Mushrooms are the answer to…. EVERYTHING!

Poverty alleviation, better nutrition, job creation, equality, health, climate change, sustainability, and long-term funding of al our projects!

It can’t get much better than that, can it?

Please listen to Tzippora explain here:

How does it work?

We are currently teaching the skills of mushroom farming in the rural communities in which we work. Collecting 2 tonnes of harvest waste from the surrounding fields that would otherwise have been burnt. This creates the basis of our substrate in which the mushrooms will grow.

Our mushrooms grows in buckets in which we have drilled holes in sides. We are using a couple of rooms in our newly refurbished community centre to house the mushroom farm.

Once the mushroom are ready, our participants will learn the right technique to harvest the mushrooms.

Fresh mushrooms have a relatively short shelf life and needs to be sold quickly. To help with this potential issue, we are adding a drying process at the end. Custom built driers not using electricity but only the heat from the sun has been developed and will enable us to make a product ready for local distribution and export.

How can mushrooms help fund other projects?

Once we start selling our crop the income will be used to sustain the mushroom farm and any surplus will support any of our other projects like Kamanga Health Centre and our Outreach Team.

How does the participants benefit?

Each participant learns a skill. Mushroom farming is very new in Tanzania and as such we are pioneers in this area.

The participants can use this skill to set up a small scale farm at home for own consumption, or they can set up a collaborative farm producing mushrooms in larger scale.

Any surplus of produce can be sold to us where we dry the mushrooms and package them to international standards and export the end product.

How can YOU help?

Even though we have provided the training for our participants free of charge, and we will provide continuous support to those who chose to continue to grow mushrooms, there is a small initial cost for the participant to get things needed to starting growing.

You can help by sponsoring one of our conveniently packaged bundles that will enable our participants to start growing mushrooms right away.

“Home Growing Kit” consists of everything needed for a participant to take home to start growing for own use, or maybe sell any little extra at the local market. A kit costs AUD $15 (USD $10).

“Farm Bundle” consist of everything needed for a 30 bucket farm. This is a small scale collaborative farm that can produce for own consumption, the local market or for drying and export. A farm bundle has the value of AUD $110 (USD $77).

Want to know more?

You can read more about this project on our website here

Regular updates are also on our social media platforms - click one of the Social Media buttons below and make sure to follow us!

Or contact Nina, our Founding Director and CEO, directly here

"Supporting Globally Impacting Locally" - Nina Hjortlund featured on Wellthy Living

A real and unedited chat between Nina Hjortlund, Founding Director and CEO of Australia for Cedar Tanzania & ARTEFACTZ and Lisa Entwisle, Host and Founder of Wellthy Living.

Lisa and Nina met on Clubhouse, the audio-only platform, and from there the conversation grew. This conversation takes us through large parts of Nina’s journey, why she’s so passionate about Global Development and Tanzania but also talks about her personal life juggling CEO-life with being a single mum.

You can read more about Nina and her journey here: “Going on a 13-year long holiday” and here: “Am I an imposter”

If you want to contact Nina for an interview or as a speaker you can contact her here

Going On A 13-Year Long Holiday

It takes passion, perseverance and pertinacity to change the lives of more than 30,000 people.

Changing Lives Begins With You

This part of my journey started back in 2005. I was turning 30, and like many other women, I felt a need to reflect on my life. All the big existential questions: Am I living my life to the fullest? Is this what I want my life to look like the next 30 years? Am I happy in my life?

A big loud “NO!” to all three questions was bobbling up inside me.

I felt like I was trapped. I felt like I was living someone else’s life. I felt like I was screaming but no one could hear me. Something had to change.

It all started with a holiday. A holiday that took me to Tanzania – a country I had barely heard about. Little did I know it was going to be the beginning to the rest of my life.

What was meant to be a two-week holiday became my home for the next 13 years. I didn’t speak the language, I didn’t know the culture, I had no official education. What could possibly go wrong?

