What’s New?
Exciting News For The MIGHTi Community
The current state of funding for international work is bleak, but we continue to press on to support and collaborate with our neighbors in Zambia. As of this spring 2025 – MIGHTi has been lucky to secure two small grants for new projects at our farm in Mungu, Zambia–a mushroom growing project and a women’s health project. Both projects align with our broader goals, merging local knowledge, scientific innovation, and collaborative passion to improve livelihoods and promote Earth stewardship.
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Thanks to a 4W Innovation Award from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, MIGHTi plans to build a novel women’s shop on our farm and evaluate its community impact. Lack of access to menstrual hygiene products and sanitation is a primary barrier to girls finishing school and women participating equally in the workforce. There is currently nowhere in Mungu village to buy basic menstrual products consistently, and the nearest retailers are 3-5 km away. Our shop will meet this need, provide a wide variety of products at affordable prices, offer a safe space for women to gather and receive training on women’s health issues, and for the first time, give women in Mungu the dignity of choice when it comes to menstrual products.
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In March 2025, MIGHTi, along with collaborators from Colorado State University, received funding to support a two-year project to establish a culinary mushroom farm. Mushrooms are highly desirable in Zambia, but almost exclusively wild-harvested during a short rainy season. With this project, we will enable year-round production of nutritionally and financially valuable mushrooms for the Mungu community. The project will facilitate construction of an operational mushroom farm, development of a rural lab to ensure safe products, advancement of new rural food preservation techniques, and training women as mushroom-growing experts. MIGHTi women will build valuable skills in mushroom cultivation, food preservation, leadership, and nutrition, while benefiting from increased food access. To ensure sustainability and extend food access year-round, we will construct a rainwater collection system, solar dryers for mushroom preservation, and a solar-powered rural laboratory (specifically to enable the generation of clean mushroom spawn).
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With support from MIGHTi intern Morgan Medina, we are in the process of creating a Zambian food and crop atlas to highlight the unique properties, uses, nutritional value, and beliefs surrounding traditional and popular Zambian foods. The atlas will be a fascinating introduction to Zambian cuisine. Completed within the year, we plan to make the atlas accessible to the public with the intent that the funds accumulated from sales will be put back into MIGHTi to support agriculture and nutrition work.
Fun Updates From the Team
The team is growing! Zambia in-country Director, Mwansa Matokwani, welcomed Yanda, a baby girl in June and executive director Dr. Valerie Stull recently welcomed Soleil, a baby girl in September! MIGHTi enlisted a new caretaker for our farm to live there full time, Arcangel Banda.
Dr. Brittney Sly, vice president and co-founder, traveled to Rwanda in September to begin the initial planning of a nutrition and agriculture project with Rotary International in 2026. More details to come!
We’ve also been lucky to partner with many students this year including…
Olive Dyrbye-Wright, a master’s student in public health at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill (and University of Wisconsin-Madison alumna) has joined our team as the Community Health Research Intern. She’s also lending us her expertise in design and administration.
Colorado State University students, Hannah Houfek, a master’s student in nutrition science, along with Maria Vaaler, Ruby Scott and Mia Wheeler, undergraduate students in food science, are working together to research, test and plan the nutrition and agriculture training materials for participants of the MIGHTi Mushroom project.
Natalie Neils, Emily Thomason, Dustin Willis and Daniella Ramos Tovar, undergraduate students in mechanical engineering at Colorado State University, are inventing and building a solar-powered substrate pasteurization system for our MIGHTi Mushroom project.
Allison Armstrong, a master’s student in public health at the Colorado School of Public Health will be joining our team in the spring as a Student Research Intern working on various projects. She will be joined by Macy Lins and Lauren Chism, undergraduate students in nutrition science, in planning our second Rural Health Workshop for spring 2026.
