Empower children to plant gardens and trees

In January, Heather (Engage Globally's Director) and two board members traveled to Ghana to meet with our community partners. We also had the pleasure of meeting Isaac, the founder of Teepalig, a community-based organization in the Bolga region that focuses on raising and planting of native trees. Teepalig hires youth from local villages in their nursery, creating employment opportunities, along with helping the environment.

Isaac brought a few trees with him and we were thrilled to watch some of the students at our Tahama Learning Center learn how to plant a tree (pictured here) 

Isaac will be returning in April to prepare for planting 30 more trees at our learning centers. These trees will then be planted after the rains begin. To help the trees survive, a community member from each village has been hired as a caretaker. 

We are very excited to formalize this partnership, to engage children in environmental conservation, and to expand our reforestation efforts in collaboration with our partner communities in rural Ghana. 

Our local partners raise large, 1.2+ acre gardens at our community learning centers to provide vegetables and rice for our daily school lunch program. Students help with these gardens, by planting and caring for the plants as they grow. Gardens are used for outdoor education and teachers share about sustainable farming. Students also learn about team work and caring for the environment through the gardens. In this region, where nearly all adults are subsistence farmers, learning how to care for soil and how to be resilient in the face of weather, soil, and temperature changes is critically important. 

Next year, we hope to add a fourth garden in a new community and to install an ourdoor classroom with sun covering so that teachers can do more activities outside.