We live in a small town between the red dunes off Namibia and like most off you know Namibia is known for its drought, but this little town of ours is very lucky. We have artesian water.

What is artesian water?

Artesian water refers to water that is confined underground in an aquifer. This water is naturally purified because it is free from the touch of air. This picture shows how artesian water works.

This picture is one of the first artesian wells found in our area. The reason I am including this is just to show how much water is here. Some of the places needs to constantly have water flowing otherwise the pressure in the pipes will be to much and the pipes will burst.

Needles to say we have a lot of water. And this in the middle of Namibia.

Because of the artesian water in this area we are surrounded by farmers growing a lot off vegetables, from tomatoes, cabbage, beetroot etc. We have also began a little vegetable garden at our home with our son.

This got me thinking, why doesn't the schools grow a vegetable garden to feed there hostels.
The government has closed the public schools for the second term in a row, a week early, because they don't have enough money to provide food to all the learners in the hostels*

Won't community/school gardens provide the necessary vegetables to feed all these learners?

What benefits are their in building a community/school garden?

1. Teaches learners the skills to provide vegetables even if there isn't any other food.
2. Teaches learners a sense of ownership, being proud of what they are doing/creating.
3. They learn the importance of providing and caring for others.
4. This takes children of the streets, makes crime among the school learners less.
5. Provide food to the hostels/schools
6. If there is to much vegetables the school can begin to sell it to the community and in return providing them with an additional income.

There are a lot more benefits towards building a school garden, but these are the ones I think are relevant to the Namibian situation at this moment.

Where do one start?

1. Organize a meeting with the community leader or the school principal.
2. Decide who will be on a planning committee. (It should preferably be people who are enthusiastic about providing for the community/school)
3. Identify all your resources (water, land, skills from people)
4. Find sponsors (For tools, seeds or even money that can be used to buy everything that is needed.)
5. Decide where you want to set up the garden
6. Start preparing and developing the site
7. Organize the garden (Decide where you want to plant the different vegetables.)
8. Plan how to involve the school learners (Maybe make it part of there natural science projects)
9. Determine the rules for the garden
   
10. Stay in touch with everyone involved.

When should you plant what?

I honestly think that if you teach a child to grow vegetables they will be able to provide for their families especially in the Third World Countries. This will also assist the country in providing for the citizens.

Remember this qoute:

Educate people on the importance of self-sufficiency because then they will be able to garden and provide.

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