Growing Healthy, Nutritious, Disease-Fighting Foods in the Midst of COVID-19

Since 2015, Vita, Africa New Life Ministries, and K & N Management have been supporting a small village in Rwanda called Kageyo. It is a very remote village, about 5 hours drive from the nearest major city.

COVID-19 happened quickly and by March, it shut Rwanda down so unexpectedly that many of the support team in the little village of Kageyo were sent home, and transportation was halted across the country. This meant that no food or supplies would be able to come into the village. Being remote, Kageyo was unfortunately very low on the concern level for any support. Kageyo was potentially in a very desperate situation. Fortunately, our team member James Mushinzimana, (through our partner organization Thrive for Good) was able to stay in Kageyo. The time was crucial, as seeds needed to be planted prior to the rainy season ending (end of April). James decided the best approach was to build a huge community garden to support the community's needs. Between our partners in Austin, Texas and VITA, we were able to secure $1,000 worth of seeds. Through Africa New Life’s connections, they were able to deliver these seeds to James who planted them just in time and are now currently harvesting the produce. The food being grown is high nutrient immune building food which will combat diseases, and are not just empty calorie foods (corn and rice) which does little for supporting the immune system.

James is also educating the village so they can one day be self-supported with their new knowledge of healthy food growing. One more step to help the Kageyo community step out of poverty and reach its full potential!

Given the success of the project, we need your help to scale and expand to reach more Kageyo communities in need. To date, the Life Garden project has created the following impact:

• Number of community projects: 15 Life Garden projects
• Number of Garden Beds: 525 double dug garden beds
• Number of people benefiting: 157 project members + 117 indirect beneficiaries
• Total number of children benefiting: 135
• Average number of sick days: 2
• Total value of food produced annually: $11,038
• Number of meals produced annually: 22,076

With your support, together we can provide healthy, organic, life-giving foods for 2,000 more community members in Kageyo. 

We have an opportunity to increase impact 4x within Kageyo. Over the next year, James and his team will create 40 new Life Garden projects that will produce over $320,000 in food per year.

Simply make your contribution, select your preferred wish and we'll send you regular updates on the impact you are creating!

You will automatically receive a tax receipt from Thrive for Good for your contribution.

Thank you for empowering the people of Kageyo with the training and simple tools they need to grow an abundance of healthy, organic, disease-fighting foods for life.