Working for a living has not been possible for Wilson Mphaphuli. “People always opt to employ able bodied people,” he explains. Wilson was born with a deformed leg that limits his ability to walk and makes it difficult to stand for long durations. Living in the remote South African village of Mubvumoni near the Zimbabwean border, Wilson supports his wife and three young children with a disability grant he receives from the government, but it isn’t enough. “Children need to go to school, they need to eat, and clothing and many other things,” he says, “and with this grant there is no way I can afford all of this.”
Thanks to your support, Wilson’s children will no longer have to go without the simple necessities of life and Wilson will know the pride of working to earn money for his family. As a member of the Thabelo Disabled Persons South Africa Group, Wilson and his family now benefit from a recently installed commercial-scale INMED aquaponics system.
The system, comprising four fish tanks, which can hold 800 tilapia, and eight 24-foot vegetable beds, will produce enough food to feed the community and to sell the surplus for income. The food production is especially helpful to the group as their location makes purchasing food for their families challenging. There are no grocery stores in their village, which lies in the mountains of Venda, and the nearest town is more than 60 miles away over muddy streets and rough terrain. So having accessible, healthy food in the village for the children is essential.A member of the disabled group in South Africa and her child
INMED’s aquaponic system, which combines aquaculture with hydroponics, is well suited to the needs of the physically disabled because the units are at waist height and require minimal physical effort to maintain. “INMED has given us our hope and confidence back,” exclaims Wilson, “and we now see ourselves establishing and becoming commercial farmers, and for that we will always be grateful.”
