Not Just Classrooms

Tuesday, April 30th, 2013

By Martina Tomassini (First Fifth Global Advocate)

Teaching kids about gardening and water conservation, while feeding them healthy, organic veggies for lunch? Yes, it’s happening!

Thanks to a partnership with the Yes to Seed Fund, St. Timothy’s Primary School is the first school in the Kilimanjaro region to have a drip irrigation garden to feed its students and teach them about gardening and water conservation! Yes, it is the same skin & hair care company that many of you know for its yummy fragrances and organic content: Yes To Carrots.

Photo: © MT/Mama Hope – Getting ready!

How does it work?

Mix hundreds of eager students with 850 square feet of fertile land, a few handfuls of local seeds, several meters of drip irrigation pipes and voilà: you have a healthy recipe for a successful environmental & educational project. And It’s fun too! The kids love helping in the garden and can’t wait to get more involved with the school environmental club as soon next semester starts. The environmental club will teach them basics about water conservation, gardening, crops, sustainable agriculture techniques as well as nutrition. This way, while students learn about theory in the classroom in the morning, in the afternoon they can put it into practice, get their hands dirty by weeding, mulching and harvesting and have fun! With the help of teachers, students take care of the garden and the vegetables harvested supplement their daily lunch programme.

Talking about teachers, I spoke with teacher Beatrice the other day, who told me how working in the garden every day is helping her a lot. Not long ago she was diagnosed with high blood pressure but since she started working in the garden she’s had no problems and her blood pressure levels are back to normal. What a welcome side effect of the school garden!

Photo © MT/Mama Hope – Teacher Beatrice planting spinach seeds

The garden currently grows kale, onions, cabbage and spinach. Each leafy vegetable crop can beharvested once a week for three to five months before replacing them with new seedlings. Along the pathways of the garden we are planting drought-resistant papaya, avocado, mango and passion fruit trees! Vegetables and other crops are chosen based on different factors like nutrients, market scarcity and profitability. For example, kale is too expensive at the market? Then, we can grow it ourselves! And if we grow more than we need, we’ll sell it to buy cheaper items we don’t have land to grow, like corn or wheat. Genius.

Meshak, 13, puts it in plain words, ‘I like the garden…it is so good! I like the fact that we can get some money for the school by selling extra vegetables that are grown here! My favourite is spinach!

Drip irrigation

Simply put, drip irrigation is a water delivery method that saves water and grows healthier crops by dripping the exact amount of water needed, directly to the root system. This is done through narrow pipes with little holes, which are positioned just above each seed. The garden manager opens the gate valve and water drips for a fixed amount of time, exactly where it’s needed – as opposed to flushing the whole plot with a sprinkler.

Photo: © MT/Mama Hope – Drip irrigation pipes

We spent a couple of days preparing the land, connecting the pipes and laying them out so that the pipes would be straight and the holes face downwards – the city girl in me stepped aside and let me enjoy the process. A lot! It must be said, though, that the lion’ share of the work was brilliantly executed by our environmentalist extraordinaire Rocky Muuri and Mama Hope’s pillar Tom Veazy.

Photo: © MT/Mama Hope – Dig deeper! Work harder!

Both the village leader and the academic director have shared with me their concerns about the weather changing and the soil becoming drier and drier. In fact, the biggest problem that the village leader identified for Newland, the village where the school is located, is maji: water. Over the past 20 years, Sub-Saharan areas like the Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania have been affected by severe droughts which, together with deforestation, affect water supply and food production. Setting up water-saving drip irrigation gardens in areas where water is scarce? Makes sense.

Why does this matter?

Educational tool, food source and income generator – this is the drip irrigation garden, in a nutshell. And this is why it’so relevant to St. Timothy’s School. The school relies on tuition fees paid by its students as its main source of funding: attracting more students thanks to the garden, and to more classrooms, has an incredible long-term positive impact on the school’s sustainability. As Alex, 12, sums up, ’Our garden is a good garden! It has fertile soil that helps vegetables grow. And it is an incentive for additional children to come to our school. Also, it attracts people’s attention. For example, somebody is passing by but, when they look at our garden, they have to stop and look closer. And they say, what’s this? Beautiful!’

Photo: © MT/Mama Hope – Thriving spinach & kale

Alex told me his favourite vegetable is Chinese cabbage. ‘When the cooks prepare it it’s so good we lick our fingers…’ A finger-licking drip irrigation garden is what I call an exceptional garden. This is a drop in Tanzania too. This is not just classrooms…

Be part of the solution Bold Solutions

Learn more at: http://adropintanzania.wordpress.com/2013/04/24/not-just-classrooms/

Tags: Africa, Children, Community Banking, Community Gardens, Development Work, Drip Irrigation, Education, Food Relief, Mama Hope, moshi, nonprofit, St Timothy's, Stop the Pity, tanzania
Posted in Agriculture, Education, Health, Moshi, Tanzania | No Comments »

Eunice’s Wish. Granted.

