Evatra, Madagascar
24° 58' S 47° 4' E
Oct 14, 2006 09:10
Distance 0km

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Building Gardens

Text written in: English

Another volunteer activity which we did was building gardens for some of the villagers.  These people are so poor they struggle to feed their families and cannot afford to even buy the seeds to plant a garden.  Azafady provided the wood and the seeds so that they could get started.

Working with the new owner of the garden, we used the wood to build a fence to keep the chickens out.  We dug the beds and planted the seeds for their first crop of persay (chinese lettuce) and carrots.  We also talked to them (with the help of our guide) about looking after the garden.  The persay had already sprouted by the time we left Hovatra.

Afterwards some of us interviewed villagers who had gardens built by previous volunteers.  It was rewarding to hear how having the garden had improved their diet and their ability to feed their family.  Some of the gardeners had enough produce to be able to sell some and buy more food and things the family needed.

I found these interviews particularly interesting as we were able to hear the villager's opinions and in some cases we were invited into their homes and could see how they lived. 

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Photos / videos of "Building Gardens":

Building the fence Weaving the fence Mariette (with baby) - new garden's owner with family members. Chinese lettuce (Persay) and carrots planted New garden fences being constructed center and right, previously built garden at left
earlier Entry 14 of 24 later
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