MIX – A group of women have embraced backyard gardening at the Mix settlement in the Windhoek Rural constituency as they donated their first harvest to a local kindergarten.
An organised group of women called Moukumweohatupondola (in unity we achieve) donated their first harvest to Inge’s Community Kindergarten in that informal settlement on the outskirts of Windhoek last week.
The team donated different items, including vegetables from their garden such as spinach, cabbage, tomatoes, potatoes and onions. It was received by the principal of Inge`s Community Kindergarten, together with her co-workers and learners from the school.
Principal Julia Bashir expressed gratitude for the donation.
“We are thankful and appreciate the gifts you brought for us. Thank you for showing us that we can produce our food from the available small land we have,” she beamed.
The school has a feeding programme every Wednesday and Friday for both pre-school learners and old people of the Mix settlement, but at times they run short of food to provide for the children.
“We rely on donations from farmers like you to feed our learners and old-aged members of the settlement,” said the principal.
The chairperson of Moukumweohatupondola, Martha Shikomba, said the group empowers other women by engaging in community upliftment activities such as gardening, chicken farming, women’s agri-entrepreneurship training and mentorship programmes. “We are driven by the proverb that says ‘if you educate a woman, you educate a nation’ as a pioneer to recognise the importance of women’s contributions to community upliftment and empowerment through sustainable agriculture and agri-business,” she added.
Inge’s Kindergarten is a pre-primary school at Mix that was named after Ingeborg Price, a German national who funded the construction of the school and provided the basic necessities of the school from its establishment in 2008 until 2016 before she permanently relocated to Germany due to old age.