By Chris Low | Co-Founder and Executive Director
The solidarity of so many sustains the Matènwa Community Learning Center's vivacious model of hands-on, nonviolent, democratic, mother tongue education that respects local Haitian priorities and values -- especially in these tough times.
Thank you to everyone who gives so generously. You are planting seeds of hope in Matènwa!
More Than 100 Schools on Lagonav Island Trained to Plant & Maintain Gardens
One of MCLC's priorities is to train more teachers and students in how to plant and maintain school gardens. Most schools in Haiti shun any classroom connection with rural life and agriculture. We want students to respect it. We've already trained teachers at 100+ schools on Lagonav how to plant and maintain organic gardens.
In these school gardens, students learn to value and care for their local environment. They learn techniques to improve yield and mitigate drought driven by climate change. The vegetables they grow are either used in daily school meal programs or sold in open markets in order to buy school supplies.
By integrating agriculture into the classroom curriculum, students learn skills that they need to build better lives for themselves where they live, without having to migrate to the city. Students see that they can earn money by growing vegetables at home.
It's the generosity, care, and heart felt concern of so many that makes school gardens and everything we do at Matènwa possible!
Students Learn to Plant at a Very Young Age
At a very young age, students start to learn how to plant gardens in small, one-meter plots of their own. Each child picks four vegetables to grow in their plot. They get to choose from a variety of seeds including tomatoes, carrots, cabbage, scallions, green peppers, hot peppers, and eggplant.
Since the gardens are organic, students don't use pesticides. Instead they learn to pick off insects that harm vegetables.
Thanks To Everyone Who Supports This Work
We are so grateful to everyone who supports this work. The generosity of so many people who care is empowering teachers and students to learn new skills and grow local food at a time when imported food from the mainland is even more difficult to come by. Thank you for supporting this sustainability effort.
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