Micro-Gardening with Mama Africa.

Two weeks ago, we begun our Micro-Gardening project in Liberte 6. Our trainer as well as the brain behind the project, Mme Diouf, known as Mama Africa, started out by teaching us how to build a table from scratch. The sheer experience of assembling these tables, adding the tube that will evacuate the excess water, cutting the wood and hammering in the nails, was empowering. What amazed us the most was the substitute for earth ; peanut shells and rice . The vegetables, fruits and herbs cultivated are 100% organic and pesticide free. The material used as an earth alternative is waste from foods commonly used in Senegalese gastronomy, and thus, the costs involved in the project are reduced. The main expense remains the material used to build the table, as well as the initial purchase of seeds. The beauty of the project lays in its absolute self sustainability; once the tables are built, they can be reused for every other cultivation, and once the plants are harvested, their seeds are cultivated for the next batch. Mme Diouf fervently believes in training as many people as possible, she believes micro gardening can be the difference between being malnourished and being well fed. “Le Micro- jardinage peut eradiquer la faim en Afrique.” she says. Micro-gardening can eradicate hunger from Africa. Whether this agriculture project can be maintained at a larger scale is questionable. One thing is sure, those involved in the project experience its benefits everyday; working under the glaring sun, rain or shine, the women and men supplement their nutrition with fresh produce from the garden. Situated smack in the Urban midst of Dakar, Micro-gardening is like the pebble that creates ripples on the water; because of its high visibility, a population that has been removed from agriculture can now participate and experience food, from earth to the table.