News from Swaziland

The women in charge of the vegetable garden at the Garden of Skills in Malanti, Eswatini, work their beds according to the principle of crop associations.In this way, the beds are never empty, crops are harvested according to kitchen needs, … Read More

The four women in charge of the vegetable garden at the Garden of Skills water the beds every morning, and the method of combining crops and harvesting them gradually means that the beds are never empty. The women replace vegetables … Read More

A wonderful initiative was recently launched near Malanti: the distribution of school uniforms to underprivileged children in local schools. The aim is to help families in difficulty and ensure that all children can go to school in a country where … Read More

At the Garden of Skills, the children in the crèche start the day by tending their own little vegetable garden, the Teen-Gi garden, accompanied by the crèche manager and one of the women in charge of the centre’s garden. The … Read More

Fesile presents the seedlings sown in the greenhouse as the southern winter approaches.The seeds were selected from the organic seed catalogue of agrosemens, a partner of Designing Hope.

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

With the support of The Ivory Foundation, Designing Hope supports the Macambeni crèche, and improve the meals of its 20 disadvantaged children with vegetables produced in the garden. Depending on the season and the yield, a supplement is delivered every Monday … Read More

With support from the Ivory Foundation, a pump was purchased forEkujabuleni School, located 10 km from Piggs Peak. This pump will raise the water from the river located 200 meters below the school tosupply the school’s water reserves.The water, previously treated … Read More

The First Secretary of the French Embassy in Mozambique and the Honorary Consul of France in Swaziland went to Piggs Peak to visit the projects supported by the association. Among these, the Macambeni garden, and the crèche supported by the association.

Designing Hope undertook an awareness campaign on water saving. The washing of vegetables can be a source of waste, when it is done with running water at the exit of the tank. The purchase of basins for this purpose by … Read More

Harvest of vegetables in the garden of St. Paul’s School. The children take part to the sowing, the maintenance of the vegetables, the watering and the harvests with a woman from the association Fundzisa Live. assigned to the garden.

Like every month, twice a week, Fundzisa Live’s women distribute food parcels to the most vulnerable people at Piggs Peak Hospital.

The garden of HhoHho AME is one of the 5 school gardens set up by Designing Hope in its partner schools.

New trees were planted by the women of Fundzisa Live with the support of the Raja Foundation on the Macambeni Garden. An assortment of fertile trees and fruit trees has been put in place.

New seedlings were prepared in the nursery at Piggs Peak in Swaziland to provide both the Macambeni Gardens and school gardens supported by Dessine l’Espoir.

The women of Fundzisalive in charge of the garden of Macambeni have prepared new terraced beds of culture in the garden.

The Macambeni Garden has required a lot of work to make it workable, given its sloping configuration. The women of Fundzisa Live work together every week to create new terracing cultivation beds. They also mix fertile and less fertile soil, … Read More

The hospital allowed us to increased the size of Designing Hope’s demonstration garden, which allowed us to set up a greenhouse to grow plants, without reducing the surface of the garden grown for the vegetables.

The women of Fundzisa Live installed the first garden of the “One House One Garden” program. 25 beneficiaries have been identified and will be offered a 25m2 plot of land allowing them to develop a vegetable garden protected from raving … Read More

Macambeni garden vegetables are used to complement the meals served to the children of the day nursery, which welcomes orphaned children in the neighborhood.

The women of Fundzisa Live have installed their second garden of the “One House One Garden” program. 25 beneficiaries have been identified and will be offered an enclosed garden of 25m2 allowing them to develop a vegetable garden protected from … Read More

The children of the Macambeni day orphanage today participated in the pepper harvest in the garden! They will be cooked for them this afternoon as an accompaniment to cornmeal.

