By: Nghiinomenwa-vali Erastus
The Palms for Life Fund Namibia says in its response to food insecurity and nutrition, it has initiated vegetable gardens to supplement its ECD centers with home-grown veggies.
In an interview with The Villager, the non-profit organisation’s liaison officer, Gabriel Tomas, explained that they initiated the programme to tackle food insecurity affecting their target community, the San.
The organisation aims to achieve this by supporting and introducing vegetable gardens to 6 out of 10 of their Early Childhood Development (ECD) centres in marginalised San communities. These vegetable gardens supplement the ECD centers with crops such as green peppers, cabbages, watermelons, tomatoes, maize meal, beetroots, carrots, and spinach.
“Every morning, the local support staff at the ECD centres prepare their meal by going to harvest whatever they have in the gardens to supplement the meals for the day,” Tomas stated.
These gardens provide supplementary feeding to 1,300 children between the ages of 3 and 6 years old in the ECDs. Tomas added that the variety of vegetables from these gardens, coupled with the food provided by Palms for Life through vouchers and the division of marginalised communities, sufficiently supply the ECD centres.
The centers serve as a community hub, supporting vegetable gardens and adult education programs.
Tomas has also revealed that recently, Farm Uitkoms, which hosts one of their ECD centres harvested watermelons, onions, and spinach, while Otjinene harvested carrots, beetroots, and cabbages. Meanwhile, Ondera harvested maize meal and tomatoes.
Likwaterera Centre harvested onions and spinach, whilst the Tsumkwe 1 centre harvested cabbages, spinach, and onions. Along with the Iitapa and Amarika centres, Likwaterera has on occasion been known to mostly produce tomatoes, green peppers, and spinach.
Tomas indicated that the gardens do very well during the rainy season (November to March) every year, and they provide nutritious meals.
These centers provide structured meal programs offering breakfast and lunch, child-friendly sanitation and handwashing facilities, digital learning tools, toys, and fully-equipped classrooms.
Palms for Life Fund Namibia is a non-profit organisation that collaborates directly with the Office of the Vice President Division of Marginalised Communities and operates under Memoranda of Understanding with the Ministry of Gender and the Ministry of Education and Youth.
