Small Erus is one of the places where the Missionary Community of St. Paul the Apostle is working. There, we have a Mother and Child Center and a Community garden.
Esther is a creative and very hard working woman who started her garden out of her own initiative. She was one of the women helping us everyday in St. Luke’s Mother and Child Center, cooking for the children, bathing them, etc. At the same time she started planting some small crops. As we saw her interest in gardening, we helped her to fence the plot that she was using and we installed a shade house and a drip irrigation system for her.
Nowadays, she produces different types of vegetables such as: spinach, onions, tomatoes, beetroot, Kale, local vegetables, water melon and sweet melon, etc. She already has a stable group of clients who are the teachers from St. Paul Primary School Riokomor, workers from Small Erus dam construction, the villagers from Small Erus, Riokomor and the people from different organizations who normally pass by.
This garden made her to become a role model in her community and in her family. In addition, thanks to the harvest, she improves her family nutrition and she is also able to take some money home. This has influenced other mothers to start their own small garden in their houses.
The most important element is that she provides vegetables to the diet of the children in the Mother and Child Center and that has a great impact in their health, improves their eating habits and helps them to introduce new items in their daily meals.
All these changes in the life of Esther, her family and the community at large are possible thanks to the help of the benefactors that year after year support the Missionary Community of Saint Paul the Apostle in their work. THANK YOU!
Eleni Tsegaw, MCSPA
