This last three years we have been helping St Paul School for the Deaf, with a financial and an educational course to create a micro farm that can accommodate 5 to 8 students to learn the management of a farm (agroecology, cereal culture and breeding).
This year, The Ivory Foundation has imagined a structure that can accommodate trained farming students and new students. The main goal is for well trained students to help new ones getting started and to become self-sufficient in a few years.
This is a dual obective :
– Offer these young deaf and hearing-impaired people the opportunity to learn how to manage their farm, thanks to the presence at their side of a tutor, who is the former head of culture of the school.
– Allow new young people at St Paul’s school to take the place of their elders, and to follow this training in turn.
St Monica’s farm school was thus born at the end of 2019, on a land provided by the bishop of Leribe.
He agreed to give the young people land and premicises to allow them living here.
A room is also available for the head of culture.
St Monica is seen as a transition farm for young deaf and hearing-impaired people.
A local NGO was created: “Farming Our Future” to manage this farm, and help these young people to apprehend the management of their working tool.
The idea is also to help these young people after 2 years to settle in their own farm, so that the farm of St Monica can then welcome the new students trained in St Paul for them.
