Help Children Get Better Nutrition at Buwanume Primary School

Three in ten children below five years of age in rural Uganda are significantly underweight and malnourished. The students at Buwanume Primary School live in very challenging conditions. One cup of watery porridge is often the only “meal” children get at school. If you’ve ever had that gnawing feeling of hunger in your stomach, you know how hard it is to put your focus on learning.

The hope is to grow and harvest vegetables that will provide additional food to children at school and improve their nutrition. The gardens will also serve to teach sustainable growing techniques to the students and community.

Students, teachers, staff, and the community will be building and maintaining raised-bed organic vegetable gardens using rain capture and drip irrigation. 30 trees will also be planted at the school to decrease soil erosion and help reforest the area.

The project will fund the supplies needed for the raised beds, rain barrels, weed cover, drip hoses, fencing, and seedlings. The crops will include tomatoes, eggplants, collard greens, cucumbers, and other vegetables. A large crop of orange-skinned sweet potatoes will also be planted as these provide many nutrients important for nutrition, especially for younger children.

We have already built one very successful garden at another school and look forward to helping the children in Buwanume.

Without this project children at the school will continue to struggle with food security and getting proper nutrition. With your help, these children will have food that will improve their health and ability to learn.