FARMER

FARMER ZIDI
ZIDI

JOY & MATUNDA

In the land of Rutuba, there lived a farmer called Zidi. Zidi
had two daughters, Joy and Matunda. Zidi loved to teach
his daughters many life lessons. He had spoken to them
about farming but never farmed with them before.

During the rainy season of likizo holiday, Zidi gave

Matunda half a sack of maize seeds and the remaining
half to Joy. Zidi wanted his daughters to help him plant
maize that would be used during the shukrani holiday in
November.

Because the farm soil was prepared, the girls sowed

seeds in a nursery. After watering the seeds for 2 weeks,
it was chipukizi season followed by miche season where
the seedlings were ready for replanting. Before the girls
went back to school, they transplanted the seedlings in
the prepared soil.

Every morning the girls watered their plants during the

ukuaji season. They also joined their father in weeding
the plants on Saturdays. After 3 months of caring for the
plants during the kuibuka season, the girls very pleased
because their corn had begun to produce corn. The
Maua season saw a beautiful farm of thriving fully grown
maize plant.

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By November, Kukomaa season had arrived. This only
meant that mavuno celebration was about to take place.
Zidi and his workers joined Joy and Matunda in harvesting
their plants while their mother provided food and drinks
for everyone as she sang:

“only the hardworking shall be rewarded,

We sow, God gives rain,
we trust, God gives patience,
We weed, God gives growth,
we believe, God gives a harvest
It is and will always be in God’s plan for us to enjoy the
good of this land”.

Ten sacks of maize were collected. Matunda and Joy, were

each given 5 sacks. Zidi then asked each of the girls to
give him one sack of maize.

Joy was very happy that what she had learnt from her
father about planting was true because out of 1 sack of
maize she was able to harvest 4 more sacks. She decided
to give her father one sack of maize. But before she gave
it him, to show how grateful she was, she selected the
highest quality seeds and gave them to her father.

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Matunda was very happy because she had worked so
hard and was able to harvest 4 extra sacks. So, she
picked one sack and gave it to her father.

The girls excitedly went to the market and each of them

sold all their sacks of maize and made the same amount
money. They used some of the money they had made to
pay for the shukrani party and buy clothes and shoes for
their family and a few neighbor’s.

In the next year, during the likizo holiday, Zidi gave Joy a
sack of high-quality maize seeds that she had given him
and Matunda the sack of maize she had given him.
Remembering the practical lessons, they learnt from
their father they were able to sow their seed, water,
weed and even sang to their plants as they grew until
mavuno season.

They each harvested 5 sacks of maize. This time Joy’s

maize was of a higher quality than Matunda’s. Again, Joy
selected the very best seeds and gave to her father while
Matunda had a different idea. She decided to give her
father half a sack so that she could have more to sell at
the market.Their father received their sacks.

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When they went to the market, Joy sold all her maize at a
higher price than she did the previous year while Matunda
sold at the same price and later had to lower her price so
that she could all her maize.

Matunda refused to contribute to the shukrani

celebration because she felt her money was very little.
Because Zidi had already ordered food and drinks for the
party he did not want to cancel or reduce the quantity. Joy
gladly paid for the party but she was left with very little.
Because of her generosity, Zidi gave Joy 2 sacks of quality
maize seeds and 1 sack of seed to Matunda for replanting
in the following year.

This made Matunda very angry that she refused to go to

the party. Her mother was surprised to find her sobbing
and asked her what made her sad. After Matunda
explained herself, her mother told her to ask her father
why he gave Joy an extra sack.

Her father explained, “My daughter, when I asked you to

give me a sack of maize, I wanted to keep for you a sack of
maize that you would use for replanting next year” so I
just gave the sack to you. That is why you have received
the same quality of seeds when you replant.When I asked
Joy to give me a sack of maize, she gave me the best
quality seeds, which I gave back
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to her for replanting, that is why she received a higher
quality of seeds when she replanted. After the second
time of planting, I asked for 1 sack of maize she gave me
1 sack of even higher quality and you gave me half a sack
of the seeds and she paid for the party’s food and drinks
because you would not give your contribution.Joy’s giving
made me very happy and I decided to give her 2 sacks
instead of 1 sack because I knew that she would keep
producing higher quality seeds and we as a community
would enjoy our Shukrani holidays as we helped our
community.

“Daddy I now understand”, Matunda said, “you will

multiply the seed you sow”. Instead of sobbing and being
jealous of my sister, I should have looked for you and
asked you what I would have done in order to harvest
more and higher quality.I have also seen that apart from
my hard work the land is already willing to give us a good
harvest and I must appreciate the giver of the seed than
the seed.

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