MUTANU: THE PINK GARDEN

Sister Federica Zoia is a courageous and tenacious doctor. She is a woman full of energy, vitality, and passion, who has chosen to dedicate herself to her love for others.  She has lived and worked in Kathonzweni, Kenya, near Nairobi for many years. Her connection with Valter Baldaccini was always profound, and together they successfully developed diverse projects. Here is a video of Sister Federica and her splendid women.

Mutanu means joy. It is joy that the Women’s Garden Project tries to give to 20 women who Sister Federica knows very well. They are women who live in absolute misery and poverty, for whom it is sometimes difficult to have even one meal per day. 

Thanks to the creation of a vegetable garden and green house, the women can grow vegetables to sell at the local market, creating income for themselves, and also for their families.

This work is making it possible for their children to attend school and to make a better a better future for themselves. Mutanu represents an opportunity for these women to rediscover their pride, dignity, and independence. 

As Sister Federica has written in one of her letters: “The woman is the column supporting African society, and this simple project can have a significant impact on their existence and on that of many others as well.  Together we believe in and hope for the possibility of a new dawn for many Kenyan women! ”. 

The Creation of the Vegetable Garden

In the summer of 2018, after having selected and acquired land, the first meetings with the women involved in the project began, and they finally began working on the greenhouse.
A cistern for collecting rainwater was installed outside the irrigation system and is being tested. In September, thanks to the women’s commitment and hard work, the first tomato plants sprouted in September.

After one year from the start of the work, Mutanu is like this. The plants have grown a lot, the tomatoes are ripe, and the women, enthusiastic about this unique opportunity, have begun to sell them in the market. Work has also begun in the area outside the greenhouse that will be used to cultivate peppers. 

Sister Federica told us: “We have truly changed the lives of these women and have made them happier”.

A goat for the women of Mutanu

For each of these women Mutanu doesn’t only signify joy, bit it is synonymous with autonomy, dignity, and independence. It means having work and being able to provide for the needs of their families. Many of these women have children, and this work allows them to pay for their school fees. 

This is why we want the pink garden to continue to grow, and these women to become ever more independent through the dignity of work. 

This year we would live each of them to also be able to raise a pair of goats for milk. Each got costs € 60 and it is only thanks to your help that we will be able to donate 40 goats to the women of Mutanu. By raising these goats, they can produce a lot of milk, a precious source of sustenance that can also be processed and sold.  

Give a goat to the women of Mutanu.

Thanks to your help, each of them will have a concrete possibility for work and independence.