Gardens for Health International

Gardens for Health is precisely the sort of effort that might permit us to break the cycle of disease and poverty. If we neglect either afflication—disease or poverty—we won’t be able to help our patients and their families lift themselves out of poverty.

My child is 3 years old and after four months with Gardens for Health, he has gained 3 kilos. He has no more oedema, no more extended bellow, and he has moved from “in the red” to “in the green.” I am now growing carrots, green beans, soy beans, peppers, orange sweet potatoes and amaranth.

It is one-tenth the cost to provide effective agricultural support and help communities gain food security than it is to provide food aid at a time of famine.

There is no good health without good nutrition. Good nutrition throughout life—the consumption and absorption of food to support physical and mental growth and function—depends on agriculture.

I am not the same person as I used to be three months ago–Gardens for Health showed us that we are able to make change in our life and change in our community starting in our family.

We need concrete ways of growing, eating and sharing food that make people’s lives better. And perhaps the greatest reason to be optimistic is that, from Detroit to Malawi, we’re seeing more and more movements experimenting with new ways of doing precisely that.

All I have to say is that never again will my kid be affected by malnutrition. From the training from Gardens for Health I discovered that I have the capacity so there is no excuse to come back to the health center because of malnutrition.

I now know how to feed my kids according to their nutritional needs. I also learned how hygiene is the source of health. I discovered that we, especially mamas, have the capacity to stop some illness caused by poor hygiene by adapting different strategies like training our kids how to wash with soap before eating and washing food.

I am a community health worker and I would like to recognize the methodologies Gardens for Health uses to share messages to the community, which I found totally different from the other trainings that I attended before. I have more skills and confidence to explain to everyone in my community.

It is those who are extremely poor and vulnerable who suffer the most — women and girls often have disproportionately less food during economic shocks. Families are forced to sacrifice tomorrow for today — eating income-producing  livestock, putting schoolchildren to work and switching from expensive, nutritious food to cheaper staples.