Page 45 - EMBRACE Book

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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