The garden at the Handiscole school in Rufisque is, in a way, the little brother of the Traversine garden in Bercy. Both were built on the roof of a school, with a shared aim: to raise children’s awareness of nature, vegetable gardening and food.
In Rufisque, this educational mission is accompanied by a very practical aim: to grow vegetables for the school canteen. This approach is inspired by the initiative at the Halfway House Roosboom in South Africa, where vegetables from the garden are cooked daily for the children.
In this context, the cultivated area has been optimised to the maximum. Metal structures allow for cultivation on three levels, considerably increasing the space available for planting.
The garden also uses an ingenious system for recycling large 10-litre water bottles. Once cut in half, they become deep containers particularly well suited to growing many vegetables.
On this rooftop transformed into a vegetable garden, the children can observe, cultivate and understand the plant life cycle, whilst taking part in a project that directly contributes to their school meals.
The Rufisque garden demonstrates that a rooftop can become a fertile, educational and nourishing space.