Thursday, August 9th, 2012

Every day Gratefulness.org sends me a quote of the day. The first thing I do when I wake up is read this quote and I find that often it sets the tone for the day. This is the quote that was sent to me on Monday.

“However much concerned I was at the problem of misery in the world; I never let myself get lost in broodings over it. I always held firmly to the thought that each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of it to an end.” -Dr. Albert Schweitzer

When I read this quote I knew that Monday would be a very special day.

The night before, after an 8 hour bus ride from Nairobi, we arrived here in Kisumu, Kenya. I was just here in February launching the Chiga Water Project and now we are here again to see it completed and eventually bring water to over 30,000 people. On Monday morning we went to the garden to meet the Women Caregiver Group who are the stewards of this project. The minute that we drove up they started dancing and singing. I was relieved because I thought for sure they would be mad at us because it has taken so long to finish this project. Instead they were holding our hands and thanking us for returning.

Women Caregiver Group meeting in Chiga.

The women lead us over to a grove of trees and started a community meeting . Anastasia Juma, the Director of our partner here in Kisumu, Our Lady of Perpetual Support (OLPS), welcomed us and made all the normal introductions and then she opened the floor for anyone to share with the group.

The first woman that stood up was a woman named Eunice. She told all of us that on Friday her house burned down and she lost everything except the clothes on her back. She is a widow but has four children who are 2, 4, 6 and 12 and now she is trying to figure out how to take care of them after they have lost everything. She said that she prays we can help her with a new home so that she can rebuild her life.

After she sat down another woman named Francesca stood up and said, “We have heard this woman. She is our sister. And we are a special group that takes care of each other. All of us need to go home and look at what we have and bring only those things that we love to help her.” All the women nodded in agreement. Then Anastasia started organizing. “Who of you can bring clothes for the 2 year old?” Hands went up. “Who of you will bring clothes for the 6 year old?” Hands went up again. How about dishes? Who will bring her dishes?” Again hands went up. Soon everyone had offered to bring some item of theirs to help Eunice start over. As the meeting came to a close it was decided that everyone would return on Wednesday with their items for Eunice.

I sat there with tears in my eyes. I was inspired by the courage of Eunice to share her problems with the group and ask for help and also moved by the willingness of all of the other women who are already struggling themselves and on average caring for eight children to give away the little they have to help her family. I was so happy to be surrounded by people that were ready to do whatever they could to ensure that a member of their community was not suffering.

Later Amy, Anastasia and I met to discuss the issue of the new house. It would be a simple mud and tin roofed home, which would cost about $500 to build. We asked Anastasia what she thought because we wanted to provide the funds to build the home but we do not normally help individuals, we focus on communities. Anastasia decided it was a priority to build the new home and since OLPS builds home for their people we would just give the money anonymously and she would tell Eunice that the community and OLPS came together to support her.

On Wednesday, the day the women were meeting to bring things to Eunice, I woke up and read this quote of the day. It said:

“Make a gift of your life and lift all…by being kind, considerate, forgiving, and compassionate at all times, in all places, and under all conditions, with everyone as well as yourself. This is the greatest gift anyone can give.
-David R. Hawkins

That afternoon we headed to the garden to meet the women. When we arrived the sky was darkening with rain clouds and the sound of thunder was in the distance. The women were under the trees dressed in Sunday’s best and they all were carrying their gift for Eunice in plastic bags. She sat in the middle of them all beaming.

Eunice receiving her gifts from the women as it starts to rain.

One by one they came up to give their gifts to her. There were clothes for all the children, shoes, pots, dishes, bedding, food and even money. The minute the gifts were finished being given out the gray clouds opened above us and it started to pour. One of the women stated, “This rain is seen as a blessing but we must run home”. We all helped Eunice gather her gifts and then they all ran home laughing, singing and dancing in the pouring rain. As Eunice walked away proudly with all of her gifts on her head tucked away in a table cloth she had a new sense of ease about her. She grabbed my hand and told me, “God will always provide and here my friends will support me.”

I think of the images that are usually put out there of poor helpless Africans and then I think, “Where are these helpless Africans?” Every person I’ve met during my visits all over Africa are strong willed, driven and committed to taking care of their family and community with whatever skills they possess. I am constantly inspired by the way the community comes together to make sure everyone is cared for. It is something I wish was highlighted more by all organizations who work here. They have to also witness and see it as much as we do because it is impossible to miss. It is built into the fabric and culture of the African people. Later that night, Anastasia sums up this selfless giving perfectly with one of her own awe inspiring quotes. “Whatever little you have, you give. We must take care of those who are the neediest because they are us and we are them.”

