because of her work in school she is able to spend more time with her three daughters as they study in the same school. Her family had been ever supporting to herand has never complained because of non-availability at home. She says “We want to support my daughters to the fullest of our capacity to provide children with a good education, I have seen poverty and it makes an individual vulnerable and weak in the society. I don’t want my children to face any such situation, they need to be educated where they can empower themselves and provide for themselves”.
Manisha is responsible for the mid day meal to the children of Kamtha. Kitchen garden through the HDB Financial Services WASH Project in Washim saw School Sevikas like Manisha to be included as stakeholders who would support the activities as well as strengthen the implementation in the right way. The process also aimed at physical improvement in the school system by introducing nutritious to the regular supplies of mid-day meal. The transformation of theschool environment under WASH Project including the better sanitation facilities, planting of flowers and vegetable gardens, emphasis on cleanliness closer links with parent and community members, and better turn-out of students, help generate high morale. The kitchen garden is used as an approach to have students, teachers, school sathi work together, at the same time improve the nutrition, reduce expenditure on the purchase of vegetables and increase the productivity of the underutilizes resources and assets. Because of the rural setting most of the students and Manisha had some prior experience in farming through an interactive process with an horticulture extension specialist they shared knowledge and identified the need for: Vegetable bed raising, Spacing of seedlings, Orientation
of the beds, Ensuring seed quality and seed selection and multiplication techniques, ways to supply water at regular intervals, the need of fencing, weeding techniques, the use of natural fertilizers such as compost. The small size if the plots at the proximity to the school and the limited labour requirement were not perceived and an extra burden and the workload was mostly performed by Manisha. She volunteered for the most important activities like timely provision of water, fencing and protection from monkeys. The establishment of the kitchen garden and adding to the skills of the student directly involved in the activities was only one way of building their capacity. This was not only limited of growing vegetables but quickly spread to include other issues they felt to be important. Different ways of preparing the vegetables were discussed among Manisha, School Sathi and Students for the ways that are more nutritious and healthy. Issues regarding general health were also brought up with parents. The initiative also saw the record the inputs and time spent on the kitchen gardening on the one hand and the produce they obtained. A kitchen garden can be a catalyst to introduce a community-based approach and for setting up small groups, especially women group. This is a critical factor in the culture where physical and social mobility of woman is limited. For the children, the garden provides a context for understanding seasonality and life cycles, an opportunity to work cooperatively on the real task. The garden created a common experience to build on in multiple settings- from class-room to celebration. Students understand the role of food in life. The garden allows them to improve nutrition and highlight healthy foods. It offers the opportunity to teach life skills such as gardening and cooking. Students value the garden- of pride and ownership which discouraged vandalism. The skills and messages students learn about healthy food in the school garden can be transferred back to their homes soon..