restart their chicken micro-business and generate a sustainable income sufficient to keep Malcolm and Melvin in school, improve the family's living standard, and restore their self-confidence. We've written a simple business plan (available on request) that will keep the venture on track. I'm going to act as an informal adviser.

The money you give will be an investment, to be repaid over the next 3 years. But instead of being repaid to you, it will go into a small social fund to help local kids to attend out-of-school activities. In other words, you’ll get double the bang for your bucks. You’ll help Netiwe and Stanely, and then you’ll help them to help others.

As individuals, we can’t do much to help a whole country. But we can help this family. Our donations may seem like “chicken feed” to all of us. But they are a world of difference to someone actually feeding chickens in Zimbabwe.

Please invest in these wonderful people.

NOTE: if our fundraising target is exceeded, any extra will be used to grow the business and to increase the social fund.