Eunice going home in the rain with all of her gifts on her head and a chance to rebuild her new home.

Posted in Agriculture, Articles, Kisumu, Kenya, Our Stories, Uncategorized, Water | No Comments »

Two Days. Eight Schools

Thursday, July 26th, 2012

As I travel around Africa, I see potential everywhere. Everyone is an entrepreneur and thirsty for knowledge and always looking for ways to improve their communities and then their own lives. No one wants to live on handouts. They are all determined to make a sustainable future for their families.

In the beginning of the year Mama Hope formed a partnership with Yes to Carrots to create the Yes to Hope Garden project where we are providing the funding to build school gardens throughout Africa. These schools in Africa are then partnered with schools in America who also have gardens and the students work together virtually to teach each other about gardening and protecting their environments. In February, we made this little video that shows the unique partnership of these schools.

Ngeya School Environmental Club gardening

For the last week we have been at Comfort The Children International (CTC) in Maai Mahiu, Kenya , scouting schools to partner with for the next Yes to Hope food gardens. Maai Mahiu is where our first garden was built at Ngeya Primary School and now it is thriving and supplementing the school meals of over 1800 children daily. Our goal is to get this program into 5 more schools by the end of the 2012. During the last two days, we have visited over 8 diverse schools throughout the county. We visited schools that were one room school houses with 11 students and large schools with more than 110 students to a room. No matter the size of the school one thing was apparent that the key to a good education is proper nutrition.

Namcha Secondary Students. There are 11 students at this school.

Maai Mahiu Secondary School. There are 110 kids in this classroom.

At each school we visited Amy, Bryce and I fall into the background leaving the assessment of the schools to our community partner CTC. We did not want to create expectation of American funding so we sat quiet like shadows and listened to each headmaster as they were interviewed by Rocky Muri, CTC’s Environmental Director.

At each interview his first question is, “Does your school have a feeding program?” The answers to this question are varied. At Karima Primary, the Headmaster told us that the food that was given to them by an aid organization had run out last week. He took us to meet their cook who was just sitting outside the outdoor kitchen with nothing to do since she had nothing to cook for the 456 students that attended the school. “You see,” he told us, “education is really important but in order for students to learn they need food or they can’t concentrate on anything but their hunger. We have a lot of students who only come to school so they can get their one meal a day and now they are not here because we do not have lunch for them.”

Most of the schools that we visited already had active Environmental Clubs but did not have the resources for a food garden even though they had the space. When we drove up to Maai Mahiu Primary School it was obvious that they had an active environmental club because the school grounds were landscaped with trees and flowers. The proud headmaster told us, “The environmental club plants and cares for these trees. And in a few years this school will be green.”

Maai Mahiu Primary students on break

The headmaster at Namcha Primary School (550 students) was very interested in how the garden could be used as a demonstration plot to teach the greater community about agriculture. Namcha Primary school is down in the Great Rift Valley in Maasai land. The Masaai are traditionally herders and their diet mainly consists of meat and milk. Sai Toti, the Deputy Mayor of Namcha, explained to us, “We are not farmers and when the dry season comes our animals starve and then we also have nothing to eat and this creates a dangerous cycle.” He told us, “If the school is given a garden we will use it to teach the community how to grow a variety of food and hopefully, over time, it will allow our people and animals to no longer go hungry.”

Hanging out with the students from Namcha Primary School

At each school, Rocky always ended on the same question, “If you had a school garden how would you sustain it?” All the headmasters had the same solution. They said they would save the seedlings from the previous harvest to plant for the next season and that they would sell the surplus vegetables and put a portion of the profit into an account for maintenance, expansion and sustainability.

The last two days have reinforced in me again how important it is to listen and allow people to envision their own solutions to their needs and design projects that will solve these problems. Even though all the gardens will have the same goal, to supplement the daily meal of students, the actual gardens will be as diverse as the schools they are built in. I loved being a fly on the wall in these interviews and I am so excited that these gardens, in the true African way, will be used to not only improve the lives of the students but also the nutrition of the whole entire community.

