Thanks to Molly, Lee, Jerame and Kandace, Mama Josephine is now planting, growing and eating more nutritious food. Mama Josephine is a single mother with three children, one of whom is severely malnourished and was recently referred by a community health worker to Gardens for Health. We work in partnership with Josephine’s local health post, providing weekly cooking demonstrations and trainings on all the causes and solutions to malnutrition. Additionally, Josephine receives regular home garden visits by our team of agricultural assistants, along with seeds and small animals for her garden. Here Josephine is pictured with some seedlings for her home garden–amaranth and orange flesh sweet potatoes, which she has already planted. Thanks again to you all for planting the seeds of good health!

Mama Salima is a single mother with five young children. She is incredibly hardworking and committed to taking care of her family, but she struggles with HIV, limited access to land and poverty.

Gardens for Health and a local health center connected Mama Salima to a malnutrition program. Mama Salima had previously brought her children in for malnutrition and food aid, and while short term aid helped in the immediate term, her children kept losing weight when they returned home.

There was no long term solution that would allow the family to invest in the health by growing their own food. As part of Gardens for Health partnership with Mama Salima’s family, GHI has provided seeds and tree seedlings for her home garden, education in nutrition, health, agriculture and savings, and just recently, two chickens. After a couple of weeks, Mama Salima and her family have already harvested 28 eggs.  While the path to good health doesn’t come from eating one egg, Mama Salima and her family are eating better, eating more, and more importantly doing it themselves.

Thanks to Cait K, Dean and Julie B, Lee O and Leo B, Mama Salima is now equipped with the resources and knowledge for greater self-sufficiency. Thank you all so much for helping invest in Mama Salima and her family’s health!

Thanks to Ioana and Radu, Cecile and her son who was recently diagnosed with malnutrition, are eating better and getting healthier. Cecile and her family received seeds and seedlings to grow for three seasons this year, regular visits for advice from a Gardens for Health agronomist, and participated in weekly trainings and cooking demonstrations at their health center.

The trainings, which were led by other mothers in the community, covered all the topics related to the causes of malnutrition, from domestic violence, to family planning, to HIV, to preparing balanced meals, to saving money. Cecile says, “after being enrolled and following this training, I feel that I am not the same person as I was or used to be before three months ago. This program showed us that we are able to make changes in our life and change our community starting in our family. I feel that I have become united with other mamas in the community.”

Thank Ioana and Radu for investing in the health of this family!

Naome is nineteen with one child, and she is the head of her small household. Equipping her with the resources to provide good nutrition for her child is critical to her child’s growth. Naome and her child entered into the Gardens for Health malnutrition program and have been attending regular trainings and cooking demonstrations at the health center, and have planted a garden with the help of GHI’s agricultural agent.

Whereas Naome was not growing any vegetables before, she has now planted beets, cabbages, carrots and amaranth. She has had so much success from her vegetable garden that she is planning on saving the seed and expanding her space.

At a recent weighing, Naome found out that her child has already gained 1 kilogram–she is thrilled that this is due to her own hard work. Thanks to Carol, Sterling and Melinda W, Nathan and Marjorie for making this critical investment in the health of Naome and her child!

Clementine is twenty one years old with one child and is eight months pregnant with another. After five months in the Gardens for Health malnutrition program, her child has gone from 9 kilograms to 11 kilograms. She is also is better equipped to eat better herself–maternal nutrition is crucial to the health and growth of her child.

She appreciates the seed provision from Gardens for Health in addition to the training, which has helped her learn many things related to malnutrition, from preparing a balanced meal, to settling disputes with her husband, to family planning, to raising chickens.

Thank you Venkata, David, Lenette, and Sterling and Melinda for helping Clementine help herself and her children.

Estella is a single mother with two children, one of whom is enrolled in our malnutrition program. Thanks to Kevin, Estella has planted carrots, amaranth and cabbages. Her child that was malnourished has gained two kilograms over the last four months and is no longer severely malnourished.

She appreciates that she now knows how to prepare a balanced meal with “all four colors”, and she appreciates the home visits and advice from Gardens for Health’s agricultural agents. She now has health insurance for her family and has recently joined a cooperative for people living with HIV/AIDS, to work in solidarity with others in her community.

Thank you Kevin, for helping provide good health and growth to Estella and her children!

Mama Maria supports four children, who were diagnosed with malnutrition. With the support of Gardens for Health, Maria attends regular cooking demonstrations at her health center, receives visits from a GHI agronomist, and a home garden package. Although she didn’t have a home garden before, Maria is now growing cabbage, carrots, amaranth, spinach, beets, and eggplants.

One of her children has improved enough to meet normal nutrition standards, and is now going to school. Whereas she didn’t have the energy before to complete her primary school classes, Maria says that she is now energetic, and present.

Thank you, Cheya, Ashly, Sara and Jill for making this possible!

Mama Mukaruniga has six children and is a single mother. She had no home garden before becoming involved with the Gardens for Health program (GHI), but now she is growing carrots, beets, peppers, amaranth, and orange sweet potatoes.

She values the training that she has received from a GHI agronomist and is now cultivating every available plot next to her home with vegetables. She also says that after the education sessions, she is more aware of what sorts of foods to feed her children who are malnourished; after two months, one of her children who was on food aid has already gained two kilos and is no longer classified as severely malnourished. 

Thanks to you Amy, this family is nourishing themselves.  A heartfelt thank you for this donation!