Education and nutrition go hand-in-hand. Without enough food and clean water, children cannot grow their bodies or minds. With many children, a small budget, and land that doesn’t receive very much rain, we are challenged to grow the most nutritious food at the least cost to our budget and to our land.
In July 2008, we introduced the practice of permaculture (“permanent agriculture” or sustainable food production) to the growing of food at our Rakai Home. Our aim is to meet all our drinking, bathing and gardening needs from the water that falls on our land, and to produce all the food we require for a balanced, nutritious diet.
As of April 2009 we have achieved close to full water sovereignty - pulling water that falls on building roofs into water tanks and water that falls on the land into swales to feed vegetable gardens and fruit trees. We now also provide the children with two servings of fresh vegetables each week from our gardens, with the goal of providing five nutritious meals weekly by end-2009. By end-2010 our goal is to grow 50% of our staple food needs (corn; beans; sweet potatoes and cassava) and to provide additional protein from the eggs laid by the chickens that will also provide manure to our gardens.
Please watch our progress on http://childrenofuganda-permaculture.blogspot.com/
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