Garden of Hope Expansion
Donation protected
Two years ago the Garden of Hope started as a side-project of the Education for the Children Foundation's School of Hope (http://www.eftc.org.uk/) in Jocotenango, Guatemala.
We started as an after school program growing lettuce in between rows of coffee trees in the AzoteA Coffee Farm. In our second year we functioned as a regular class throughout the school day and upgraded to 6 raised beds, some fruit trees and a sweet little outdoor classroom.
During these past two years we have worked with over 80 children from the School of Hope and have hosted students from two other local schools. The Garden of Hope has functioned not only as a second classroom, art studio and cafeteria for it's student's, but it's become useful for the school's psychology department that uses it as a therapy space. Students from the psychology department that we've worked with in the Garden of Hope have seen a rise in their grades, test scores and self reported well-being. We've sold over Q2,000 in produce around the community, purchased fans for the School of Hope cafeteria, and hosted workshops from over 10 local experts.
NOW
The AzoteA Coffee Farm is graciously donating an acre of land to our project and we are starting our own social business.
Vision: ‘The Garden of Hope is a safe green space providing at-risk youth with life-skills and a chance to connect with nature and joy.’
Mission: ‘Our combined outreach of an organic gardening program and consultancy service seek to unite the community around nature and its produce. We encourage our students to explore their right to healthy organic produce, clean air/water and the importance of knowing how to grow your own food, as well as the value of teamwork. For our consulting clients we provide green program training, as well as an opportunity to invest in a community and environment in need, nurturing humanity's inherent connection with nature.’
We will be running the AzoteA Nursery and providing gardening services around town to develop our new business. Our goal is to create jobs for graduates of the School of Hope and ensure that the Garden of Hope remain accessible to those in need.
With the new space, we will quadruple the number of students that we can work with and create jobs and internships for them as we grow. Beyond our ability to reach more students from the School of Hope, we'll also develop our space as one for public use. We want anybody and everybody to feel welcome to visit our gardens, outdoor classroom and the nursery we run.
We started as an after school program growing lettuce in between rows of coffee trees in the AzoteA Coffee Farm. In our second year we functioned as a regular class throughout the school day and upgraded to 6 raised beds, some fruit trees and a sweet little outdoor classroom.
During these past two years we have worked with over 80 children from the School of Hope and have hosted students from two other local schools. The Garden of Hope has functioned not only as a second classroom, art studio and cafeteria for it's student's, but it's become useful for the school's psychology department that uses it as a therapy space. Students from the psychology department that we've worked with in the Garden of Hope have seen a rise in their grades, test scores and self reported well-being. We've sold over Q2,000 in produce around the community, purchased fans for the School of Hope cafeteria, and hosted workshops from over 10 local experts.
NOW
The AzoteA Coffee Farm is graciously donating an acre of land to our project and we are starting our own social business.
Vision: ‘The Garden of Hope is a safe green space providing at-risk youth with life-skills and a chance to connect with nature and joy.’
Mission: ‘Our combined outreach of an organic gardening program and consultancy service seek to unite the community around nature and its produce. We encourage our students to explore their right to healthy organic produce, clean air/water and the importance of knowing how to grow your own food, as well as the value of teamwork. For our consulting clients we provide green program training, as well as an opportunity to invest in a community and environment in need, nurturing humanity's inherent connection with nature.’
We will be running the AzoteA Nursery and providing gardening services around town to develop our new business. Our goal is to create jobs for graduates of the School of Hope and ensure that the Garden of Hope remain accessible to those in need.
With the new space, we will quadruple the number of students that we can work with and create jobs and internships for them as we grow. Beyond our ability to reach more students from the School of Hope, we'll also develop our space as one for public use. We want anybody and everybody to feel welcome to visit our gardens, outdoor classroom and the nursery we run.
Organizer
Claire Henkel
Organizer
