JUNE 2013
THIRD ANNUAL GREAT GARDENER WORKSHOPS
The third annual Great Gardener Workshops were a great success. Eighty-two people came to the first workshop at the University of Gondar, on May 11 and 12. Sixty-seven people attended the second workshop at the Ambabiorghis Elementary School on May 18 and 19. The training was conducted by the University of Gondar’s Faculty of Agriculture, Antioch College’s farmer in residence, Kat Christen, and KDP staff. Practical training for the first workshop took place at the University of Gondar’s demonstration vegetable garden. For the second workshop practical demonstrations were conducted at the newly constructed small demonstration garden at the Ambaghiorgis Health Center.
The Community Health Workers in Kossoye have been busy packaging seeds for the school seed distribution just before the rainy season summer break. This is also the perfect time to plant new gardens. This June the KDP will distribute 15,000 packets of seeds to students in eight elementary schools.
DRY SEASON CONTINUES IN THE AMHARA REGION
The rainy season started in May in Addis Ababa and central Ethiopia. But it remains dry in the Amhara Region in northern Ethiopia. Farmers have their fields plowed and planted, hoping for rain. Gardeners are waiting to re-plant their gardens. When it is very dry in April and May, rats, birds and chickens prey on the vegetables, so this is one of the low points of vegetable production.
Last year the rains did not start in the northern highlands until July, causing many crop failures and stressing household food supplies. We hope that this June will be a wet month.
MAY 2013
ANTIOCH COLLEGE FARMER TO PARTICIPATE IN GREAT GARDENER WORKSHOPS
Kat Christen, the farmer for Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, is the recipient of an AllPeopleBeHappy Foundation service grant which has been matched with three anonymous donations. She will participate in the May Great Gardener Workshops in Gondar and Ambaghiorgis, focusing her teaching on succession planting and soil improvement. She will also help build four model kitchen gardens at health posts in Wogera Woreda. Christen also operates an organic farm with her husband Doug just outside Yellow Springs, Ohio.
DABAT HIGH SCHOOL DIGS A VEGETABLE GARDEN
Dabat is a regional town 100 kilometers from Gondar with about 40,000 residents. A teacher who participated in last summer’s Great Gardener Workshop has started a garden with help of students in the Environmental Protection Club. This is the KDP’s first high school garden but eighth school garden .
APRIL 2013
GRANT FROM ALLPEOPLEBEHAPPY FOUNDATION
The KDP is very pleased to announce a grant from the AllPeopleBeHappy Foundation. Last year’s grant helped build a seed bank at the University of Gondar. This year’s grant will be directed towards promotion of the 5x5 small garden initiative and workshops. Gardens will be built at the regional Health Center in Ambaghiorgis as well as seven Health Posts in rural districts.
Climate change was the topic of a conference in February at the University of Gondar. Unfortunately this was followed by a failure of the little rains, which usually provide 4-6 weeks respite in February and March from the long dry season (October to May). This makes maintaining gardens more difficult, and we are seeing a reduction in the total number of gardens from the peak of October and November, although we have about 100 new gardens reported in Shenkor Mesk, Kossoye, and Dara.
SEED DISTRIBUTIONS AND WORKSHOPS
In February packets of seeds ( chard, cabbage, carrot, beets, and lettuce) were distributed to 2,640 persons in Kossoye, Dara, and Shenkor Mesk. In addition 21 patients at the Dabat Health Center received seeds. KDP volunteers led a gardening workshop for 400 students at the Dara Elementary School. This school now has a model garden that staff and students maintain. It includes varieties of indigenous trees as well as vegetables.
NEWSLETTER
For more detailed information and photographs about exciting developments, see our Spring newsletter. It is available on-line.MARCH 2013
SEED BANK IS NEARLY COMPLETE
For the past three months workers have been building a seed bank on the campus of the University of Gondar. Funded in part with a grant from the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation, the seed bank is located near the university’s demonstration garden. In addition to safe-keeping for seed varieties, it will be a storage center for seeds before they are distributed in the field.
NEW GRANT FROM ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
The Poulsbo, Washington club of Rotary International has provided a grant to fund a small seed storage house at the Dabat Training Health Center. This is also a location for a demonstration garden. Last year the Poulsbo club also paid for a pump and other supplies for the University of Gondar demonstration garden.
