The spring carrot crop from the Djeneb Garden at Siraba School is so plentiful that it has produced enough carrots for every student and teacher at the school!  The Garden was started last year by Hawa, the Health Education teacher, with a multi-purpose vision of its use to teach, demonstrate, and provide for the students.

Each grade level has their own plot that they maintain under the guidance of Hawa and the teachers. Planting, weeding, fetching water from the well, watering, thinning, and harvesting the many vegetables provide numerous learning opportunities: science, math, dedication, and responsibility. The nascent farming skills developed will be valuable to children in this rural village. The crops are being used by the Women’s Committee in preparing lunches each day – a delicious reward for the collective effort! 

An additional educational goal of the garden is to overcome misconceptions about what can be grown in the village. Dagabo, like many villages, tends towards “monoculture”: there are persistent beliefs held by many farmers that the soil is suited to specific food crops only – for example in Dagabo: tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Hawa purchased a wide variety of vegetable seeds, and the results of the students’ tending are bountiful crops of carrots, cucumber, several types of lettuce, eggplant, peppers, squash, and tomatoes.

Delicious, nutritious, and educational: a perfect recipe for Siraba School.     

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