The Last Year in Review
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Land Development
Despite drier than normal temperatures and little rain, the MIGHTi women were able to plant and harvest our first food crops on the MIGHTi land. This year, pumpkins, okra, beans, kale, cassava, cowpeas and maize were all harvested, consumed and sold from the farm. We have large fields and around 50 individual garden plots now planted. Our small orchard continues to grow which is watered regularly by our new caretaker MIGHTi Mike, who resides in our newly constructed caretaker house, which was needed for security. We also continue to expand and develop our garden space. With recent support from our sister nonprofit, KidLinks World, we will be purchasing high-quality gardening tools, assembling more raised garden beds, building a tool shed, and installing a solar water pump adjacent to the borehole this year.
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Women’s Rural Health Workshop
In October 2024, we held our first annual MIGHTi Women’s Rural Health Workshop, which included a full day of teaching, demonstrations, and hands-on activities covering topics such as food safety, nutrition, menstrual hygiene, infant and child feeding practices, and soap-making. It was a resounding success with the participants asking for another iteration this fall!
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Adult Literacy
MIGHTi continues to support adult literacy through weekly classes. Currently, 30+ local women are enrolled, many with the goal of passing government exams and proceeding to more advanced levels. Proof of passing government exams opens up countless new opportunities. Our program has been on-going since 2023 and takes place at a nearby primary school (until we have our own facility). Head teacher, Lungowe Malundu, continues to inspire the students with engaging learning activities and songs, along with regular encouragement.
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Kafue District Agricultural Show
In July, a group of MIGHTi women showcased their agricultural and entrepreneurial skills at the district agriculture show by proudly showcasing a variety of impressive agricultural products - traditional and new foods - that captured the attention of the entire town and local judges. All foods were cultivated, made and packaged by the MIGHTi women, including sun-dried pumpkin leaves, dried okra, edible insect-bars known as “vinkubala”, local fruit jams, and both “munkoyo” and “chibwantu” (traditional fermented maize beverages). For their efforts the group was recognized with an honorary certificate of participation Their work highlights the strength, creativity, and resilience of women in agriculture, serving as an inspiration for the entire community.
What’s Happening in Zambia?
MIGHTi feels it is important to acknowledge the many actions of the US government since inauguration, specifically the recent cuts to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). USAID, once the largest provider of humanitarian and development aid on the planet, has faced sweeping budget cuts, layoffs, and organization erosion leading to its effective dismantling. This is a humanitarian crisis in the making. Without USAID’s infrastructure, disaster relief teams will no longer be deployed to areas that have been devastated by natural disasters. Millions of children and women have already lost access to education and lifesaving health programs. HIV prevention efforts, including access to ARV therapies, are being halted, threatening decades of progress. Malnutrition is on the rise, cases of polio, malaria, and other preventable diseases are resurging, and preventable deaths are already climbing. Zambia is not immune to these cuts – $50M in medical assistance to the country has dried up. Essential medicine is not being sent, putting pressure on an already fragile healthcare system, where efforts to treat and and prevent malaria, TB and HIV have now been strained in their work or halted. What may seem like a distant, far away challenge, also threatens the health and stability of the United States. This is not just about aid—it's about lives, futures, and the global commitment to equity and dignity. We remain dedicated to our mission, to the women of rural Zambia, and more than ever, we invite our community to stand with us in support of those who have been abandoned.
Be part of the change. Invest in women-driven change for people and the planet!
Despite devastating news regarding the closure of important programs in Zambia (and globally) and the exceedingly difficult funding environment, our team perseveres.
To keep MIGHTi afloat, retain our local staff, and build critical infrastructure, we still need your help. Please donate to support development of: a composting latrine, solar panels, and a covered building for training workshops and gatherings. These material items are the hardest to fundraise for, but also essential for our success. Please consider supporting MIGHTi by becoming a sustaining monthly donor. Even $10 or $25.00 per month goes a long way in keeping our day-to-day activities running smoothly. More information about how to sign-up for recurring donations or to donate once can be found HERE.
Thank you to all that have donated in the past. MIGHTi’s innovative model for sustainable development can truly make a difference–and you can be part of the change!
MIGHTi Inc is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt nonprofit organization (EIN: 88-2897677).
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