Today we are featuring a very inspiring women named Melody who uses our Hamba in Domboshowa. She is a chicken farmer and also grows some food crops. What makes Melody particularly remarkable is that she lost her hand in April of 2011 in a car accident and subsequently has become a passionate spokesperson for disabled people within her community by sharing her own experiences in a positive and open way.
She has approximately 1200 chickens on her farm and sells their eggs and meat at the local market in Domboshowa. Having moved there from Harare with nothing in 2014, her farm is now one of the largest poultry farms in the area. She mills her own maize and other crops on sight to make chicken feed which also services the community at large. She runs her chicken farm alongside her husband Kenneth and also mentors’ other farmers in her local area.
When she moved to Domboshowa, Melody and her husband decided to put their passion of chicken rearing and farming into action. With the help of a German layers project, they built the coops, runs and chicken houses, expanding from 30 birds to 600 to 1200 birds.
The Hamba has changed the way that Melody does her business dramatically. Her employees would previously take a wheelbarrow to the nearest showground to pick up feed but is located over 2.5km away, meaning that task was long, unproductive and arduous. Now she can take the Hamba herself for just a dollar that covers 3-4 trips to the show ground and back, therefore reducing her expenses and enabling her to be more productive. She described learning to drive the Hamba as adventurous and as an exciting opportunity to travel quicker and easier. She sees the Hamba as well balanced and easy to drive compared to other wider vehicles as the smaller, narrower Hamba allows her to pass other traffic easily on narrow roads.
Melody loves to share the knowledge and information that she has to other poultry farmers in the area which means that her business improvements have a significant impact on the wider community. She is an inspiration to other women and men in her community as they aspire to have her energy, drive and determination to succeed in her business despite the setbacks she has faced with the loss of her arm.