In the Prakasam Colony of Vidyanagar, India, a community of people make their lives together in a village of combined cultures and religions. Muslim, Hindu and Christian backgrounds are represented in this hillside neighborhood where the soil is rocky, and the daily challenges are many.
With unfavorable ground conditions, it has proved difficult for these people to find success in farming. Ground nuts have been a common crop, and they can sell those harvests at the local market, but they have been in great need of better produce.
The Hunger to Harvest Program was able to conduct a Survival Gardening Workshop in Prakasam, and the training was joyfully received. Forty-two participants attended the event, over half of them children! They were delighted to learn about raised-bed planting, composting and drip irrigation methods, and immediately eager to put their knowledge to work.
It will take time and patience for the harvests to mature, but residents of Prakasam have already expressed their gratitude for the change in opportunity and hope revealed by the Workshop. The community garden has inspired many people to start their very own gardens at home. The children of the village are learning alongside their parents, so that they can create futures full of nutritional foods, sustainability and good health. And most of all, the Hunger to Harvest training has brought a sense of unity to Prakasam. Because they shoulder their trials and successes together, they have created goals and found strength and enduring happiness in a shared purpose.