Winnie is a young person from Luwero district in the central part of Uganda. She lives with her father and her three siblings.
She is also a student pursuing studies at secondary school level at one of the nearby schools in her community. She grows her own vegetables through kitchen gardening which has supported her and her family.
Starting a kitchen garden.
“I was motivated to start growing my own vegetables by a trainer who is a person with disability.
“After the training, I immediately prepared a nursery bed and transferred the seedlings to the main garden after some time. I watered my garden every morning and evening until it sprouted.”
I’m in control of my garden because I have the chance to decide how to run and manage it without interruptions from anyone. This has given me a sense of leadership and power because I make the decisions concerning the garden myself because I understand everything from get go.
Support from Winnie’s family and community.
“My family is very supportive of my vegetable growing project. My father provided me with a small piece of land at home to start growing vegetables. My siblings are supportive too, they help me market the vegetables around the community for sale.
“There are people who buy vegetables from me to resale. This boosts my sales since they buy in larger quantities.
“Growing vegetables for sale has helped me get money to purchase scholastic materials like books and pens on my own.
“I have supported my family with food to eat from the vegetables that I grow. My father sometimes lacks money to purchase food for me and my siblings, but this has helped reduce the burden.
“Growing up as a young girl with disability, people had a different attitude towards me which is no longer the case. Since I started growing my vegetables, my confidence has improved because I can now interact with many people who want to learn from me and who also buy my vegetables.
“I have acquired a lot of skills from growing my own vegetables which I didn’t have before.”
Winnie’s future plans.
“I have joined a savings group of people with disabilities where we save money weekly. In a week, I save approximately 10,000 Uganda shillings from the vegetables I grow. I plan to start a poultry business with my savings. I have learnt a good savings culture out of this.
“Some community members including my peers have taken inspiration from me to start kitchen gardening. They ask me to teach them how it’s done, which I am happy to do. I have also shared seeds with them, and they have established very good kitchen gardens. This gives me joy.”
This project was made possible through your general donations, which were matched pound for pound by the UK government through UK Aid Match.
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100 % HOMEGROWN PROJECT
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