Stella and Vena inspect Vena’s garden

Vena and her husband live with their three children in a small house in a cramped compound, along with a score of other families. There is almost no space, and yet Vena – who is one of Stella’s oldest friends in Shield of Faith – has managed to carve out enough for a kitchen garden in between the houses in a common space that is shared with other families.

Vena’s garden hangs from a shared wall

The garden is near an open sewer where families empty their toilets and water after washing clothes. Stella and Vena have attached rows of recycled plastic jerry cans and tower gardens (which featured in our movie) to try to keep the garden from these contaminated areas and they have served Vena well in the past. Sadly, many of the shelves broke during the fierce flooding earlier this year which forced Vena to put the pots on the ground, close to the open sewer.

I was concerned to see the strawberries being grown next to the sewer due to the high risk of contamination. When I expressed my concern to Stella, she explained that part of the project’s mission is to teach hygiene and safe gardening practices to women. “The project aims to help women feed themselves safely, as well as save money each month.”

She continued that once someone can feed her family she does not have to worry about where their next meal will come from. At that point you can move to hygiene and safe food practices: “We want to help these women and their families meet their basic needs, and then focus on learning safe practices.”