FEBRUARY 2013
VEGETABLES SALES HELP SUPPORT ORPHANS
The demonstration garden in at the Dabat Training Health Center has been very active as an education center and seed distribution point. The vegetables are either sold in the market or distributed to poor and disabled patients. Profits from the sale of vegetables are given to orphaned children that live in the neighborhood.
WATERING CAN DISTRIBUTION
One hundred watering cans were distributed as awards to persistent gardeners in Dara and Kossoye . By our definition persistent gardeners are those who maintain their vegetables through the dry season, which we are now well into. There were unexpected rains in October, which helped farmers with barley and gardeners with chard, beets, carrots, and cabbage. Rain gauges distributed through the Kossoye district have shown no rain now for three months. There are often small rains in later February and March. The big rains do not typically start until May or June and last until September.
JANUARY 2013
MORE GARDENING WORKSHOPS
Two years ago when the Kossoye Development Program started its summer gardening workshops the thought was that these would be once-a-year events. But due to popular demand the KDP is now scheduling similar training events through the year. Last month 1500 school children and 31 teachers from the Dabat area attended a workshop at the demonstration garden located at the Training Health Center in Dabat. Later in December another workshop was held at the Shenkor Mesk demonstration garden. This was attended by 24 community representatives. Over the next year we would like to have regular monthly or bi-monthly workshops throughout the diffusion zone (about 100 kilometers along route 3 north of Gondar) in order to bring household gardening skills to as many people as possible.
AMBA RAS ELEMNTARY SCHOOL GARDEN
A new elementary school five kilometers north of Kossoye town has started a demonstration garden and Garden Club—and they did this on their own. This will be the seventh School Gardening Club affiliated with the KDP. In each club one or two teachers serves as an advisor for students who want to learn about vegetables and indigenous plants. Typically the garden is near the school water pump, to make watering easier. Garden beds are tended by individual students or entire classes. KDP provides seeds and gardening manuals for the schools and for students to take home.
DECEMBER 2012
A NEW MANUAL TRANSLATED INTO AMHARIC
Household Vegetable Gardening is now translated into Amharic. It will be available on the website in the next couple of months. The inspiration for this particular manual—which combines household gardening, seed saving, and nutrition—was the Great Gardener Workshop last summer. This workshop created a moment for collaboration for workshop participants, University of Gondar faculty, the KDP management team, and board members. It has 12 new illustrations that will be easy to reproduce. Our next step: to adapt the text to different audiences (4th graders, semi-literate mothers, Health Extension Workers with a 10th grade education, and college students) through editing and lesson plans.
Garden Counts
The months from October to February are typically a time of food abundance. Potatoes have been harvested and stored. Barley is weeks away from harvest. And there are many vegetable gardens. Our current leader in community vegetable gardens is the new diffusion community of Dara which has 336 gardens in a community with about 2500 households. In second place is our pilot diffusion community, Kossoye , with 291 gardens in November. Kossoye is about the same number of households as Dara. ShenkorMesk has 186 gardens in a community of about 1200 households. At this point we do not have garden counts for Dabat and Gondar.
We are not sure why the number of gardens in Kossoye has declined, but water is a challenge in many neighborhoods. Virtually everyone walks to a protected water source; in some neighborhoods women and children walk as much as a mile for a bucket of clean water.
In Kossoye we noticed early in the diffusion experiment that about 25% of families would at least try to maintain a household garden for a season, but that not more than 15% would become persistent gardeners. This 15% can make a different in local availability of vegetables. We also believe that their children will be healthier as a result of having a steady supply of home grown vegetables.
Newsletter
For more detailed information and photographs about exciting developments, see our Fall quarter newsletter. It is available on-line.
NOVEMBER 2012
NEW UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY GARDEN
Plans are under way to construct a small teaching garden at the University Elementary School in the middle of the University of Gondar’s Maraki campus. While this project has been on the back burner for some time, it was finally a request from the teachers and principal that pushed KDP into action. The garden will be complete and planted by December.
