Gardening, a source of income and nutrition

Rewuda Shekdelil, 25, a mother of four children lives in Sokoru District. Rewuda used to support her families by working on her neighbor's farm as a daily laborer. “The income that my husband earn is not enough for us; as a result, I started working on others people’s farm. However the income we both get was very little,” sadly says Rewuda.

Rewuda decided to go to Arab countries and change her family's life. “My income was very little, it was not even enough to feed my children well. We were struggling to survive. I realized I cannot give a better life for my children, so I decided to travel to other countries.”

At the middle of this situation, Rewuda got a chance to become one of the beneficiaries of World Vision Ethiopia’s Gardening for Improved Nutrition and Increased Income (GINII) project. World Vision Ethiopia implements GINII project with the objective of improving household level productivity and availing nutritious food for the children.

“World Vision came to our village and gave us training on saving, nutrition, and entrepreneurship. We established an association of 10 members so as to start vegetable gardening. World Vision also provided us with six varieties of improved vegetable seeds and chickens.  So, we rented a land and started working. We got $660 (15000 birr) from the first round production. I saved some of the money, bought two goats and I used some of the money for house consumption purpose.”

Based on the nutrition training she got, Rewuda is feeding her children varieties of nutritious foods. “Now our life has changed a lot, we eat three times a day, we feed our children from different sources of food, which we did not know its value before,” gratefully says Rewuda.

Rewuda and her colleagues rent an additional plot of land to maximize their production and profit. “When we first organized us an association, we were skeptical about the benefit. But now we see the result by our own eyes so we are working hard to bring the best outcome.”

Rewuda wants her children to learn and become a better person. Accordingly, she sends her children to school. “I do not want my children to live the way a lived. I do not want them to lose their dignity and suffer from the effects of migration. I am so grateful for World Vision for changing our lives,” thankfully says Rewuda.