Jason Florio
Gardens For Life
Fundraising for Eden Project
Story
'A Short Walk In The Gambian Bush'
We made it!!
We successfully completed our circumnavigation of The Gambia, West Africa, entirely by foot - 928km - starting out from Makasutu Culture Forest on 2nd November and finishing back there on 13th December, 2009. It took us 6 weeks, walking an average of 25km per day. We met some incredible people and saw some amazing sites along the way. You can see stunning images from the journey by co-expedition leader and photographer, Jason Florio, and read about our travels on our blog www.adventuretravelblogs.com/700miles.
However, just because we have finished the walk does not mean that the journey is over. We are still aiming to raise our target amount so that we can help more Gambian school kids to set up their own Gardens for Life which will enable them communicate with other school kids about their gardens around the world. Education, growth, sustainability and communication are key to helping these kids, and their communities, move forwards.
Any amount you can donate will help.
With a million thanks to everyone who has helped so far and to those who can help now or in the future.
The Short Walk Team: Jason Florio, Helen Jones, Abdouli Janneh, Samba Leigh, Momadou Bah
and Neil & (p)Hadley - the donkeys - courtesy of The Gambia Horse & Donkey Trust (http://www.gambiahorseanddonkey.org.uk/)
Here's what Gardens for Life is all about and how your donations can help:
Gardens for Life (GFL) – The Gambia – is an Eden Project-based initiative working worldwide supporting and encouraging schools and children, teachers and families to create gardens together to grow food in the middle of their communities.
Why is GFL important? The work supports the most fundamental kind of food security, community gardens where children can be taught how simple it is to grow good healthy food. Often as countries and communities aspire to develop, their children dream if white collar jobs, so the skills used in tending gardens and looking after land are being forgotten. The aims of Gardens for Life aims to remedy this. Gambia is the first West African country to join the programme and so far, there are rural and urban schools involved, helping them to be part of a global Gardens for Life community, along with other schools and children from Asia and Europe.Gardens for Life urgently need help. By supporting them today, it will enable them to do some simple yet effective things:Buy hoses so that the children can connect their gardens to a water pumps and wells.Fence the gardens to prevent animals from eating the crops.Buy good seeds and tools to help the children with their gardens.
Your support will also enable skilled workers to teach more children in Africa and their families about composting, rotation of crops, simple organic ways to increase fertility of soil, planting fruit orchards and traditional medicinal uses of plants and herbs from their gardens. These skills are very important for their well-being and future health and education.What your donations can do:£10 will enable a whole school in Africa to learn how to grow nutritionally important food crops in their school garden£25 will pay for one of Gardens for Life field officers to spend a day in a school, providing the children with the support they need to grow good crops more effectively£50 will buy the essential gardening tools needed for one school£100 will mean that a Gambian school can connect with the international network of schools, exchanging materials and learning about experiences in other countries. For more information please visit http://www.edenproject.com/our-work/people/gardens-for-life/index.php
Why is GFL important? The work supports the most fundamental kind of food security, community gardens where children can be taught how simple it is to grow good healthy food. Often as countries and communities aspire to develop, their children dream if white collar jobs, so the skills used in tending gardens and looking after land are being forgotten. The aims of Gardens for Life aims to remedy this. Gambia is the first West African country to join the programme and so far, there are rural and urban schools involved, helping them to be part of a global Gardens for Life community, along with other schools and children from Asia and Europe.Gardens for Life urgently need help. By supporting them today, it will enable them to do some simple yet effective things:Buy hoses so that the children can connect their gardens to a water pumps and wells.Fence the gardens to prevent animals from eating the crops.Buy good seeds and tools to help the children with their gardens.
Your support will also enable skilled workers to teach more children in Africa and their families about composting, rotation of crops, simple organic ways to increase fertility of soil, planting fruit orchards and traditional medicinal uses of plants and herbs from their gardens. These skills are very important for their well-being and future health and education.What your donations can do:£10 will enable a whole school in Africa to learn how to grow nutritionally important food crops in their school garden£25 will pay for one of Gardens for Life field officers to spend a day in a school, providing the children with the support they need to grow good crops more effectively£50 will buy the essential gardening tools needed for one school£100 will mean that a Gambian school can connect with the international network of schools, exchanging materials and learning about experiences in other countries. For more information please visit http://www.edenproject.com/our-work/people/gardens-for-life/index.php