School Farm

At the Janusz Korczak Kindergarten, we have long dreamt of having our own farm where we could plant our own vegetables, which could eventually end up on children's plates and support our school feeding programme. However, the subject was not easy, the land for the farm belongs to the village government and its community, and getting into possession of it required considerable negotiating skills. Talks had been going on for a long time, about leasing the land, but to no avail, until this summer when, to our surprise, we got a positive answer.

Ignatius a.k.a. teacher Kofi, i.e. the headmaster of the Janusz Korczak kindergarten (so called by his pupils because of the day he was born), organised a small school stir, involved teachers, keen to support parents and a few boys from the village to clear the field, dig it up and plant the first seedlings. This was his summer initiative. We are already done with the maize harvest, which is one of the main ingredients in the children's daily diet, but this is only the beginning. In November we plant more vegetables now the plans are richer with tomatoes, okra, small aubergines, cassava. We have a dream that our school farm, colloquially called Kofi's School Project, will be a massive support to the feeding programme in our Kindergarten. Times are uncertain. Since August, the economic situation in Ghana has been tense. Prices are increasing significantly overnight (sometimes 100-200% per product), affecting the lowest income groups first. We firmly believe that we will not lack anything to continue our activities on this scale, and perhaps even more than we are doing now. We are keen to invest in projects and activities that will ensure our independence and help us to stay sustainable and draw from local sources.