By Sanna Camara
The community garden, located in Boraba village, 300 kilometers from Banjul, was supported by non-governmental foundations from Germany and boosted by Embassy funding, to the tune of €29,000.
The inaugural ceremony this week was graced by Mr Klaus Botzet, German Ambassador to The Gambia, who traveled to the village to see firsthand how transformative this horticultural production and beehive cultivation for 100 women has been faring.
Titled “Musolula Gardino” meaning “women’s garden” in Mandinka, the project symbolises a collective vision of women empowerment, food security, and community cohesion with the women of Boraba as the center and heart of the project, explained Bente Stachowske, Chairwoman of Nyodeema Foundation e.V., the association that undertook the task of supporting these community women make the dream into reality.
The funding so far entailed activities like training of the women in business plan and managerial skills to effectively run their project, the fencing of the land, providing borehole for water supply and perimeter fence to protect their produce. They also acquired garden tools and constructed a store on site, extending further training on honey production through skills and materials necessary to run over 20 beehives in the community forest of the village.
“You are the first diplomat to visit this village, since Sir Dawda Jawara visited our defunct community garden in 1991,” Alkalo Ansumana Danso told the ambassador at the ceremony held at community Bantaba (village center) following site visits to the garden and beehives. “We are thankful for this and assure you that the help will go into fulfilling the purpose it is meant for.”
The project also enjoyed support from other partners in Germany, and all of these make up the balance sheet of the impact it has on livelihood of this community.
Sarjo Saidy Jaiteh, president of the community women project explained that they still face challenges in marketing their goods and surplus and unsold products face perishability without a storage facility.
“Although more has been done, we still require storage facility to keep our produce fresh for the market. We are consolidating our production and harvest strategies that ensures marketing and profitability for the project,” she said.
One World Organic Foundation RAPUNZL, having been producing organic food for 50 years, and one of the project partners in Germany, said they are happy to be associated with the women of Boraba.
Joseph Wilhelm, Margarethe Epple and Rosalie Dorn, Foundation Board members, in a solidarity statement read on their behalf at the ceremony, said:
“The world is a big place: last summer we heard about a village in Gambia called Boraba for the first time. We heard the story of the women of Boraba -women who want to create something for themselves, who want to learn and who want to work together to create and maintain a garden in harmony with nature. They want to provide their families with healthy food and contribute to the household income through their own efforts.
“It was our pleasure to decide to support Musolula Gardino almost exactly a year ago. We were deeply impressed by your commitment and values.”
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