By Chiyedzo Josiah Dimbo Ambassador of Hope
“The System Starts At The Table”
SOUTHLEA PARK, HARARE_ — At Pama Table, Stoneridge Phase 2, a corrugated structure has changed 4 lives. And through them, hundreds of families are eating better.
This is not a mall. This is not a government project with big banners.
This is _community leadership + hardworking vendors = dignity_.
Meet the super vendors of Pama Table Market:
• MORGAN MASAITI – “NYENDA FROM MUTOKO
Original home: _Village Nyenda, Mutoko. Now residing in _Stoneridge Phase Two.
Morgan is a shoe maker by trade. But at Pama Market, he also sells fresh green produce— tomatoes, onions, fruits.
“I am very happy about the structure,” he says. “My shoes are safe. My vegetables are safe. Before this, sun and rain destroyed everything.”
Morgan proves one thing: _You can have 2 skills and 2 incomes. That’s resilience.
• MOILLA NHORO – THE WOMAN FROM MHONDORO
Original home: Village Head Manyere, Mhondoro.
Moilla is smiling behind her table of okra, tomatoes, and onions.
“Weather conditions no longer affect us. We have reliable security. Our stock is safe at night.”
Then she drops a wisdom bomb for every woman listening:
“When husbands pass away, wives cry hard because they have nowhere to start. But if you start something while your husband is still there, it will be easy for you to carry the burden.”
SelfReliance BePrepared_
CHIPO MUKARO – THE DREAMER IN YELLOW
Yellow T-shirt. From _Gutu_. Eyes on the future.
“On a daily basis I manage to care for my family,”Chipo says. “It is better than going to work in industrial areas.”
But Chipo is not stopping here.
Her dream: To grow big and establish her own Green Grocery Food Shop._
From Pama Table to a full shop. From vendor to business owner.
That’s the Zimbabwe we are building.
WHAT ALL 4 VENDORS ARE SAYING TOGETHER:
– SECURITY – Products are safe at night. No more theft, no more losses.
– FRESHNESS – Shelter from sun, rain, and dust means better quality for customers.
– DAILY INCOME – They can feed their families every single day.
– GRATITUDE – “We thank our community leaders who made this possible.”
This is what happens when leadership listens.
THE WASTE CRISIS AND THE SILENT KILLER
Behind the smiles, a harsh reality stalks every open-air market in Zimbabwe. According to the Zimbabwe Farmers’ Union, _up to 35% of fresh tomatoes and leafy greens are lost before they reach a consumer_ — wasted by heat, bruising during unsorted transport, and lack of overnight storage.
At Pama Market, the four vendors estimate that before the corrugated shelter, they routinely lost _two to three crates of produce per week_ to sun-scorch and rain rot. That is income lost, and food that could have fed a family.
This is why Moilla’s smile is not just about comfort: every tomato that bypasses waste is a meal saved and a dollar earned.
THEIR ONE SPECIAL REQUEST
The vendors have one request to take Pama Table from “good” to “great”:
A SOLAR POWERED COLD ROOM
“To give our products long life. So tomatoes don’t rot. So we can buy in bulk. So we can earn more.”
A small solar cold room — as little as 2 kW — can reduce post-harvest losses by over 80% for high-value crops like okra, tomatoes, and onions, according to the African Development Bank’s cold chain studies.
At Pama Table, that means:
– Bulk buying from farms at lower prices, since surplus can be stored safely.
– Stable prices for the community — no more “price spike” days when heat wilts supply.
– Less waste — each crate saved is roughly 20 kg of food kept in the local food system.
And organised transport— a shared, cool, well-arranged pickup schedule from Mutoko, Mhondoro, Gutu — would eliminate the 10–12% spoilage that happens just on the bumpy ride from farm to market.
Together, cold room + logistics equals a climate-smart, job-creating, hunger-fighting engine.
Imagine that. Solar cold room = less waste + more profit + cheaper food for the community.
That is Climate Smart + Jobs + Food Security all in 1 box.
AMBASSADOR OF HOPE CONCLUSION
Pama Table in Stoneridge Phase 2 is proof.
The system is the harvest._
You don’t start with $50B. You start with 1 roof, 4 vendors, and a community that cares.
Morgan from Mutoko. Moilla from Mhondoro. Chipo from Gutu.
Different villages. One market. One Zimbabwe.
If we replicate Pama in 100 communities and add cold rooms and organised transport, we unlock:
– 10,000 jobs (direct vendor and logistics roles)
– Food for 1 million people (cutting waste by 80% could feed an extra 300,000 households)
– Dignity for women who said: _“Don’t only rely on husbands”_
Cde Jimayi Muduvuri was right: True wealth is in the soil.
And today, that wealth is being sold with pride at Pama Table.
Let’s support them. Let’s scale them. Let’s give them that solar cold room.