Andersons meet Cathy and Paul Duncan, owners of Mananga Estate, a farm in Marondera, 2023.09.23
Meet Paul and Cathy Duncan, owners of Mananga Estate and Duncan Farms in Marondera, Zimbabwe. Paul and Cathy are from Rupert, Idaho, and own 20,000 acres of farmland growing sugar beets, corn, and potatoes. Two years ago Paul took a gamble to come to produce agricultural crops in Zimbabwe after coming on humanitarian visits and meeting the Neilds. His wife helps fill containers for Zimbabwe Care. Their group is building a school for the villagers in Marondera by Theydon. The land is beautiful and the Duncans hire about 350+ employees to run the farm. Paul decided his cache crop would be blueberries. Wow, what wonderful blueberries we tasted and saw picked and packaged for sale overseas in Singapore and other Asian countries. His plants are producing double what was expected. He is also growing cabbage, covo, onions, carrots, broccoli, and other vegetables. They've cleared the land and fixed up buildings, fences, and homes for the workers. Currently, they are building apartments for the Nield-Geranios family and other volunteers, who come to stay. We went through 3 guarded electric fences. I asked if it was for burglary protection or wild animals? They said there is a lot of petty theft but mainly to keep out the hyenas and a few leopards have been spotted.
We took Persuade up to meet them and see the farm. He's had a dream to be a farmer in the future. He would love to be employed after he serves his mission in a year. Rachel Nield-Geranios (Reeve's sister) was hired to manage the farm and use her Zimbabwean expertise as needed. Paul and Cathy drove us around the huge acreage they've leased for the next 25 years. They come for about 3 months at a time and also do humanitarian aid to the Zimbabwean Africans. They are very generous people. We also met their two friends, Kim (Fruit Heights) and Carolyn Peterson (Centerville), who help with the humanitarian aid and are building the school. They've come many times to assist and have brought physicians and dentists through their charity organization. Isn't it wonderful to know there are so many good people in the world, who help those in need?
Workers picking blueberries during the day. They loved taking "selfies" with us. Paul explains the farming process to Bruce. 2023.0923
We put on white coats and washed our hands before going into the refrigerated packing plant. Carolyn Peterson (Centerville), Cathy Duncan (Rupert, Idaho), and I took a few selfies. The blueberries were delicious and sweet. They gave us several pints to take home. 2023.09.23
When we returned from driving around the farm, Rachel had made us a nice lunch. She put together some gourmet chicken salads with fruit, vegetables, nuts, and cheese. We enjoyed each other company and promise to come visit again. Rachel stays at the farm, about 1.5 hours from Highlands. Her husband, Dean, runs a bakery, and their kids are in school in Greendale so they go back and forth a lot. The kids come up on the weekends to enjoy the country life. Next time we visit, we've promised to go hiking up to some rock ruins and stay the night. Tomorrow they have a baptism for their little branch and they use the farm's pond for the ordinance of baptism by immersion. They guaranteed there were no crocodiles!
Beautiful crops with just the picturesque background we ordered!
Lottie with Rachel Nield-Geranios and Persuade. We liked the armed guard. I asked him if he'd shot any "lions" and he just laughed at me. The farm has two new Jack Russell puppies! 2023.009.23
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