Of course, a lot of things did. It is probably the steepest and harshest learning curve I have ever experienced, but I have learned so much not only about running a business but also about myself.

My many years in Tanzania saw me through a variety of businesses and industries – none of which I had ANY previous experience in. 

I started off buying a restaurant and bar. Only letdown was it actually didn’t have a kitchen. It had to be built. 

Then there was a draught and electricity were rationed. First a few days here and there, then we only had power on Fridays and Sundays, and in the end only on Sundays. The thing is, when there is no power, there is also no water as the pumps needs power. I ended up buying buckets of water from a man on a bicycle. The water came from…. the brewery! This went on for almost a year.

The following year I sold the bar and bought a nightclub and concert venue. This was really interesting! Everything from having crocodiles entering my space, to hosting the presidential wife, driving wealthy and powerful youth home, being arrested, all the while trying to provide a welcoming and inclusive atmosphere in the nightlife.

Taking a new turn in my ‘career’ I got a job as a lodge manager for a rundown fishing lodge (no, I have no idea how to catch a fish) on an uninhabited island. The only people on the island were me, my staff, and a couple of rangers.

Again, no power and no running water. We ran kerosene fridges (when we didn’t run out of kerosene) and had a very very old generator. It had a screwdriver wedged in as the ‘start button’.

Elephants, hippos and crocodiles came to our camp near daily and we had resident colubus monkeys, bushbuck and lots of other animals. It was spectacular.

Coming back to the mainland I found myself in first junior exploration and then on the mines. A very different world to where I had been so far.

By a few more turns I landed in the not-for-profit sector.

All these twists and turns has formed my knowledge and expertise but also shown me how it is in everyone’s power to change a life.

The Australian Connection

I met the man that became father to our two girls in Tanzania. An Aussie guy working in the mines. Although Emily and Sofia were both born here in Australia, they grew up in Tanzania until they were 5 and 7 years old. They were only a few weeks old when they went on their first long haul flight and on their first trips to Serengeti.

In August 2018 we decided time had come to make the move across the ocean and settle in Fremantle. 

The move hasn’t been entirely smooth and since our arrival we have learned that both our girls are living with ADHD, and the oldest also has severe anxiety and OCD tendencies. In fact, she was ‘suicidal without a plan’ at age 7. That was incredibly hard to witness.

My relationship with the girl’s father ended last year and the following month he returned to his work in Africa. 

I am now solo parenting 24/7 while also working full time as Founding Director and CEO. 

Some days it is a tough gig, but we are finding our groove. Eating dinner together at the dining table every evening is sacred to me. This is the time we check in with each other, solve problems and make plans. Walks on the beach are good for the soul and we go as often as possible.

I had no doubts about what I was going to do when I came here to Australia. Two months later, on October 5th 2018, Australia for Cedar Tanzania was a reality and I was ready to continue the work we had started in Tanzania.

‘Cedar Tanzania’ is our registered on-the-ground organisation in Tanzania, and we have a well-established and dedicated local team carrying out our day-to-day activities in the field.

We pride ourselves of taking a holistic approach to create positive sustainable change.

My daily work, even before the pandemic, included a lot of meetings on Skype and Zoom. Leading the team in Tanzania – nearly 10,000km away and with a 5-hour time difference – means I often work evenings after the kids are in bed. I am grateful for being able to work from home. I can flex my time around my children’s schedule and take them to all their activities without having to miss out.

When the pandemic hit last year, it was clear international aid (especially to Africa) was going to take a blow.

ARTEFACTZ, a new retail part of Australia for Cedar Tanzania, launched in March 2020 to ensure a sustainable income to support our projects.

Every carefully curated item supports and sustains the culture and livelihood of artisans across East Africa – many of whom are women who has lost the opportunity to sell their high-quality crafts as tourism has come to standstill.

You don’t need to go on a 13-year holiday or work across three continents to start Changing Lives. 

I cannot achieve my goals alone. Please join me.

This is how Changing Lives Begins with You.

Featured in Business Chicks March 2021