Beatriz Amaya at her Home GardenIn the semi-rural community of La Loma home gardens have become synonymous with powerful and complete community transformation. Community members have become united in purpose– teaching, cultivating, and helping their neighbors to accomplish the work at hand. A sweet aroma of change is filling the air in La Loma and is spreading beyond the community’s small borders.
For many years, the members of the Assembly of Christian Churches in the area attempted to serve their community, but they were always met with a negative response. Although they considered the Home Garden initiative as another attempt to get closer to the community, they expected no more than to provide vegetable gardens for members of the church.
However, over time the home gardens have become a revolutionary initiative, impacting not only the participants themselves, but their families, their neighbors and the sellers in the area. As Pastor Felix Amaya says, “This initiative has changed our lives. As a community we’ve come together, made friends, we take care of each other… and we’re making money!”
ENLACE’s Agronomist Advises Pastor Felix and Don Serefino on how to care for the home garden Taking care of a home garden requires perseverance, patience and care. These three ingredients have not only resulted in healthier and more nutritive vegetables, but also in restored relationships and a spirit of cooperation among the community members.
“People now see the church as a friend… we are no longer distant brothers…There are people who we never used to greet, but now they are benefitting from the gardens and they are asking questions…” Juan Amaya, church leader.
The beneficiaries of this initiative are now helping and motivating others, breaking the ideological barriers that have kept the church divided from its community. This new openness has motivated and strengthened the church leadership and has bolstered church’s image in the community. For example, pastor Felix is no longer seen as just a pastor, but as a friend to the community.
The impact of the Home Gardens Initiative has been so strong that people from surrounding areas have asked how they might have the success and economical sustainability that the people of La Loma now enjoy. The success of the Home Garden Initiative in La Loma represents transformation in every way: restored sense of personal worth, better health, increased income and truly restored relationships.
In the past two years ENLACE has helped plant more than 350 home gardens, and we plan to help start at least 400 new home gardens next year! Your donation, no matter how small, helps ENLACE give training and supplies to church and community members all over El Salvador who desire to feed their families and generate income through home gardens and small businesses.
GivFood Today!
$250 helps feed a family for a lifetime!
$50 helps feed one person for a lifetime!