Taking measurements: These are needed for various calculations.

In 1993, our school, Louly Bentegne in the Department of M’Bour, Senegal, started its first garden project. We wanted to make sure that both students and teachers were involved, that the garden would be included in school lessons, and that we created a team of people to manage, tend to, and monitor the garden.

Our school took into consideration the available local resources, which are mostly based on agriculture and livestock. The population is our area is very poor, because of poor soil quality due to over-use, and several years of drought. By creating an educational gardening project in the school that would involve the whole community, everyone would benefit.

Fighting the drought: Digging for water.

Our school decided to raise cows, to create an organic garden, and to reforest the area. Parents, students, teachers, and other people helped build stables, buy a few cows, build a compost site, create a plant nursery, and plant an organic vegetable garden.

Interesting Observations
Our garden is approximately 8606 square feet, and surrounded by a natural fence. Onions, gumbos, tomatoes, and eggplants were planted. Our garden got a lot of support. A local Organic Gardeners Association provided information, mothers carried water from the well to the garden, men followed the development of the plants, and everyone shared with the students their observations.

At the school: A group of teachers in the garden.

Teams of students watered and oversaw the garden maintenance. The garden production was impressive: in 1995, 1390 pounds of onions were harvested. This was a great source of inspiration for the students who then started their own gardening activities around their houses.

Through the garden kids acquired new skills in math, sciences, history, French, agriculture, and they learned about the danger of chemical pesticides. They also learned how to use the local, inexpensive natural resources to tend to their organic garden. (Neem seeds, tobacco leaves, hot pepper, ashes, grated soap, compost.)

Making natural insect repellent: Made from the fruit of the neem tree.

Today we are experiencing some difficulties with this project. Nematodes have been giving us a lot of trouble, and we have been planting peanuts to deal with them as a natural solution, but it is not enough. Keeping the school community involved through the year has been a challenge. But we hope to keep the enthusiasm going and to find help for our garden that would allow us to participate in an organic market called "Jardin d'Afrique."