Planting for the future

In our final Stories of Hope of 2022, we are delighted to share the incredible impact your support is making on children and their school communities in Rwanda.

Thanks to you, this month, our staff in Rwanda have been supporting schools in an exciting new agriculture project. Five schools were provided with agricultural tools, vegetable seeds and fruit tree seedlings as part of their sustainable school feeding programmes.

In collaboration with local church partners and Fields of Life, the school teachers created agriculture clubs for the pupils, and each class had an opportunity to plant their own trees and vegetable gardens. Pupils were tasked with the responsibility of taking care of their crops and have been learning about the benefits of tree planting for protecting the environment. The children are looking forward to harvesting the fruit and vegetables including oranges, carrots, cabbages and beetroot.

Moses, a Primary 6 pupil at Nyarusiiza Gasumba Focus Primary school planted an avocado fruit tree for the first time and said:“Avocado is one of my favourite fruits, I like to eat avocado with my food as it is very delicious. I cannot wait for my avocado tree to grow and to eat some, that will make me very happy because I planted it myself. Thank you for our fruit trees.”

Simeon, a local pastor thanked Fields of Life for supporting the children at Gihundwe Primary School: “We are so blessed to have partners like Fields of Life who support us in reaching our goals as a church. Doing this project with young children means the future generations will have better livelihoods because children learn best by doing.”

For children that sometimes have to go without food in their homes, the meal they receive at school is vital for their development. Through this initiative, the fruit and vegetables grown will improve the meals children receive each day helping the schools to contribute to a balanced diet for their pupils. When children receive a meal they can concentrate better in class and are more likely to come to school each day. Thank you for helping children in Rwanda to receive a quality education.