Moshe, TZ – Tupendane assists Soko Primary School with soil test – Oct 2023

A small test vegetable and banana garden is showing small signs of success. This is so important because the health and education of the 200 children of Soko Primary School has been in a long time crisis mode because the school’s soil has not been fertile.

Tupendane received an application from the school asking for assistance with improving the soil fertility. So the Tupendane manager Deo sought support from possible partners like Tanzanian local government authority and a local Vicoba.

The local government tested soil samples from the school land. The results confirmed that the land is not fertile and recommended adding organic material to support growing banana trees and vegetables for the children and teachers’ daily breakfast.

The dream of both the Soko Community and Tupendane is to partner with a local Village Community Banking group called Alpha Vicoba and UK school students to assist the primary school with establishing a Grow-own-Breakfast program. This will involve establishing a student garden club, making compost to add to the ground, constructing and maintaining water, hygienic food preparation and sanitation infrastructure, and building and operating banana and vegetable gardens.

Currently, the local Alpha Village Community Banking (Vicoba) group has assisted with the small test banana and vegetables gardens by supplying some manure for the compost. Tupendane was also able to win support from “One Bike, Tanzania” which has supported Alpha Vicoba group by providing bicycles to carry the collected manure.