Intensive Gardening: I’m Growing Young People, Not Just Vegetables!

Growing Young People In My Shamba

 
 
One day, someone asked me why I get my children up at 6:30 am during the week to work in our Shamba.  They commented, “You have enough money to buy  your vegetables from the market, why do you make your boys work?”  I replied, “I’m not growing vegetables, I’m growing young people!”

My shamba is a classroom that teaches many life lessons

Besides provided food for my table, my shamba teaches my children many valuable lessons.

1. It teaches them a work ethic.
2. They learn that if  they put just a hour or two a day, five days a week, they will see progress and have something valuable.
3. Teamwork makes every job easier
4. Sometimes, all you have to do is look at something you already have a bit differently to find your blessings
5. If you sacrifice a little effort and money now, you will reap rewards in the future.

Seeing new opportunities in what we already have

 
Life in Kenya is full of many challanges these days.  So many young people lack opportunities for work and advancement.  What I want to show young peole is that they can look at what they have around them and build something with hard work and planning.

Also, it does not always take a lot of money to create something amazing.  Right now, my shamba helps feeds my family and if someone I know is in a hard position, it helps feed them too.

I believe in cultivating a mindset of abundance.  When I get up in the morning I think, what can I do with what I already have?  With Intensive gardening, I get two to three times the amount of vegatables out of the small space I plant.

Intensive gardening

I believe Kenya is an amazing place and has everything we need to move forward.  All we need do is look at what we have, imagine the posibilites, work hard and smart, and we will all have enough!
 

 
Sincerely,

Lilian