The May 24 Weekend - Time to Garden!

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I don't know about you, but I always plant on the May long weekend... well, I don't really plant, I put up 2 hang baskets and call it a day. I've tried over the years to plant vegetables, annuals and more but I just don't have a green thumb! It takes everything I have to keep my geraniums alive!

Thankfully, the kids at VOH have a greener thumb than me. In Africa, the seasons are different and right now, many are almost ready for harvest. As you head into the long weekend, I thought you may enjoy a few pictures of VOH Centres and the children who plant and harvest vegetables, and youth who learn agricultural skills to make a living after they graduate, and VOH Staff members who lead it all. 

The food is used for the children's home, and sometimes they are sold in the local markets to provide some income for the Centre and families. One example is in our newest Centre in Luongo, Zambia. It is a swampy area about an hour's drive from Kitwe. Most of the families in the community do gardening for a living, thanks to the river that goes through the area. 

At VOH Luongo, they recently planted Chinese Cabbage and Rape. They are looking good! Eliud, a staff member, cares for the crops. As soon as they are ready for harvest, the vegetables will be distributed to the children and their families, and the extra will be sold at the local markets to help provide income for the ongoing operations at the Centre.

Our Centres have Youth Empowerment Training Programs, most of them with an agricultural section, where young men and women were working hard caring for their crops and learning valuable skills! Here's a few pictures I took of the children in VOH Kitwe. It was fun to see them working so hard and so excited about the fruit of their labor! They are much better gardeners than I will ever be!

As you do your planting this weekend, please take a moment to pray for the agriculture programs of VOH, for the children and staff - that they will have a bountiful harvest this season!

Jeanette

ps. Let's also remember those living in the world where COVID has increased food security and millions of lives are at risk. Learn more.

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