Help families grow thriving gardens this spring

Name: Ripple Effect
Price range: $

Raised: $16993 Target: $35000

This spring, families living in the Bensa district, Ethiopia, are at risk of facing months on end of hunger wondering where their next meal will come from or how they will put food on the table for their growing children.

This is a burden no parent should ever have to bear. However, this is the reality for mothers like Meselech, whose families go hungry an average of four months each year, with food scarcity usually beginning in April. But your support today could help change this.

Donate now

Meselech is a hardworking mother of six and in the Bensa district where she lives, families like hers rely on their small plots of land for food and income. However, the land is impacted by soil degradation due to erosion and a lack of nutrients.

Meselech’s farm is positioned amongst steep hillsides where heavy, unpredictable rain caused by the climate crisis contributes further to soil erosion and washes away precious crops.

As the climate crisis has worsened, rains have become less reliable, and the quality of the soil has decreased, with families growing less and less over time. These challenges mean families are unable to cover the food needs of their households every month of the year. This is truly devastating.

"From October to March we'd be okay as that's when we'd harvest our maize and coffee and we could buy some food with the small amount of income we earned. Between April and September, we faced a huge shortage of food. We'd get so hungry it would make us feel angry."

Meselech, Ethiopia

Many rural families like Meselech’s rely on buying food with the little income they earn from selling any surplus crops. But as crops become harder to grow, and families are outpriced by the cost of food, families are at risk of going hungry for months on end.

If you are in a position to do so today, please will you donate today to help families like Meselech’s grow thriving gardens this spring so they can feed their children over the coming hunger months?

Donate now

A productive and abundant farm that produces enough food all year round is only made possible by having the right seeds, tools and sustainable farming skills. Here’s how a gift from you today could make all the difference:

Tools Families will be equipped with simple tools like a rake and a hoe so that they can cultivate their land more efficiently and quickly.

Seeds To ensure families can access nutritious food as quickly as possible, families like Meselech's will receive vegetable seeds like Swiss chard and carrot, which when planted, mature faster than other crops.

Training To improve the quality of the soil, families will receive training on composting, which when applied to their land, will ensure their gardens have the right nutrients to grow healthy crops.

Since joining the project, Meselech has already started to implement all that she has learnt so far, and has seen the difference her hard work and determination has made:

“With the help of people like you, since joining the project, we have begun to diversify our farm and we are growing many other vegetables such as Swiss chard, onion, potato and carrots. In addition, the crops before weren’t productive. Now we know how to manage and make our soil more fertile. So, we’re not only growing new crops but we’re also improving the yields of the crops that we were growing before.” Meselech, Ethiopia

There are many more families like Meselech’s approaching April not knowing if they will be able to feed their families.

A gift of any size today, could equip another family like Meselech’s with seeds, tools and training to grow thriving gardens this spring so their children don’t go hungry. Thank you for your support.

Donate now

Want to hear good news stories from Africa, get involved in fantastic fundraising and be part of exciting events? Fill out your details below and we will keep you updated by email.