Community Garden

“Growing ginger helped me to pay school fees,” David tells me. David is from Lira, Northern Uganda, where he grew up in a family of eight children. His father is not a farmer; he is a pastor. David learned how to grow ginger and this skill helped him and his family to continue their education.

 Now he is a student in senior six at Destiny’s Christian High School where two weeks ago he initiated a garden project that engages students in organic agriculture. The garden is a part of a bigger Skills Program that helps students to acquire various skills from bakery to agriculture. The school’s headmaster believes that these simple skills will help his students to avoid poverty and unemployment: “If you know how to grow crops, bake or make soap, you will always have some food for yourself and your family.”

 The school librarian, Olivia, coordinates this ambitious project. She successfully engages and educates students about gardening despite not having a background in agriculture. Olivia gained her gardening knowledge at Shanti’s Gardening and Nutrition workshops. She now knows about the fertility of various soils, life-terms of different crops, and how to make an organic pesticide along with many other things. 

 So far, she attended two workshops: the June workshop Medical Herbs, Types of Soils and Crops and July workshop Organic Pesticide and Box Gardens. Our Gardener Kato and Nutritionist Ritah have already conducted seven workshops that have been attended by over one hundred and seventy community members, new mothers, and pregnant women. The information taught during workshops was completely new to Olivia, just like 78% of our other attendees. She is now eager to share her new knowledge with students.

 David and Olivia work side by side: she spreads awareness about organic agriculture, and he works hard to maintain the garden and inspires his fellow-students. Olivia deeply admires David’s passion for gardening: “He loves our garden so much, and takes care of it with all his heart.”

 David hopes to expand the school garden to diversify students’ diet that mainly consists of posho and a small portion of beans. While beans are a rich source of protein, posho that is usually the biggest part of the meal has little nutritional value. In the long-run, David wants to become an agriculturalist, and Olivia wants to learn more about gardening with the goal of involve more students.

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