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Vegetable Garden: Healthy Meals, Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds

The GFF HELPS Philippines’ Vegetable Garden Project helped families to survive hunger due to COVID-19 house lockdown in Banga, Aklan, Philippines.

The Vegetable Garden Project made each beneficiary become more responsible in planting and monitoring the growth of the vegetables in their backyard. Most of them were very keen and hands-on in making plots, weeding, and taking care of the vegetables. The results may be favourable to some beneficiaries due to God-given healthy soil and abundant water supply but its with the beneficiaries’ hands on how to fully benefit from it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to one of our beneficiaries, (we opt not to mention the name and the village), her parents went positive for COVID-19 since they were working in the hospital. This beneficiary, together with her children, were put to house lockdown after having close contact with one of the Covid-19 patients. Even though their parents were immediately put in a facility to be quarantined, her family needed to be home quarantined while waiting for their test results. During the house lockdown, the local government provided them food and some good Samaritans hung some packs of cooked and uncooked food on their bamboo gate just to help them survive their daily meals. She was thankful to those kind-hearted people. She was also very grateful to the GFF HELPS Vegetable Garden Project because the vegetables were their only source of food supply when rations and food donations were not enough. The eggplants, okra, pechay and tomatoes that she had planted last August were already bearing fruits and that provided her and her children healthy meals during the lockdown.

 “My parents were facility quarantined after tested positive for COVID-19 and my family was put in a house lockdown while waiting for our test results. The vegetables from our garden were our only source of food when rations from the local government and food donations from neighbours were not enough.” – A Vegetable Garden Beneficiary

After some days, they were all tested negative, and her parents had also recovered from the disease. Up to this date, they still continue to take care and to harvest their vegetables. Her children are also fond of eating these vegetables and they help in taking care of it. She is very thankful to the GFF HELPS for this Vegetable Garden Project.

by Lady Peace Remaneses, GFF HELPS Philippines Local Representative

Willyn CarrascalVegetable Garden: Healthy Meals, Healthy Bodies and Healthy Minds