Garden Project

After quite a few months of back and forth, we finally started the garden project on November 19th. All week, we planned to start work on Friday morning. My host dad, Sekou talked non-stop, as he is known to do, about the project, and there was much excitement from the teachers at the school that I am working with. So come 8:30, I was up and out with the teachers, ready for work. The first thing we had to do was put up the fencing, which required putting posts into the ground, cementing them in and then putting up the actual fencing to surround the garden space, which is about 18 meters by 18 meters. I was prepared for the fact that this project would be on West African International Time (W.A.I.T.) but when I looked up from my conversation with Barou, one of the teachers, I saw Sekou across the school yard with Yakouba, one of the village men who had offered to come help. They were already out, measuring the land and marking where the posts would go. I spent most of the morning trying to be helpful, pulling water for them to mix with the cement, collecting big rocks to help anchor the posts, and going to the boutiki to get sugar and tea to keep the men going. Through the whole morning, the only people working were Sekou and Yakouba, along with the occasional young man who stopped by to watch and got sucked in to help. It was more than frustrating to me that the teachers and the school director were sitting around while the community members, who really have no connection to the school, were doing all the work. Finally, Barou followed me to the field to see how things were going, and then once he came over others followed. While it was frustrating that the teachers weren’t more involved in the building of the fence, I am excited that they seem to be more interested, and hopefully therefore more involved in the teaching of the gardening skills and the work in the actual garden.

The goal with this project is to transfer gardening skills to the kids in the first cycle school, as well as to use the garden and the vegetables we harvest as an income generating activity (IGA). Ideally, the kids will sell their produce at our local market, the profits of which will be used to purchase things for the school or to fund small repairs at the school. I am looking forward to using the garden as a health education tool by teaching about nutrition and the benefits of adding the different vegetable to their diets. Perhaps we can even use the project as a math education tool by teaching the kids how to calculate what to charge for the different vegetables in the market and how to keep track of the profits and expenses of the garden. Selfishly, I am looking forward to getting to work in the garden with the kids. I have started my own garden in my concession, but more often than not, Sekou has done the “dirty” work and I have been left to stand by and watch. Another perk will be the new variety of produce available at Niasso’s market, which currently sells tiny shriveled onions on occasion along with fried dough balls, batteries, and peanuts. A little variety would benefit everyone. As the project progresses, I will continue to post updates.