A borehole funded by Blythswood’s gift catalogue is helping to feed students at the sewing programme run by Streams of Hope, Zimbabwe, and benefits the local community.

At different times over the years, crops of maize from the one-and-a-half-hectare allotment in Mashonaland Central Province have contributed to food relief for families in the drought-stricken region of Africa.

At present, the well has a 5,000-litre holding tank fed by a solar-powered pump. Stephen Damupuirai, director of Streams of Hope, plans to add a second tank, which will be sufficient for income-generating crops such as butternut squash and cucumbers

The World Food Programme describes the drought across Southern Africa as unprecedented and reckons that 27 million people there experience food insecurity. Stephen Damuputirai says: “It is a blessing to have a borehole which will benefit our students and the community.”