Why Maleme is important

Maleme Farm in Matabeleland, Zimbabwe houses Shalom Christian Campsite and Ebenezer Agricultural Training College. Maleme Farm was given notice on the 19th of December 2014 to stop all operations and prepare to hand over to a new owner, who has since taken an inventory in the presence of the police and declared that anything removed will be considered theft of his property.

Shalom Campsite
Shalom has been dedicated to God and actively used by the church since 1958 - this last year there were over 16,000 bed nights. Over the years, thousands of people have come to know the Lord at Shalom. More recently, Shalom has provided training facilities for farmers under the Turning Matabeleland Green program, (TMG). Within TMG, farmers receive training in tomato growing and chicken raising, enabling them to earn incomes of up to US$12,000pa. To date 3,000 rural farmers have been trained, with a long waiting list yet to be trained.

Ebenezer Agricultural Training College
In 2007 a portion of the farm was set aside to house Ebenezer College which trains young people in agricultural production, business skills and the Christian life. This is hands-on training, and in the first 6 months of 2014 for instance, the 75 young apprentices at Ebenezer produced 529tons of vegetables and 82tons of chickens. Being their own agribusiness, students earn a profit after production costs, with some getting as much as US$1,250 in profits.

Serving the local community
The Farm also runs a large chicken out-grower scheme involving over 80 small scale farmers from the surrounding communities, producing over 750,000 birds per year, with out-growers making annual profits of between $3,000 - $12,000. Maleme Farm currently supplies over 50% of Matabeleland's layer birds to small scale farmers - approximately 100,000 point of lays per year.Maleme works very closely with the local community. Both the church and the community support land reform where it is empowering communities, but the designation and acquisition of Maleme Farm will have a negative impact on the community. The church in Matabeleland has sent out a petition to individual churches in Zimbabwe. Those signing the petition are asking that the acquisition of Maleme be reversed.

Standing in solidarity.
Those of us Zimbabweans and friends of Zimbabwe outside the country are signing this online petition to stand in solidarity with the action of the church in Zimbabwe.