Most of these elementary school students are the children of faculty and staff. Thus they present an opportunity to demonstrates to a highly influential group that household gardening is not just a food security strategy for rural people.
We are hoping that this garden will also help us recruit university students to take the message of household gardening back to their rural communities.
OCTOBER 2012
NEW SEED DISTRIBUTION IN SCHOOLS
The third week of October is one of two times during the academic year when the Kossoye Development Program distributes seeds to school children. This year we have prepared seed packages for more than 4,500 children in five schools. Next year we expect to distribute seeds to more than 10,000 children. The packaging of the seeds is now being done in Kossoye, the location of our household gardening pilot study.
END OF A GOOD RAINY SEASON
Ethiopia usually has two rainy seasons: four or five weeks in February/March and then twelve to sixteen weeks from May to September. This year the long rains did not start until the end of June, a worrisome sign, but the rains fell heavily and steadily through July, August, and into September. The result is that the summer season crops (mostly potatoes and beans) have produced strong harvests. Currently farmers are planting varieties of barley for harvest in January and February.
POTATO EXPERIMENT
Faculty from the University of Gondar’s School of Agriculture conducted an experiment in the new diffusion community of Dabat over the past four months with five new varieties of potatoes. The question was whether these newer varieties from other parts of Ethiopia would grow well in the northern highlands. So far two of the varieties have proven to be significantly more productive than the variety that most farmers have been using. A formal scientific report will be written soon. Plans are now under way for the KDP to acquire quantities of the new varieties for distribution before the 2013 long rainy season.
This study of was funded in part by a grant award from the AllPeopleBeHappy Foundation.
SEPTEMBER 2012
SURGE IN NUMBER OF GARDENS IN DARA
In May KDP made its first seed distribution in Dara, our latest diffusion site. Located about five miles from Dabat, a regional market town with a population of about 40,000 people, Dara is a rural administrative district spread out over 22 neighborhoods (population 10,000). The area is unusually barren due to deforestation. But public awareness about environmental issues is high. The local elementary school has a nursery for indigenous trees. The eight representatives from Dara who attended the Great Gardeners Workshop in Dabat on June 16 and 17 were very motivated to teach their neighbors about household vegetable gardening. Over the summer we have seen the number of gardens in Daraincrease from a baseline of less than 20 to 330! We expect that the number of gardens will continue to increase between September and January—peak months for cultivation—and then decline in the dry months.
In Dabat it is more difficult to count the number of new gardens, because of the population density. Nevertheless the Dabat participantsin the Great Gardener Workshop report 75 new vegetable gardens in town. We expect that the number of gardens is higher.
DABAT DEMONSTRATION GARDEN ATTRACTS MANY VISITORS
The new demonstration garden at the Dabat Training Health Center has had many visitors over the summer. In June the hands on instruction for the Great Gardeners Workshop (with 47 participants) happened in the garden. In July 106 persons had visited the demonstration garden for horticultural and nutrition instruction. These included mothers from the antenatal clinic and HIV patients. Vegetable seed packets are distributed without charge to patients who visit the Training Health Center.
ANNUAL MEETING
On the weekend of September 7 and 8 the KDP board had its annual meeting in Yellow Springs, Ohio. The board made significant progress in sharpening the diffusion strategy for household gardening, including decisions to go forward with two new diffusion sites in 2013 along the corridor between Gondar and Dabat.
The reception on Friday evening was attended by more than 70 friends and family from the Dayton area. One highlight was board member Dr. Nikki Rogers’ report on increased stature among girls in households with gardens in the Kossoye area. Another highlight was the screening by Yellow Springs resident Aileen LeBlanc of her new documentary, Take Us Home. This tells the story of the struggle of Ethiopian Jews in the Gondar areato return to Israel.
AUGUST 2012
FOOD PRICES CONTINUE TO RISE
Food prices in Ethiopia increased by 40 percent over the past twelve months. This has a more dramatic effect on urban than rural populations, but it is likely that rapid increases in food prices will continue through the rest of this year and into 2013. Part of this is due to population growth—still over 2 percent a year in Ethiopia. Weather is another factor. The rains in northern Ethiopia started about six weeks late this year, towards the end of June, but July and August have been wet months. We have yet to see how the late rains will affect harvest yields. The current drought in the American Midwest will also affect global prices.
