UPDATES ON CONSTRUCTION, NUTRITION PROGRAM AND COMMUNITY FARM
During the summer, we made great progress on Idjwi. First, we built new hospital buildings with 8,000 sq. feet of clinical space, which has generated a lot of community support. The hospital was built with a small core of paid workers (mostly men, but one woman) and a larger group of men working as volunteers. We hope to complete the construction this coming December.
To eliminate the need for the nutrition program, we started a community farm with the enthusiastic participation of 50+ women from the village of Washiha near the health center. We got permission from local landowners to use several acres of land near the shores of the lake, and starting on Monday, August 6, 54 women came out to prepare the ground for planting. In addition, five men were hired to clear brush with machetes and to create a positive link with the male community.
The model for integrating the community garden into the normal family plot system of subsistence agriculture is that the groups of five women who are trained together are asked to work together on their home gardens, taking turns as a group to plant each woman’s garden with a variety of vegetables and fruit trees.
In effect, we have started not just a farm that can provide nutritious food to reduce the need for the nutrition program, but also a club of women who have a community-supported place to meet on a regular basis. We have provided educational programming to support the farm-to-home-garden model. The three nurses from the clinic have come out to the field to talk with the women about the links between nutrition and health.