Ngara, TZ – Garden Shop team pushes to stage school for success in 2017 – 15 Dec 2016

The SODAT Garden Shop team has been very busy throughout the end of 2016. They have been working hard to stage Mukibogoye Primary School to begin growing their own school breakfast by the end of 2017. In the last 4 months of 2016 the team collaborated with primary school students to:

• Plant 600 banana trees
• Organize 185 students into 35 garden clubs
• Maintain 7 organic vegetable gardens harvesting 75 kg. / week
• Purchase foot-powered water pumps, pipes, and other equipment for garden maintenance
• Train the Equipment Club and Water Club for 2017 responsibilities

By the middle of November the garden shop team and the students began to worry their efforts would be curbed by drought. The rains that usually begin in September still had not started yet. Relief and excitement came with the first rains and Mukibogoye has enjoyed gentle, steady rains ever since. The rains helped the banana seedlings take root and have also reduced the workload while students are gone for the holidays.

SODAT arranged for small groups of students to come each day over the school break to help with maintenance and operation of the gardens. This is a great help to the SODAT Garden Shop team and the rains make the work even more efficient and enjoyable!