STRONG DEMAND FOR VEGETABLE SEEDS
The demand for vegetable seeds is very strong this summer. In the ShenkorMesk and Kossoye communities seeds were distributed at five elementary schools. InDabat, one of our new diffusion sites 60 kilometers north of Kossoye, we have had many requests for seeds from people who previously had not been vegetable gardeners. If vegetable beds are planted now, during the rains, families will have some extra margin of food security. And they will not have to spend as much at the market. Some items (oil, salt, sugar, tea, and coffee), not prepared at home, will still need to be purchased.
NEW MANUAL BEING PREPARED FOR DECEMBER PUBLICATION
As a result of the Second Great Gardeners Workshops in Gondar and Dabat the KDP is working with faculty from the University of Gondar on a new manual titled Household Vegetable Gardening. There is now a new section on nutrition and post-harvest handling which we have combined with the earlier manuals. The revised section on cooking with vegetables has omitted specific mention of oil as an ingredient because of feedback from community members that many families cannot afford to purchase oil.
JULY 2012
SECOND ANNUAL GREAT GARDENERS WORKSHOP
Last year we had one four day session at the University of Gondar for about 25 participants. This year we had two two-day weekend sessions, at the University of Gondar (June 9 and 10) and then at the Training Health Center in Dabat (June 16 and 17). About 75 participants and another 15 teachers and observers attended both sessions. The highlight of both workshops were classroom experiences in the new demonstration gardens .
WHY ARE GIRLS WITH HOUSEHOLD GARDENS TALLER?
On June 22 and 23 KDP Board Member Nikki Rogers delivered a session paper with preliminary findings from the Kossoye Household Gardening Nutrition Study at the University of Gondar's 22 nd Annual Research Conference. Although the findings will be studied further over the next year, the audience of about 300 students and faculty from the School of Medicine and Institute for Public Health were absolutely fascinated with data suggesting in the two year period between June 2008 when the gardening program began in Kossoye and our sixth round data collection in February 2010 girls living in households with gardens became taller than those without gardens.
The last round of nutrition data was collected in March 2012 and is currently being processed and analyzed. More formal reports on this research will come in the next year.
MAY 2012
DENNIS CARLSON RECOGNIZED AS A PIONEER IN PUBLIC HEALTH
Dr. Dennis Carlson, a member of the board of the Kossoye Development Program, was honored as one of eight "Pioneers in Public Health" at the 13th World Congress of Public Health Association held April 23-28 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The triennial Congress was hosted by the Ethiopian Public Health Association and the World Federation of Public Health Associations and drew 4,000 delegates from 121 countries.
Professor Carlson was recognized for his role as a public health educator at the Haile Sellassie I Public Health College and Training Centre in Gondar and at the Addis Ababa University. He played key roles in the establishment of the nationwide Ethiopia Public Health Training Initiative in the 1990s and the initiation of the Kossoye Development Program in the Gondar area beginning in 2005.
Three Ethiopian leaders were chosen as "Pioneers in Public Health": Dr. Adanech Kidanemariam, nurse midwife and Minister of Health 1991 -1994; Ato Yohannes Tsigie, Vice Minister of Health in the 1950s and 1960s: Dr. Aklilu Lemma, pathobiology researcher who discovered an Ethiopian plant that killed snails carrying Schistosomiasis. Other honorees included Dr. Wangari Maathai, environmental and political activist from Kenya who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004 for her leadership of the Green Belt Movement.; Professor Olikoye Ransome-Kuti, pediatrician, Minister of Health in Nigeria and global health leader; Dr. Andrija Stampar, social medicine scholar form Yugoslavia and first president of the World Health Assembly in 1948; Dr. Halfdan Mahler, Danish physician who headed the World Health Organization for 15 years in the 1970s and 80s, who organized the Alma Ata Conference which promoted the goal of "Health for All by the Year 2000."
