Odette joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her niece, Rosine, who she cares for, weighed only 10 kg at 4 years of age. Thanks to what she learned in GHI’s health and agricultural training program, Odette now grows a plethora of vegetables, including onions, cabbage, and kale, in her own garden. She has learned how to cook a balanced meal and is happy to report that Rosine has gained two kilos since the beginning of March.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you, Kelle, James, Maddy, Dan, Myla, Lauren, Gehad, and Tamara for donating to help Odette grow healthy vegetables that have not only helped Rosine gain weight, but will help her maintain it.

Francine joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her three year old daughter, Scovia, was malnourished — weighing only eight kilograms. Francine says joining GHI has helped more than just her child. It has also helped her deal with her own depression. Francine’s first husband was killed in the genocide and her second husband disappeared, leaving her to raise five children on her own. The GHI programming taught her that the sadness she constantly felt was a medical condition. She learned that she could seek help for her depression and that there were plenty of people to support her, including her GHI class and GHI’s health educators. And that, Francine says, has been her first step in feeling better.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you, Dale Brian, Erin, Thomas, Karen, Mark, Lubna, and Jamie for donating to help Francine realize there is help and support for her.

Chantal M joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her two children, Clarice and Jean Claude, were malnourished. After the training on mental health, Chantal understood that the feelings of sadness she constantly felt had a name — depression — and that they were probably a contributing factor to her children’s malnutrition. She is more comfortable with her feelings and able to talk about them as a result of these classes. She realized that she is not alone in her sadness. Now with her GHI class, she has 40 other women to talk to about her feelings. The fact that she finally has people to confide in, Chantal explains, helps her to feel better.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you, Ioana, Radu, Allison, Judith, Brian, Jaclyn, and David for helping Chantal realize there are ways to address her sadness.

Luminata joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her daughter, Manueline, weighed just 10 kg at 5 years old and was severely malnourished. Throughout the program, Luminata learned how to grow her own garden of amaranth, onions, kale, and beets in order to supplement her family’s diet with nutrient-packed vegetables. Thanks to the health training classes on family planning, she learned that having more children could lead to more problems for her family, such as malnutrition and hunger. As a result, Luminata decided to start her own method of family planning.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you, Radu, Lauren, Ruth, Ankita, and Stephen for giving Luminata the chance to plan for her family’s future.

Francoise joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her 5 year old daughter, Sandrine, was malnourished and weighed just 12 kg. GHI’s trainings helped Francoise realize that what she was feeding her family–mostly beans and rice–was not a well-balanced diet. After the One Pot/One Hour demonstration, Francoise learned how to make a healthy and nutrient-dense meal for her children in one pot in only one hour!

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you Radu, Dominique, Jessica, Martin, Scott, Jenna, Brad, and Myla for giving someone like Fancoise the opportunity to learn that it is possible to cook a complete, well-balanced meal in only an hour.

Jacqueline joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her 4 year old daughter, Emile, weighed only 10 kg. Throughout the health training program, Jacqueline realized that there were other women also struggling with the problems that afflicted her. Due to gender-based violence, she has felt like she has very little control over her own life. Thanks to the support that her GHI class and the health educators provide her, Jacqueline finally feels like she has people on her team rooting for her and her family.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you Niji, Sara Kaiser, Sami, John, Ioana and Radu, Ben, Melinda, Joanna, Lawrence, Radu, Kara, and GHI for helping someone like Jacqueline learn she is not alone.

Claudine joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her two children, Emmanuel, four years old, and Kevine, two years old, were malnourished. Since joining GHI’s health and nutrition program, Claudine has learned the importance of feeding her children a balanced meal. She not only can see the improvements in her children’s health but also in her own. She says she has more energy to both care for her children at home and to work on a neighbor’s farm in order to bring home an income.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you Alexa, Jessica, Noor, Kristen, Brett, Corinne, Steve, Gabriela, Virgil, Daniel, Radu, Alexandru, Bb X, Elie, and Amy for donating to help Claudine not only learn how to better care for her children, but learn how to better care for herself.

Rosine joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her seven month old child, Norbert, only weighed four kilograms and was very malnourished. She was skeptical that she would learn enough to make her child healthy but decided to attend GHI’s trainings anyway. Since joining, Rosine has watched as her child has gained weight thanks to what she has learned about nutrition and how to make a balanced meal. Her garden is now full of a local leafy green called dodo, carrots, beats, and orange-fleshed sweet potatoes that her older son, Obird, loves to eat.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you all for helping a mother like Rosine provide for her children through the nutritious vegetables in her new garden.

Chantal joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her daughter, Fabrize, only weighed 5 kg at 18 months old. With two other children, Chantal was worried she could not provide enough food for her family to grow healthy. She says that GHI programming has really turned her family’s fortunes around — she has learned how to make a balanced meal as well as about her options for family planning. She understand how difficult it is to raise a child and is very thankful that, through family planning, she does not have to have any more children. What’s more, she can focus on raising the three she has to be healthy and happy.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you, Stephanie, for donating to help someone like Chantal learn that she can plan for her family to grow up healthy.

Sandrine joined Gardens for Health International (GHI) because her two year old daughter, Tasian, was malnourished and weighed only 6 kilograms. Sandrine was skeptical of family planning before joining GHI, yet after the training, she learned that a big family was one of the biggest contributing factors to her children’s malnutrition. With four children, Sandrine barely had enough food to keep them all well-fed. Now that she has family planning, she does not plan on having any more children and will use her new knowledge of making balanced meals to improve their diets and their health.

Located in the Gasabo District of Rwanda, GHI offers gardening kits and nutrition education to families in need so they can work towards better food security and overall health.

Thank you, Steve, Paige, GHI, and Marielle for supporting someone like Sandrine. Through your kindness, she learned that using family planning is essential, in her case, to ending her children’s malnutrition.