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Kufunda Celebration
Marianne Knuth, Kufunda Learning Village
July 07, 2003

Dear Friends,

Yesterday was a day of celebration and appreciation. Our second group of Kufundees completed the three month leadership and self-reliance
programme.

'Leadership and self-reliance programme,' that description does not quite seem to capture the journey we went on together, and how we arrived at the end of it changed.

"At Kufunda I learned to use hands as hands in stone sculpting, permaculture, batik and sandal making. It made me realise that our hands are useful in creating our own employment. I had the opportunity to learn the wisdom of our African treasures, and truly Kufunda was an eye opener to me in terms of seeing life with a new vision. The idea that we never came here to Kufunda to learn a pre-stated set of Kufunda text-books made me understand that we have to explore ourselves deeply in trying to search for the useful resources, talents and skills we possess. I had the opportunity of exploring my inner talents and I discovered that I had plenty to offer to the world. One more thing I learned is that if we co-operate and live in a healthy environment we achieve whatever we embark on with the best results."
- Munyaradzi Toto, 26 years, Rusape

I continue to be humbled by the power of simply creating a space where love and learning and a spirit of service can co-exist. We didn't change these people, we didn't ignite the spark in them that shone so clearly yesterday during our closing celebrations, yet we created the conditions for the change to occur, and for a spark to ignite their own light and hope and power.

Let me tell a few stories of sparks:

• Ernest is a young man without an education, who for years has worked as a security guard, which is equivalent here mostly to being under-employed. You work full time, yet you never make enough money to save any; simply to just scrape by. Here over the past three months he discovered a real talent for stone sculpting. He truly has a gift for it. He is going to continue working with it, developing it, and hopefully sell some of his pieces to Friends of Kufunda abroad (I sold a small piece of his for 20 USD, which is more than a monthly salary as a security guard). However, it is not simply that he has found a way of making a living - his discovery of a talent, a real gift - and the recognition he got from the community of Kufundees - has gradually transformed this young man - adding confidence, hope, optimism, and self-worth to who he is.
  
  
• Munyaradzi completed his O levels (11th year of schooling) and did well in them. He is an incredibly bright young man, a gifted farmer (and recently also acknowledged his gift as a poet). He never found employment in the city and so chose to return to his rural area and simply work on the land. He always felt that he was a bit of a failure for doing so. At Kufunda he connected strongly to the ideas and ideals we worked through surrounding community as well as sustainability (permaculture), recognising a very real need for both to be strengthened back home (currently many farmers can't afford to buy their needed fertilisers and pesticides, and no longer know the traditional organic ways). And so he shifted his perspective of himself as a failure and became real passionate around returning home with an important role to play in his community. He is going home to create a model permaculture garden, moving from conventional agriculture to sustainable agriculture, and wanting to create a permaculture 'club,' or network, in his community to work with others to experiment with and implement sustainable methods of farming, hopefully spreading the knowledge and desire for this across his community.
  
  
• Wadzanai also completed her O levels but found herself sitting at home, not being able to find work, and feeling sad to still be dependent on her parents but not knowing what to do about it. Yesterday she shared how she was leaving Kufunda with hope and excitement. She had learned that employment wasn't the only way to make a living, or live a worthwhile life, and she is now going home to make and sell candles. Initially just on her own, but she wants to invite friends to join her - and intends to teach them what she has learned here, so that they too can move from unemployment to self-employment.

And so it goes - for each of the students there is a story to be told around the shift that they went through as they discovered their own talents, potential as well as the potential, wealth and joy present in learning to live in community. Almost all of them wish to share their learning, and bring this real and grounded sense of the possible to others. And all of them expressed their gratitude to all of you in near and distant places that have supported us with your love, money, presence, prayers and more. Thank you all.

* TAKING OUR WORK INTO THE COMMUNITIES*
We will shortly be embarking on a new initiative through which some of the Kufundees that have passed through our programmes will be supported by Kufunda to act as resource persons in their community, sharing their learning (both practical and intangible) and organising community dialogues and gatherings to enhance community collaboration. We are hoping to develop a strong network of committed people who play an active role in being the 'glue' of their communities, bringing people closer together, engaged in mutual learning and shared community initiatives. We will share more on this as it moves ahead. It suffices to say that we - and the first Kufundees to step into this - are very excited by its potential.

Let me end with some more words by Munyaradzi, our poet and farmer, who expressed his learning over the last months around the important link between individual, community and purpose..

"Community exists in part to safeguard the purpose of each person within it and to awaken the memory of that purpose by recognising the unique gifts each individual brings to the world. A person with his/her unique gifts is irreplaceable. The community loves to see all of its members flourish and function at optimum potential. In fact a community can flourish and survive only when each member flourishes living in the full potential of his/her purpose."
- Munyaradzi Toto

About Kufunda:
On a farm outside Harare, Zimbabwe - we are a small group of people who have created a learning village aimed at the creation of locally rooted solutions to community self-reliance challenges. Kufunda seeks to bring together individuals from different rural and high-density communities in Zimbabwe to explore the possibilities of individual and community self-sufficiency. We believe that there is tremendous untapped potential in the energy, wisdom and knowledge of people. Our programs are designed to nurture that potential so that innovative solutions can emerge and be made manifest.

Come visit us at www.kufunda.org
For more information, email Marianne at marianne@kufunda.org

Visit the Kufunda Learning Village fact sheet

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