Mangwende creating an out of box village center

Eco-friendly construction
Working permaculture model farm
Centre for empowering community
Training youths as trainers

MOCT development in progress Images courtesy of Evans Magwende (Linkedin)

Audrey Galawu

Anon-profit organisation, Mangwende Orphan Care Trust (MOCT) is building an eco-friendly village centre that will subsist and empower through regenerative and organic farming in rural Marondera.

“Our vision is to facilitate the socio-economic transformation of Zimbabwe and Africa as a whole, by educating, assisting and advocating for widows, orphans, the elderly, vulnerable and underprivileged,” says MOCT founder Evans Mangwende.

The goal of constructing a holistic children’s eco-village for the underprivileged orphans, widows and the community at large, is to create a working model permaculture farm that will showcase new permaculture ideas and techniques, hosting training programs, and serve as an educational community center.

Mangwende says the trust is community driven as well as a movement for uplifting rural communities.

“We are hoping to restore the family unity through a paradigm shift from the begging bowl mentality to one of civic engagement. We have been running a supplementary feeding programme for orphans (30) and vulnerable children for the past three years and we have been farming to do this.

“We will start as a permaculture farmer field school which will be slowly developed into an academy where students will be selected from 16 villages to be trained as trainers.

“During training, the students will build working models of food production systems that is regenerative, organic, natural farming and natural building demonstration site, and other appropriate technologies in the village.

MOCT will also construct foster care homes for orphans, vulnerable and abandoned children, community kitchen, information technology center and community library.

Since 2019, Mangwende has been providing shelter for orphaned children, support the vulnerable and elderly through regenerative food growing practices.