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Archive News from Kawalazi Tea Plantation Project - August 2007

Weather and crops

This year the weather for August has been unusual as the winter was prolonged and the temperatures continued to be low. This has affected the growth of the tea. The weather generally stayed dry more or less similar to what has been experienced in July.

Activities on the estate

Foliar application of micronutrient Zinc Sulphate, Manganese and Magnesium Oxide continued in the remaining fields. Ground fertilizer application (NPK) has started this month and will continue up to the next month.

In the new development area extension of the existing field will be done this year and land preparation of the area has started this month, the land was ploughed and then harrowed to till the soil.

The last batch of workers have also used their annual leave as there is not much activity on the estate due to the low crop levels.

The forest participatory project

Sowing of the E.Grandis and E.Urophylla seeds (first batch) was done this month and good germination has been noticed, transplanting of the plants in the pots has started.

The news of the project was published through the Joint Consultative Committees on the estate and has been well received by the workers and the neighboring community.

The community is in the process of bagging (packing) the maize harvested during the season and will start selling the harvest from the beginning of the next month.

Focus on Mr. Bandula

Pictures of Mrs Bandula, Lamek and Emmanuel

Mr. Bandula who is a plucker in Kawalazi has six children. Lameck and Emmanuel are the first in the family line and they currently are in standard 11 and standard 12 (form 3 and form 4) at Mzenga Secondary School. Their brothers and sisters are in primary school.

The boys want to excel at school to be able to go to university. Mr Bandula came to Kawalazi to work as a plucker and his wife sells home made food to the estate workers such as Cooked Cassava (tapioca), Mandazi (fried cakes made from wheat flour), bananas and roasted sweet potatoes.

Picture of the Bandula family

Mr. and Mrs Bandula came to the estate from Mulanje (Sathawa Village) in 1987 when their first son was one year old. Since then the family has been in Kawalazi and the parents have managed to make a living for their children to receive education, despite having no school education themselves. Today they feel proud and want their children to grow up and make a better future for themselves.

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