Page 63 - EMBRACE Book

Emma, Philippines

“I am a Permaculture Champion in my village.
After receiving training from ADRA, I recruited all
of my group members help to start a
62 demonstration garden where we could put into 63
practice all of the things that I had learned.
Fortunately, one of the people in the village had a
nice piece of land right close to the river so it made
it very convenient to get water for watering the
plants.

We started by preparing the soil and creating the
various types of gardens, such as the keyhole
garden and the mandala. We actually ended up
with a total of 11 keyhole gardens surrounding the
mandala garden. we added natural fertilizers to the
soil and started planting the seeds, just as I had
been shown. We started composting so that we
could continue to add nutrients to the soil because
the soil on the plot of land we were given was not
the best. It had been used as a rice field for many
years and had been sprayed many times. We had to
bring it back to a healthy state.

After the training ADRA gave each member some
gardening tools, such as a hoe, a rake, a shovel, a
watering can, and a hand sprayer. We also got a
good variety of seeds to get our personal kitchen
gardens going. ADRA also gave us training on how
to preserve our own seeds.

I believe that even if ADRA leaves our village, the
people will continue growing their kitchen
gardens. They now know what they can do, how to
do it, and how good it tastes to have the fresh
vegetables, and how that can keep their children
healthy. It also saves a lot of money! It’s really like
going back to our roots and using the methods our
grandparents used in growing their own food. We
have become conditioned to believe that they only
way to get a good harvest is to use all kinds of
chemical fertilizers and pesticides. ADRA EMBRACE
has shown us that this is not true.

EMBRACE has been very good for us, very positive,
very helpful. We are now eating healthy foods and
feeding our children good healthy foods without
fertilizers. I have small grandchildren. It is so nice
to know that they are eating healthy food every
day!

“We are really, really thankful to the people of
Canada for bringing the EMBRACE trainings here
and helping us in this way. The whole community
is very, very grateful. We are so happy that you
have supported us here.”

Photo: © 2019 ADRA | Frank Spangler Photo: © 2019 ADRA | Frank Spangler