NEW PROJECT :: Swaziland Community Garden
If you’re familiar with our work at all, then you know that we’re about more than just providing the basic needs for orphans and vulnerable children overseas. All our partnerships – in Thailand, India, and Africa – provide more than just “the basics”. We are passionate about EMPOWERMENT, so finding partnerships that provide holistic care and are working towards sustainability is extremely important to us. We want to encourage self-sustainability, not create a dependence on foreign funds.
That’s why we we’re so excited about the latest project we helped start in Swaziland!
The carepoint we sponsor is in Nsoko, one of the poorest areas of the country. Poverty and disease run rampant in Swaziland, and there are over 120,000 orphans and vulnerable children, in a population of less than 1 million. Some children walk for miles to the carepoint, so that they can receive a hot meal twice a day. Even children who have parents will come, because there is rarely enough food to go around. With unemployment rates at over 70%, it is almost impossible to provide even the basic needs for your family.
For all these reasons, our partners in Swaziland knew this would be the perfect place to introduce a Community Garden! We were THRILLED to help raise the funds needed for this project, and can’t wait to see it take shape!
The garden will be located on land near the Community Center – which is the same place the children come to eat everyday. The local businessmen are so excited about this project, that they have agreed to help prepare the land for crops. Together, we will provide land that is fenced off, fertilized, and well irrigated. The plan is to run one “test crop” of maize (happening right now) and then to open up plots of this land to the local people. They will then be able to grow food for their family, and extra to sell in the market. And for the children at the carepoint, a portion of the crops will be “donated” to provide healthy vegetables for their meals!
We believe this will be an incredible project that truly EMPOWERS the local people, while providing for children in desperate need of healthy food. The people of Nsoko are already buzzing about the possibilities ahead! We can’t wait to visit in a few months, and see that this brown plot of land has turned lush and green. This will be a place of LIFE in Swaziland, in every way!
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Katie Graves
Just curious, who are the local businessmen? Is one of them Mac?