Lexina & Victoria, Farmers in Kachamba Village, Zambia
Lexina and Victoria navigate an oxcart through the fields that they work in together. The land is rough and difficult to maneuver but Victoria, despite having her baby strapped to her back, manages to steer the unruly oxen onto a straight path. She’s been farming her entire life, learning from her now 85-year-old mother. Victoria is quite successful in her own right and has managed to build three houses, from mud to...
more »
Lexina & Victoria, Farmers in Kachamba Village, Zambia
Lexina and Victoria navigate an oxcart through the fields that they work in together. The land is rough and difficult to maneuver but Victoria, despite having her baby strapped to her back, manages to steer the unruly oxen onto a straight path. She’s been farming her entire life, learning from her now 85-year-old mother. Victoria is quite successful in her own right and has managed to build three houses, from mud to brick, for her family. She had four children with a Malawi man but never married him
"He was so lazy, I didn't want to marry him! I was raised a farmer and taught to work hard!" She has 25 hectares and grows soybeans, maize, groundnuts. Both women have financially benefitted with seeds from Good Nature Agro, supported by FINCA, a non-profit microfinance organization. “I’ll eventually sell the land so that my children can go to school and have better jobs than farmers.”
Lexina (left) is married with nine children. She is also in the process of building a new brick house, an upgrade from her current mud and thatch home. She grows beans and soybeans. “I hope to open a savings account one day. Right now I’m saving my money to buy an ox cart (that will cost 7500 Zambian Kwacha or US$630) but my husband keeps taking the money to go out and drink!” She shakes her head and whispers even though he is nowhere to be seen. “I have to conceal the money I save from my husband, hidden in a purse that’s buried in a drawer in my bedroom.”
« less