We’ve been having amazing progress with the garden and the compost!
We made seed beds and covered them with black plastic sheets, which will help hinder weed growth and retain more water in the soil. Then we planted eggplants, Asian lettuces, chili peppers, cauliflowers, and mint. As Vedant said, God must love us very much since we had the most perfect day for planting. It rained liked the Congo jungle all morning and day, but as we started working the sky cleared up, making the soil was flawlessly moist and soft. In just one day, the garden had so much life. We all stood around the garden in awe, and I could sense the love the students already had for those baby plants.
The second thing we’ve been working on is the compost. We are currently digging up an area at the back of the center to make a 1-foot-deep composting well. We’ll use the compost for fertilizers for the garden. My main goal is to share with the students the importance of our environment, how we live a cycle intertwined with nature and human effort.
Furthermore, today was especially a big day. We decided to enter the ‘Concours de Jardins – Potagers’ competition. This is a national competition where students have to create and care for their own garden. The students showed great interest in it, and there was new energy amongst us. It has just been amazing to see the students work so hard and with joy, but today I just wanted shout to the world how awesome these kids are when they asked me to bring my laptop so they can compile a manual for the garden. I am so grateful of them for coming into my life and being my ELI Africa family.