Mt Kilimanjaro, TZ – Lishe Bora brings on new employee to care for primary school garden – 2 Feb 2013

Lishe Bora has hired a new employee to help maintain the vegetable garden at Mkyashi Primary School. The employee, Laurenti, will be responsible for maintaining the garden as a best-practice demonstration garden for the school children. The garden will also provide vegetables to fortify the school lunch of beans and corn.

To encourage the school to take ownership of the project, Lishe Bora asked the school to propose candidates for the position. Laurenti’s sister is the assistant headmaster at the school and she recommended him for the job.

In addition to caring for the school garden Laurenti will help with Lishe Bora’s other activities including helping families start vegetable gardens, conducting garden mentoring visits, and making compost. Prior to working with Lishe Bora, Laurenti was a mechanic, farmer, and livestock keeper.

After he finished school in 1984 Laurenti worked as a bicycle mechanic. When motorcycles became popular in Tanzania he taught himself to work on motorcycles as well until 2000 when he stopped working as a mechanic to focus full time on farming and raising livestock.

Laurenti liked working with livestock because it was less risky than working as a mechanic. Even if there were no customers his animals provided him with milk, eggs, meat, and manure for his crops. By saving money from harvests and scheduling for most livestock sales to come in December, Laurenti was able to pay school fees for all seven children each January.

Farming and livestock produced enough income to keep his children in school, but it was not productive enough for the family to make other life improvements. So, when the opportunity came for Laurenti to begin working with Lishe Bora he was eager to accept.