Designing Hope has developed in 2011 a first pilot garden highlighting techniques of agroecology and permaculture in Piggs Peak, Swaziland. The success of this pilot garden encouraged Designing Hope to duplicate this initiative and link it to a pedagogical action.
Designing Hope benefited from close links with schools in Swaziland (support of orphans and disadvantaged children in 14 schools since 2011) and with the regional hospital (food distribution to HIV patients since 2005), that helped identify the beneficiaries for this extension of the project and organize the follow up.
Today a team of 6 people is in charge of training, and maintening the gardens. They work with school teachers and 240 volunteers children.They are also in charge of two community gardens, and a demonstration garden at the hospital.
Every month, Designing Hope and its local partner Fundzisa Live distribute food parcels to the most vulnerable HIV-positive patients treated at Piggs Peak Hospital. They benefit from this programme for 6 months, in order to strengthen their natural defences.
5 women are in charge of the cultivation beds in the Garden of Skills, a daily task carried out since 2021, when the project began in the Malanti hills in Eswatini. Growing the plants in parallel rows at right angles … Read More
Sweet potatoes at the Garden of Skills, Malanti, Eswatini The sweet potato is very popular in Eswatini, and is also suitable for sloping ground as it produces abundant creeping foliage. After each harvest, the women take cuttings from the harvested … Read More
Strawberries do well in Eswatini! The women in charge of the Malanti “Garden of Skills” have reserved a special place for them: a circular mandala. This year, the plants have produced their first crop of fruit, as well as numerous … Read More
In Malanti, at the Garden of Skills, 5 women are in charge of the maintenance of the vegetable garden. The garden is organised in 80 cm wide plots, on which the association of crops is favoured in order to optimise … Read More
When preparing the beds with the “Campagnole”, the soil is enriched by sprinkling a mixture of biochar and compost on the surface. The Campagnole will then mix this input deep into the cultivated plots. Biochar is a natural fertilizer produced … Read More
The development of the Malanti field is ongoing and the plantations begin with sweet potatoes! This species is particularly well adapted to the landscape of small mountains and hills with rocks in Eswatini, as well as its tropical climate. The … Read More
Designing Hope funds each month the distribution of 30 “baskets” at the Piggs Peak hospital consisting mainly of vegetables, partially produced by Designing Hope at Macambeni garden, on the outskirts of Piggs Peak. These baskets are intended for targeted HIV-positive … Read More
The women are busy planting the vegetables grown in the greenhouse on the Macambeni garden. The Mandala Garden is also ready for new crops. It has been covered with a layer of mulch to keep the culture beds moist.
Within the projects supported by Designing Hope, women are invited to cook vegetables from the garden during group activities. This is an opportunity to encourage families to improve their nutrition. At Fundzisa Live’ support group, the women take turns preparing … Read More
