Page 44 - EMBRACE Book
P. 44

44                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            45














                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Edlyn, Philippines





                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   “I cannot express how much ADRA has helped
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   my family and our village.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   In this village, we don’t have pure soil. It’s sandy
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   and salty because we’re near the sea. ADRA
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   trained us in permaculture techniques. They
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   gave us starter kits – garden tools and seeds –
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   and trained us on how to plant vegetables in this
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   kind of soil. They taught us to put chicken dung,
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   coconut husks, and rice in the soil to help
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   maintain its moisture. Now we are successfully
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   raising vegetables in our backyards.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   The seeds that ADRA gave us are drought-
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   resistant and can better withstand weather
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   shocks. ADRA gave us 10 types of seeds. I was
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   able to harvest seeds from my garden and save
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   them for the next planting cycle.”
                Anastasie, Rwanda
                                                                                                                                          Photo: © 2019 ADRA | Frank Spangler



               “I am a permaculture trainer. It makes me happy to share the              EMBRACE doesn’t prevent us from being farmers. Rather, it
               knowledge I have learned from EMBRACE. There are three to                 has tried to help us to improve the way we farm. Farming is
               five families around here who now practice permaculture                   my family’s business and I will continue to improve the way
               because I was able to teach them. They say that it has been               we do it. The trainings gave me knowledge and new ideas
               very helpful for them. I am so happy to share this knowledge              that opened my mind and my way of thinking. For example,
               with other neighbours and my family.                                      tree tomatoes. I have some here in my kitchen garden. But I
                                                                                         have another large field where I now cultivate tree tomatoes.
                One new vegetable that I started growing was spinach. We                 This idea came from the EMBRACE trainings. Tree tomatoes
               now consider spinach as ‘Rwanda’s meat.’ We compare it to                 are very profitable because you can harvest them every two
               meat because we understand now that when we eat spinach,                  weeks, and they are very popular at the market.
               it’s very good, it’s tasty, and it’s good for our health. We also
               learned to plant carrots, beets, lettuce, and tree tomatoes.              My family’s income has increased many times. I am now
               Before EMBRACE, all we grew were potatoes and beans.                      harvesting more vegetables and fruits than my family can
               That’s all we would eat.                                                  eat. I sell the rest at the market and my income has
                                                                                         multiplied many times.”
               I was already a farmer before EMBRACE. I’m still a farmer.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Photo: © 2019 ADRA | Frank Spangler
   39   40   41   42   43   44   45   46   47   48   49