She didn’t chicken out
Nonhlanhla outsmarted them
WHEN chickens ate Mayville resident Nonhlanhla Joye’s crop of vegetables meant for her family, she was upset and despondent.
Ill with cancer at the time and with no other source of income, the vegetables were the last resort to make sure her family didn’t go hungry.
What Joye, 52, did next, turned her world around within three years.
And next month, she is due to receive the UN’s SWITCH Africa Green-SEED Award.
And she has been named as a “Trail Blazer” in August’s issue of women’s magazine Marie Claire.
“I tell you, that day that the chickens ate my vegetables, I was so angry that all my hard work was for nothing and I had no food in my house. I was feeling down for some time. Then I thought what sort of contraption can I make that will allow me to grow my vegetables but stop the chickens from getting to it,” said Joye.
The system she developed, consisting of a wooden frame holding plastic packets filled with soil off the ground, is what has earned her the title of social entrepreneur.
It’s now been patented and called umgibe, which in Zulu refers to a basic frame from which clothes are hung to avoid ants or termites getting on them.
“So I made this thing and I grew my vegetables. At the time I was also very concious that I needed to eat healthy food to stop this cancer.
“I had an operation and the tumour was taken out of my shoulder, and I am now cancer-free,” she said.
The umgibe idea spread to neighbours and they all wanted the same mechanism to grow their own food.
“Very soon lots of people were interested and I decided, I can help women feed their families and maybe it can grow as a business,” she said.
Today, Umgibe Farming Organics and Training Institute supports 490 co-operatives across the province, feeding almost 4 000 people.
“What started out as a way to beat my hunger is now giving hope to other people. It’s not right that people do not eat, that children go to school hungry, we can do something.”
Joye advises the women who are part of Umgibe that they must grow enough vegetables to feed their family and have extra left over to sell.
“People and businesses can buy from us. Women support their families with this. And you can be assured that the vegetables you are getting are free from pesticides and are organically grown,” she said, adding the co-operatives were based in areas such as Richmond, Newcastle and on the KZN south coast.
Joye is part of a business development incubator and she is working on plans to expand.
“Companies can buy an Umgibe and donate to a family as part of their corporate social responsibility. We also want to reach old-age homes and the disabled, as even people in a wheelchair can use Umgibe as it’s high off the ground. No one needs to be hungry,” she said.
The SEED Awards for Entrepreneurship in Sustainable Development is an annual scheme designed to find the most promising, innovative and locally-led start-up ecoinclusive enterprises, according to its website.
Joye will receive her award in Pretoria next month along with winners from other African countries.