HAUT-KATANGA: Katemo village has water for the first time in his history

April 23 , 2022

For the first time in its history, the village Katemo (Mufunta) in the Shindaika group, nearly 10 km from the commune of Ruashi in the city of Lubumbashi (Haut-Katanga) saw and tasted drinking water flowing at a tap in this village.

On the initiative of Mrs. Sophia Virji, the mining company Chemaf SA built a borehole with a submerged pump in the enclosure of the United Methodist Church of this locality where the eldest daughter of Shiraz Virji (Chairman of Chemaf SA) supports a cooperative of women market gardeners with a field of more than 60 hectares.

In a village that has never had electricity, Chemical of Africa SA has provided solar panels (4) with a capacity of 450 w per panel to supply this borehole which has a storage capacity of 10m3 equipped with 5 taps.

This salutary work is a real source of joy in the village. A jubilation manifested this Wednesday, April 20, 2022 on the sidelines of the drilling inauguration ceremony. The day took on its full value with the visit of the village chief, the inhabitants of the village as well as the members of the "social Mufunta Project" cooperative.

It's unheard of; We drank water from the gutters, dirty water, but thanks to Maman Sophie today we can also drink drinking water. It's a great day for our village. We are happy, very happy. May God bless our benefactress mum Sophie" said the chief Mapouri of the village Katemo (Mafunta).

This feeling of joy is also shared by the women market gardeners of the cooperative who remember all the generosity of Sophie Virji in the agricultural sector.

A love story

In this black hole, at the heart of their setbacks, the women of this locality have enjoyed unexpected help with the appearance of Mrs. Sophia Virji who had the foresight to initiate "Mufunta Social Project" in 2014 in order to allow Congolese women, members, to learn Agricultural Techniques for good self-care.

After 8 years of activity, the cooperative has 25 members with the prospect of extending the workforce to 50 members within a year, i.e. in 2023 and 100 members in the Province of Haut-Katanga, still under the leadership of Sophia Maria, eldest daughter of Shiraz Virji, Chairman of the Chemaf mining company and Shalina Foundation.

Chemaf has assigned an agricultural engineer to supervise the women of this cooperative in market gardening and food crop techniques, starting with their community fields or learning fields that the women each duplicate in their individual fields.

This experience has already borne fruit. The "Mufunta" community field started with 1 ha in 2014 and today it has already reached 16 ha. A success also observed in the Vegetable field has gone from 7 ares in 2014 to 40 Ares in 2022.

This project generates a maximum production of 80 tons of maize/year that the company Chemaf SA transforms in its flour mill without any payment.

The income from the sale of maize flour from the "Mufunta Social Project" Cooperative is allocated to the rental of land and the acquisition of other inputs and materials for the next crops, while market gardening contributes to strengthening the cooperative fund

To carry out its mission and activities, the cooperative "Mufunta Social Project" totalizes regularly benefits from the financial contribution from its founder Mrs. Sophie Virji as well as from the company Chemaf SA.

More than 50 years old, the Katemo village located less than 10 km from the city of Lubumbashi was a poor relation in the Shindaika group. Women could not cultivate, drinking water supply was also a fairy tale.