April 2012
GRANTS FROM ALLPEOPLEBEHAPPY FOUNDATION
The KDP is very happy to announce that it has received two grants from the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation. One grant is for the building of a seed bank and storage facility at the University of Gondar. The other is a volunteer service award for Michael Austin, a student at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Michael will participate in the Great Gardeners workshop in June. He is also be leading a gardening program for Ethiopian refugee children in Columbus.
JESSICA BILECKI IS IN THE NEWS AT OHIO UNIVERSITY
Jessica Bilecki, former AllPeopleBeHappy Volunteer Service Award winner and now a KDP board member, was in the news for Ohio University’s student newspaper The Compass on February 22, 2012. The article can be accessed at www.ohio.edu/compass/stories/11-12/2/Ethiopia-Bilecki-2012.cfm. Jessica is a graduate student in the Environmental Studies program at Ohio University and the lead horticulture instructor and strategist for the KDP. The article describes Jessica’s research on improving food security for low-income people in southern Ohio as well as in northern Ethiopia.
DEEP DRY SEASON
The dry season usually begins in September or October, interrupted then by a small rains in February and March before the big rains in June, July, and August. Unfortunately the little rainsdid not come this year. This means that food supplies will be tighter than normal through late August, when the first rainy season crops are ready for harvest. One of the KDP goals is to develop gardening strategies that will help Great Gardeners produce food through the dry season and the first two months of the rainy season.
February 2012
NEW DEMONSTRATION GARDENS
Two new demonstration gardens are nearly complete. The 60 by 60 foot
garden at the Training Health Center in the town of Dabat is fenced
and raised beds have been prepared and planted. The 90 by 90 foot
garden on the campus of the University of Gondar is also near
completion. This June 2012 Great Gardener Workshops will be held in
both locations.
CHARD SUSTAINABILITY
For the past two years in Kossoye gardeners have had great success in
producing chard seeds. This has allowed the project to distribute
chard to other communities, including Shenkor Mesk. Now production
has reached a level where Kossoye gardeners can also supply
communities around Dabat and Gondar. We hope to have similar success
with beets and carrots in the near future.
November 2011
UNIVERSITY OF GONDAR
The Task Force of the University of Gondar on Vegetable Gardening Diffusion met with key stakeholders in the historic city of Dabat in October 4. Plans are being made for establishment of demonstration gardens at the Dabat Training Health Center and collaboration with a rural elementary school and countryside agricultural households.
SHENKOR MESK
The new diffusion community, Shenkor Mesk, is a great illustration of how fast the household gardening can spread. Within one year more than 150 household vegetable gardens have been started and counted. We continue to work on understanding this extraordinary success.
ANNUAL MEETING
The entire board of the Kossoye Development Program met in Yellow Springs on September 9 and 10th for the annual meeting. About 30 friends from Dayton and Yellow Springs attended a reception on Friday night. On Saturday the board worked on the next version of the diffusion strategy to promote household gardening in more communities through the Amhara Regional National State.
June 2011
SMALL RAINS ARRIVE IN KOSSOYE
Light rains ("Belg") have been falling in the Kossoye area. In March about 5 mm fell in the Medhane Alem parish and 7 mm in Kossoye town. These rains have encouraged some household gardeners to plant new seeds. Sometimes there are no rains at all from December until June.
SEED BANK PURCHASING DRAMATICALLY RISING
In 2011 the Seed Bank has purchased many more seeds than in 2010. Last year in March the Bank purchased 1,285 grams (2.2 pounds) of chard seeds. In March of this year Wzo Negeste (the seed banker) purchased 2,260 grams (almost 5 pounds). Beet seed purchases rose from 5 grams in 2010 to 420 grams in 2011, lettuce seed purchases from 4 grams to 48 grams, carrot seeds from 8 to 16 grams, and pumpkin seeds were purchased for the first time. The total value of these purchases was $42.16 in March 2010 and $100.16 in March 2011, an increase of 138 percent.
COMMUNITY HEALTH ACTIVITIES SHOW SIGNIFICANT GAINS
Over the last year, from March 2010 until March 2011, significant increases have occurred in the number of household gardens (213 to 247), women attending coffee health discussions (216 to 275), household latrines (303 to 382), and improved stoves (165 to 180). These improvements are mainly due to the diligent work of the ten women and two men (Community Health Workers) who conduct monthly meetings on health and nutrition topics and support gardening activities in the 28 neighborhoods of the Kossoye district.