Every month, Fundzisa Live’s women organize the distribution of food parcels to support the weakest HIV-positive patients. Green vegetables from the Macambeni Garden run by the association with support from the Raja Foundation and The Ivory Foundation, are also included … Read More

In October 2018, we set up, with the support of the Raja Foundation, a greenhouse to grow seedlings on 3 levels on a small space, that can be distributed to HIV patients in the hospital supported by Designing Hope. These … Read More

Since 2005, Dessine l’Espoir has been supporting HIV-positive patients at Piggs Peak Hospital. For 13 years, the association has been distributing with the local relay of Fundzisa Live, snacks (sandwich and fruit) to the HIV patients of the hospital during … Read More

One of the goals of the Macambeni Garden is to provide fresh vegetables to complement the meals served to children at the Orphan Day Care Center in this disadvantaged neighborhood. Elderly women in the neighborhood are in charge of preparing … Read More

The children of the Macambeni center made drawings for the children of the Bercy preschool , as part of the “communicating classes” program, creating exchanges between educational gardens.   These drawings will be given to the children of the Bercy … Read More

The first harvest of peppers from the Macambeni Garden was offered to the Macambeni day care center in charge of the neighborhood orphans. Designing Hope and Fundzisa Live started the Macambeni garden with 2 objectives: – Provide vegetable for the … Read More

After several weeks of work, the women of the Fundzisa Live association have completed the preparation of the cultivation beds in the Macambeni Garden.   EnregistrerEnregistrer

In order to quickly produce vegetables in the garden, a nursery has been set up in the office of Fundzisa Live Association, located near Macambeni. The plants can be grown with better control of the watering needs, and with better … Read More

The Macambeni Garden, made available by the city of Piggs Peak to Fundzisa Live, the local partner of Designig Hope in Piggs Peak, presented a challenge in terms of soil preparation. Indeed, this sloping ground had been digged on part … Read More

One of the first steps in APAF’s agroforestry training in Southern Africa was to prepare the nursery for seed sowing. This required identifying local fertilizer trees similar to the seeds to be planted, in order to recover soil near the … Read More

During the winter, Swaziland has a dry climate, with sunny days, and quite cold nights. Cabbage, spinach, and salad grow well in these climatic conditions. In this garden at Hlohlo Ame Primary School, crop residues from corn have been used … Read More

During the training given by APAF International, Pascal Humbert has been searching for fertilizer trees in the Piggs Peak region. He quickly identified the Leuceana. The Leuceana is a great asset in agroforestry: it fertilizes the soil that nourishes it, … Read More

Below the garden of Macambeni, a wet area offers accessible water for the garden. In order to facilitate the collection, a small staircase is dug in the slope of the ground, and a small pool allows the water to be … Read More

The first step in taking over Macambeni’s garden consisted in clearing it. Dry grasses, cuts of trees and bushes were recovered to form a compost prepared under a garden tree. The soil extracted below a swamp was used to enrich … Read More

Macambeni is the name of one of the most disadvantaged districts of Piggs Peak, a city in which Dessine l’Espoir has been developing activities since 2005.In 2017, the city hall of Piggs Peak has given to the association, the management … Read More

Since 2012, Designing Hope develops permaculture garden in Southern Africa, to help population becoming self sufficient. This video presents a garden in the isolated village of Bulembu, hosting an orphanage. This garden, developed by a team of 6 women trained … Read More

The team of 6 trainers in permaculture from Designing Hope in Piggs Peak have been setting up an experimental garden in Bulembu, border town with South Africa. The experiment involves the use of locally produced biochar, integrated in permaculture raised beds, … Read More

Designing Hope has produced, with the support of The Ivory Foundation, an illustrated brochure presenting the techniques of permaculture. This document addresses several topics, the creation of raised beds, crops rotation, crops associations, with a focus on milpa, compost… This … Read More

In Piggs Peak, at Fundzisa Live’s garden, the women in charge of Designing Hope’s Garden Project harvest seeds after each season. They keep the best lettuces for instance, let them grow and then move them out of the garden bed … Read More

6 schools are involved on the educational garden projects in Swaziland, within a perimeter of 30km around Piggs Peak and involving 240 children. Liens connexes : Préparation d’une butte Démarrage du jardin à Roosboom Préparation des buttes à Roosboom Bande … Read More