Tending a Kitchen Garden: Lessons From a Child Survival Program Mom

What does a kitchen garden have to do with increasing the chance a child lives to see age five?

Kitchen gardens are a part of the “empowerment training” that moms and caregivers receive at the Kawangware Child Survival Program (KEC28), and Caroline is a mom who is benefiting from this training.

Outside of her 10′ x 10′ home, Caroline maintains a kitchen garden, something she learned to do in the Child Survival Program.

The garden provides food for her six-member family and requires tending to make sure bugs don’t destroy the vegetables, along with the hope she and her husband have for something more. When we ended our home visit with Caroline and her family yesterday,

“her husband proudly told us that his wife was working hard and that together they were changing their situation. He thanked us for coming to visit their house that they lived in “for now.” He said “for now” because he told us that he knew that they wouldn’t be there forever. The tools they had and the skills they learned were helping them break free from the poverty that surrounded them.”

Read more of Caroline’s story on Brad Ruggles blog – Learning How to Live.

Support a Child Survival Program for $20 a month and you can help empower moms like Caroline.

1 Comment |Add a comment

  1. Amy Wallace March 5, 2010

    I love the hope they have – they aren’t going to live in that house forever.

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