NEW BOOK PUBLISHED
A fascinating book has just been published entitled "2011 State of the World: Innovations that Nourish the Planet" (The World Watch Institute, Norton Publishing). Those interested in the global development of food supplies in developing and emerging societies will find the 15 brief chapters full of fascinating and relevant knowledge. Chapter titles include "Charting a New Path to Eliminating Hunger," "The Nutritional and Economic Potential of Vegetables," "Africa's Soil Fertility Crisis and the Coming Famine," and "Harnessing the Knowledge and Skills of Women Farmers."
BREAST FEEDING
Board member Dr. Nikki Rogers has just published an article in Public Health Nutrition based on field research in Kossoye. The title is "Colostrum avoidance, prelacteal feeding and late breast-feeding initiation in rural Northern Ethiopia." She finds that most new mothers (79% in a sample of 19) discarded colostrum before beginning to breast feed, suggesting that infant health could be improved by teaching rural health practitioners to promote immediate colostrum feeding.
November 2010
EXPANSION TO NEW COMMUNITIES. GRADUATE STUDENT STUDYING RELATIONSHIP OF NUTRITION AND SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT.
Ms. Zewditu Abdissa, graduate student in Public Health at the University
of Gondar, has started studies on relationships of academic achievement,
nutritional status, and family vegetable gardens. She is doing height
and weight measurements on students in grades 5 to 8 in the Kossoye
Elementary School.
CARROT SEED PRODUCTION BEGINS!
Locally grown carrot seeds were brought to the seed bank for the first time in June. We are celebrating because carrots have very high Vitamin A content and carrot seeds are difficult to grow and harvest.
Progress is being made in the volumes and varieties of other vegetable seeds being produced for purchase by the Seed Bank. During the past three months the following varieties have been purchased: Swiss chard 4,319 gms — 9.51lbs
Beets, 383 gms .84 lb
Cabbage 1003 gms 2.2 lb
Carrots 157 gms .35 lb LOCAL SEED PURCHASES INCREASING:
Total purchasing for locally grown seeds is accelerating rapidly from students, women and male farmers. 36 students, women and male farmers have volunteered to give priority to seed production to sell to the Kossoye Project Seed Bank. The Bank purchases these seeds at favorable prices and distributes them without charge to school students. Recent purchases include the following:
April $ 73.77 (994 Ethiopian Birr)
May $113.00 (1534 EB)
June $352.29 (4747 EB) ANNUAL MEETING OF THE BOARD: The Kossoye Project Board will hold its second annual meeting in Yellow Springs, OH on September 10, 11, 12 at the home of Andy Carlson and Krista Magaw. The Agenda will include review of current activities as well as laying the groundwork in strategic planning for diffusion of the Household Gardening program to other populations. FUND RAISING EVENTS: The Kossoye Project held two exciting events a continent away from each other in April and May. One.was at the home of Joyce and David Veterane overlooking Puget Sound and the Olympic Mountains on Bainbridge Island WA on April 24. David is a KP board member. The presentation by Dennis Carlson was well received. Lots of hot and bland Ethiopian food was enjoyed. The other was in the north end of Baltimore. Tom Hoen and Allison Barlow shared their home in Baltimore with more than 45 people to hear latest developments and future plans of the Kossoye Project presented by Andy Carlson (Tom is the son of Beulah Downing, a KP board member). Many of the people new to the Kossoye Project wrote checks that evening to support the KP. Both events engendered valuable new financial support and useful discussions. CORNELL MEDICAL SCHOOL PRESENTATION: First year medical student, Joey Alsberge, coordinated a gathering at the Weill Cornell School of Medicine on May 13. Board member Dennis Carlson accompanied by Beulah Downing made a presentation to about 40 medical students and resident staff interested in global health. Dennis spoke about the relationships between "Population, Poverty and Malnutrition" as seen in Ethiopia. A stimulating time of questions and discussion followed. A significant number of participants had already worked internationally and others are looking forward to a career in international medicine. Joey was pleased with the attendance and outcome. NEW DIRECTOR OF THE KOSSOYE PROJECT: Dr. Andy Carlson assumed the roles of Director and Chair of the Board on July 1. Andy has been co-leading efforts since the Project's inception and knows the Kossoye people and area well. As a boy in the 1960s he often