Part I (As told to Ushassu staff)

Before planting a kitchen garden, L. Sabitha and her family ate pickles for breakfast and lunch everyday.

Her parents are labor workers who have struggled to earn enough to feed Sabitha and her three siblings. These circumstances forced Sabitha to stop schooling after the 10^th grade and begin work as an agricultural laborer.

Sabitha was able to receive training at the WEP Ushassu center, where she learned about the importance of fresh vegetables for a healthy diet. After first discovering kitchen gardens at Ushassu, Sabitha and her family built a small garden near their home. The family invested ten minutes a day and an hour each weekend to maintain the garden, which provides them with fresh tomatoes, chillies, gourds and beans. The vegetables grew so well that Sabitha and her family bought less outside produce.

Buoyed by the success of her rainy season crop, Sabitha hopes to find other plants that flourish outside of the season to provide her family with year-round fresh vegetables.

Blog Writer: Dorothy Sinnott