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  • About us
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Home » 10.000 Orti in Africa » Jesus Alive School Garden

Jesus Alive School Garden

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Uganda

Mukono

The Jesus Alive School garden is located in Banda Village, an area traditionally known for its fertile land given its position between Mabira Forest (Uganda’s largest) and the northern shores of Lake Victoria. The garden – one of the first created – was established under the Developing Innovations in School Cultivation (DISCC) project in 2008, then supported by Slow Food since 2011. The garden is also maintained by the Pentecostal church community, which hosts about 150 people each week.
Designed as individual garden plots in raised beds, the garden grows a wide variety of vegetables, ranging from sukuma wiki (leafy greens), doodo and bugga (green and red amaranth), nakati (Ethiopian Eggplant) and eggplants, local maize, pumpkins, muwoggo (cassava), sweet potatoes, and matooke (steamed bananas).
There are over 45 students – children from age of 3 to 13 years – involved in the school garden. Both the Director of the school, Pastor Namyenya Robinah, and parents are grateful for the gardening project as they say that children can now identify their local food and herbs, plus also gaining the skills of agriculture in early childhood. More than 15 among the elders students (age 7-13) have gardens created in their homes with the concept gardening got from the school. This is a very good result as regards young children loving gardening and growing there local food.
Besides the garden being an educational tool for all in the community, harvested vegetables and food are usually eaten at school as a shared meal. Some elder students may also benefit of cooking training thanks to the Dembe Catering group.

Area
Banda Kyandazza Village, Kyabalogo Parish, Nakisunga Sub County, Mukono District

Coordinator
Nabyonga Faith

Slow Food in Uganda

Slow Food has been actively supporting the food communities in Uganda since 2006, working with many young volunteers and regional coordinators, creating Presidia and organizing agricultural activities as part of the 10,000 Gardens in Africa project. In 2015, Slow Food Uganda launched its national network, which now comprises over 10,000 activists. Nicknamed the “Pearl of Africa,” the country is rich in water and forest resources, with a tropical climate ideal for agricultural production and pasture-based livestock farming. Though landlocked, Uganda has plenty of flourishing trade links. Over 70% of the population works in the agricultural sector. Major foreign and government investment is concentrated on products for export: coffee, bananas, palm oil, sugar cane, maize, rice, beef and others. These industries are linked to serious human-rights violations. But the promotion of monocultures has terrible consequences for the natural environment and the sustainability of small-scale farmers, thanks to deforestation, the use of chemical fertilizers, pollution, the depletion of community resources and the disappearance of wild plants and less-resistant varieties. What’s more, it also encourages land grabbing and speculation on water and wetlands (rich in plant and animal biodiversity) and the introduction of supposedly more productive exotic livestock breeds, hybrid plants and GM seeds. President Yoweri Museveni—in power since 1986, following years of terrible civil war and dictatorship—and his government publicly promote foreign investment and the sale of national resources. Slow Food Uganda has built up a strong network in the central part of the country and a robust presence in the eastern and western regions and has developed a new strategy for the north. In the central-eastern areas, the focus has been on crops that are typical of the country’s traditional gastronomy and agroforestry systems: bananas, yams and coffee. To the north and west, work has been done on resilience and with indigenous groups, looking at ancient grain varieties and Ankole cattle, a native breed with striking lyre-shaped horns. In order to give a voice to farmers, defend the right to food and develop new and sustainable forms of local economy, Slow Food Uganda organizes annual events, like the Coffee Festival in February, workshops on fruit and vegetables in schools in April and June, the indigenous gastronomy fair in October and the Food Wise event in November. The Earth Markets in Mukono-Wakiso in the central region, Mbale in the eastern region and Lira-Amach in the northern region are held fortnightly. The association also participates in locally run civil-society platforms, involving everyone who supports the need to work simultaneously on agrobiodiversity protection, economic development and education through the proper management of resources. Site: www.slowfooduganda.org

Garden Informations

Types:School Garden
Coordinatore:Edward Mukiibi
Sibling with:Udo Dageroth, Henrike Groten and friends

Photos

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