visited the community with his father, Dennis. Currently Andy is Professor of History and Political Science at Capital University in Columbus, OH and also teaches courses at Ohio State University. Dennis will assume the role of Associate Director for Development of the Project and continue as a member of the Board. NEW FOUNDATION GRANT: We are happy to announce that the AllPeopleBeHappy foundation of Houston TX has generously awarded a second year grant of $10,000 to the Kossoye Project for expansion of the Family Gardening program in Kossoye, Ethiopia. We are grateful for this crucial support given to lessen problems of malnutrition in North-Central Ethiopia. COMPUTER TRAINING: Seventy-eight 8th grade students began learning basic computer skills in December. 47 girls and 31 boys are being instructed by two teachers on the Kossoye Elementary School staff in a set program which will give them a significant advantage in job hunting if they move to the city after 8th grade. EVALUATION VISIT Board members David Veterane, Andy Carlson and Dennis
Carlson will visit Kossoye at the end of December to evaluate progress
of the Project, visit gardens and schools, consult with leaders and
staff and give prizes for best gardens to students,"progressive"
farmers, and Community Health Workers. Jessica Bilecki, a horticulture
teacher from Ohio will also join the evaluation and assist in the design
of a new experimental garden at the Health Post, help with a workshop on
composting and seed production, and collaborate in revising the third
edition of the community gardening manual. A highly huccessful “Local Innovations Workshop” was
conducted in Kossoye May 14-17 with over a hundred participants
from the community, government offices, neighboring schools and
the University of Gondar, plus a few outsiders from Addis Ababa and
abroad. The workshop was opened by Professor Yigzaw Kebede,
former president of the University of Gondar. Workshop events
included visits to family gardens, new businesses, a school festival
and animated discussions at the site of the new eco-tourism lodge
under construction at the edge of the escarpment. Beet Seed Production Begins: Three Kossoye community gardeners brought beet seeds for sale to the seed bank in March. This marks the first time that beet crops in Kossoye had produced seeds for harvest, for purchase and distribution in the local elementary school. The Project seed bank began purchasing Swiss Chard seeds in January for the first time. These are crucial steps in moving the Project into a self-sustaining phase where no external materials or human resources are absolutely essential. The next challenges are to learn and teach the best methods for growing carrot and cabbage seeds which are considerably more difficult to harvest. The project team is in full preparation for the "Local Innovations Workshop," held in Kossoye. This year's five day event begins on May 13th, and is co-sponsored by the University of Gondar, Ethiopia and The Kossoye Project.
Since family gardening
has been firmly established and basic methodologies tested in the
Kossoye community, the Project Board has decided to expand
activities to neighboring communities in the Amhara Region where
over 57% of children suffer from “stunting” due to chronic food
shortages. Plans are now underway to offer an “essential package” of
seeds, tools and training manuals for distribution to elementary
students, along with support for student gardening clubs. We hope to
see household gardening established in two new communities in 2011
if funding becomes available.
August 2010
July 2010
June 2010
April-May 2010
April 2010
January 24, 2010
273 GARDENS PRODUCING. When Board members David Veterane, Andrew Carlson and Dennis Carlson visited Kossoye in late December and early January they found 273 gardens Growing well despite a meager rainy season and less water in wells and springs. Many are providing year round food supply for the family as well as selling some surplus in the market.
December 8, 2009
OHIO SUPPORT GROWING. The number of supporters has been increasing
steadily in Ohio where Andy, his wife Krista Magaw, and their daughter
Anna live in Yellow Springs. Andy teaches at Capital University and Ohio
State University in Columbus. On Labor Day weekend a fund raising event
held at Krista, Andy and Anna's home drew more than 50 Ohioans. A new
Advisory Council consisting of people with talents useful to the Project
was held the next day. The Kossoye Project Board also conducted business
sessions. We are delighted that Rob Content, a resident of Yellow Springs, is
joining the Project Board.
July 29, 2009
April 29, 2009
April 15, 2009