Posted in Agriculture, Maai Maihu, Kenya | No Comments »

Three Takes on Community Gardens

Wednesday, August 26th, 2009

-Bryce

The Ngeya Training Garden in Maai Maihu, Kenya

Since leaving Tanzania, Nyla and I have been traveling throughout Kenya helping to implement drip irrigation projects with communities in Mai Mahiu, Isiolo and Kisumu. Earlier this year Mama Hope received a grant from the William Zimmerman Foundation to launch these gardens. Initially, we thought of doing a single pilot “Demonstration Garden” that we could replicate in all three communities. Though, in typical Mama Hope fashion, the gardens have evolved according to the needs of our partner communities. Jargon? Yes, but it’s true. Single template solutions only seem to work on paper. Here is a brief rundown of the three different approaches to the gardens. We’ll have more about their progress as time moves on.

Comfort the Children, Maai Mahiu, The Rift Valley

The Enviroment Club in their training garden at Ngeya Primary School.

First stop was up in the Rift Valley about an hour north of Nairobi. Small buses whine up steep hills, pass broken guard rails, overlooking the expanse of the Rift Valley. Up the hills towards the town, volcanic ash mixes in with the farm lands and winds roar up the town’s main strip stinging the face and the clouding the eyes. Our partner project here is Comfort the Children International (CTC), an American based, but locally run organization working to create sustainable project models for local community based organizations.

Earlier in 2009 when Mama Hope first received the funds from the William Zimmerman Foundation we gave CTC a project grant to start a youth run Demonstration Garden. Currently, the garden is in its third harvest and will continue to produce year-round through the use of drip irrigation. It’s run by the local primary school’s Environmental Club. Mostly the group consists of coy quick-witted children between the ages of 7 and 14 who are taught an amazing amount of farming knowledge by their teacher, simply known as “Rocky”. Every Tuesday after school the Environmental Club meets to discuss the logistics of running the garden and on Thursdays they work in teams to maintain the garden.

Rocky going through his student's notepads in Maai Maihu.

The approach here is simple. Educate and work with the children to install and maintain the irrigation systems through lessons and practical activities, then involve the children’s parents in the training in an effort to spread the knowledge of the drip irrigation systems to the local community.

Wind of Hope, Isiolo, Kaisut Desert

The beginnings of the Wind of Hope Pilot Greenhouse

8 hours away in Isiolo is our original partner project Wind of Hope in the Arid (WOHA). It’s a worn and dusty town surrounded by safari destinations. WOHA is an HIV/AIDS Community Based Program struggling through a particularly severe drought to feed its community. Four days ago we heard a story about a 79 year old man being repeatedly robbed by his neighbors for his food relief.

James Sunday helps to clear space for the greenhouse.

We had planned to help organize for a youth drip irrigat CTC, but food insecurity lead the youion program similar toth to decide on a smaller more easily guarded project that would better utilize the little water resources they have. It was decided that a drip irrigated greenhouse should be constructed and used as a demonstration for the community of ways to conserve water and to provide better yields during drought periods. Also when the rains come the water can be harvested from gutters on the roof into water tanks.

Within an afternoon the greenhouse had been plotted and the land cleared completely by the youth. They also organized for building materials, soil, and skilled labor to help them construct the timber. Currently, they are documenting the project themselves through a camera and computer class Nyla and I have been teaching them.

Our Lady of Perpetual Support, Kisumu, Lake Victoria

Anastasia, OLPS director, (right) consults garden plans with the local community.

Coming up to western Kenya is a bit deceiving. It’s green and after being in a drought in the desert it was a shock to our system to arrive in a rain storm that could have doubled as a monsoon. Kisumu sits on the shores of one of the biggest fresh water lakes in the world. A 15 minute cab ride away from the city reveals tired farms and dried up fields of corn. It’s green, sure, but once you get away from the city water sources, food security is entirely dependent on very undependable rainfall.

090822.OLPSgarden046
Our project partner Our Lady of Perpetual Support for People Living with HIV/AIDS (OLPS) does exactly as the name suggests. They are a community run program offering health care, home based care gardens and an orphanage. Their basic mission is supporting children from conception on. As the founding director, Anastasia states, “It is not enough to simply feed a child. They must be fed and educated, so they may do the same for others.”

Planting Kail during a drip irrigation training.

Planting Kale during a drip irrigation training.

The project here has come together as drip irrigation training for 100 female home based caregivers taking care of orphans (most have been widowed by HIV/AIDS). They are to revamp a 3 acre garden with easily replicable drip irrigation systems. OLPS’s goal by the end of the year is that these methods are adopted by the women for use in their home gardens. The women’s hope is that the produce from the garden will be used to supplement the food supply for an elementary school that is across the street from the project.

Tags: Community Gardens, Drip Irrigation, Isiolo, Kale, Kisumu, Maai Maihu, Orphans, OVC, Women, Youth
Posted in Agriculture, Isiolo, Kenya, Kisumu, Kenya, Maai Maihu, Kenya, Our Locations, Our Projects | 1 Comment »

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