Home gardens can transform ‘hungry’ homes

http://www.yourcommonwealth.org/social-development/health-safety-wellbeing/home-gardens-can-transform-hungry-homes/

Growing food at home has benefits beyond providing nutritious food, writes Bhagya Wijayawardane, 28, a Correspondent from Colombo, Sri Lanka. She’s working to bring home gardens to marginalised urban residents.

As part of the local effort to fight food insecurity, eliminate vitamin A deficiency and nutritional blindness, and to improve physical growth among school children and infants in Sri Lanka, I founded a community organization named ESHKOL.

Today, ESHKOL implements a home gardening and nutrition education project in Sri Lanka.

The initial test was carried out at my home roof top to fight boredom and continue to enjoy my food cravings after a long career break. Gradually, it turned out to be a pilot project that was intended to see whether promotion of low-cost vegetable gardens combined with nutrition education might be a viable strategy for improving the nutritional levels of at-risk populations, such as low income families living in slums and streets, the near-landless, and particularly women and young children in urban communities.

After two years of experimentation, today, our home gardening project contributes to household food security by providing direct access to food that can be harvested, prepared and fed to family members, often on a daily basis. It involves a variety of garden space that can be identified as home, mixed, roof top, backyard, kitchen, farmyard, compound or homestead gardens, or a family food production system. We help people learn the art of urban gardening to enable them to believe that “Anybody Can Grow” despite other short comings. We even work with very poor, landless people in the urban communities, gardening on small patches of homestead land, vacant lots, roadsides or edges of a field, or in containers, giving hope for a secure future.

It is important to let people know that gardening may be done with virtually no economic resources, with the use of locally available planting materials, green manures, live fencing and indigenous methods of pest control. Home gardening at some level is a production system that the poor can easily enter with the right tools and knowledge that ESHKOL provides.

Gardening provides a diversity of fresh foods that improve the quantity and quality of nutrients available to the family, especially to low income families that depend largely on food pantry programs or on imperishable foods. Households with gardens typically can grow more than 50 per cent of their supply of vegetables and fruits (including such secondary staples as banana, cassava, sweet potato), medicinal plants and herbs – under the right conditions and with proper care. Those households having garden systems that include animal-raising also obtain their primary and often only source of animal protein.

Since we cannot eat, drink, or breathe without plants, it becomes very important for human life to adjust to a healthy life style and find alternative ways to manage change and become self-reliant. Daily gardening chores like watering, weeding, trellising, mulching, and harvesting are also great ways to augment an exercise regimen for an urban population. At the same time, it is essential to bear in mind that gardening is generally not a substitute for focused cardio and strength training, however, it combines low-impact exercise with other benefits we can’t get at a gym in our neighbourhoods.

Taking time every morning and evening to tend to the veggies might seem trivial, but research and a number of testimonials shows that being in natural surroundings can lower blood pressure, reduce stress and improve concentration. Becoming close to nature proves to be a significant factor in challenging any number of diseases and disorders.

Vegetable and fruit gardening gives us positive feelings of self-sufficiency, for we have fresh homegrown produce that can ease our concerns about providing for our friends and families. Successful gardening helps us in planning, problem solving and creativity. There is so much to learn even for the highly educated gardener, for he will never find himself without something to study while waiting for the ground to thaw.

We know that local food is often, if not always, better food, so the produce harvested from our backyard or a local community garden is fresher, more nutritious and better tasting than produce that is often picked before it is ripe and shipped to the grocery store. As shared earlier, we easily recognise the benefit of home gardens to our diets and our budgets, but often overlook how gardening contributes to environmental conservation. By cutting the commodity chain short, urban gardens help us conserve resources used in transportation and reduce the packaging waste that ends up in the landfill. It also keeps our city clean and beautiful, providing a relaxed and healthy environment to live in.

Photo credit: Stephen D. Melkisethian Steve’s Garden 2017 Still Life via photopin (license)

English Literature PAPER 1: Poetry and Modern Prose Answer Booklet

SECTION A 

Unseen Poetry

 Answer the question in this section. You should spend 35 minutes on this question. Read the following poem.

A Mother In A Refugee Camp

No Madonna and Child could touch

Her tenderness for a son

She soon would have to forget. . . .

The air was heavy with odors of diarrhea*,

Of unwashed children with washed-out ribs

And dried-up bottoms waddling* in labored steps

Behind blown-empty bellies. Other mothers there

Had long ceased to care, but not this one:

She held a ghost-smile* between her teeth,

And in her eyes the memory

Of a mother’s pride. . . . She had bathed him

And rubbed him down with bare palms.

She took from their bundle of possessions

A broken comb and combed

The rust-colored hair left on his skull

And then—humming in her eyes—began carefully to part it.

In their former life this was perhaps

A little daily act of no consequence

Before his breakfast and school; now she did it

Like putting flowers on a tiny grave.

Chinua Achebe  (published 1960)

Please note the American spelling of ‘odors’ ‘diarrhea’ ‘labored’ and ‘colored’. (English spellings: odours, diarrhoea, laboured and coloured.)

In ‘A Mother in a Refugee Camp,’ how does the poet present ideas about loss?

* diarrhea - having a loose, watery stool during a bowel movement.

* waddle- walk with short steps and a clumsy swaying motion.

* ghost smile- a faint or slight smile that suggests a hint of something.

1. Explore how the poet explores the conditions the mother must face when caring for her son in the refugee camp? 

In your answer, you should consider the writer’s: 

• descriptive skills

 • choice of language

 • use of form and structure. 

Support your answer with examples from the poem.

 (Total for Question 1 = 20 marks)

 TOTAL FOR SECTION A = 20 MARKS 

SECTION B

 Anthology Poetry Answer ONE question from this section. You should spend 40 minutes on your chosen question

2.  Compare the ways the writers present the emotional impact of trauma in Half-past Two and War Photographer"Half-Past Two" and "War Photographer" 

3  Re-read My Last Duchess. ( La Belle Dame sans Merci) 

Compare the ways in which the poets present the theme of power and control in "My Last Duchess" and another poem from the anthology.

SECTION C 

Modern Prose Answer ONE question on ONE text from this section. You should spend 45 minutes on this section.

To what extent does Boo Radley’s isolation in To Kill a Mockingbird reflect societal attitudes towards difference and fear of the unknown?

How does Harper Lee use the fear of the unknown to highlight the importance of empathy in To Kill a Mockingbird?

In what ways does To Kill a Mockingbird suggest that fear of the unknown leads to misunderstanding and prejudice?

Discuss how isolation shapes the lives of both Boo Radley and Mayella Ewell in To Kill a Mockingbird.

“How does Scout’s narrative perspective shape the reader’s understanding of events in the novel? Consider both the impact of her childhood innocence and her eventual maturation.”

You should make reference to language, form and structure. Support your answer with examples from the poems. (Total for Question 3 = 30 marks)

ANSWERS

In the poem A Mother in a Refugee Camp by Chinua Achebe, the poet delves into the emotional and physical struggles of a mother as she cares for her son in the harsh conditions of a refugee camp. Through vivid imagery and poignant language, Achebe highlights the overwhelming challenges faced by mothers in such dire circumstances.

1. Physical hardship and exhaustion: The mother is depicted as being worn out, both physically and emotionally. The refugee camp is an inhospitable environment, and the mother’s exhaustion is shown in her care for her sick child. She is constantly engaged in the struggle to protect and care for him in a place where resources are scarce, and survival is a daily battle. The mother’s weariness conveys the toll that such harsh conditions take on her.

2. Emotional anguish: The mother’s emotions are deeply tied to her son’s suffering. Her son, sickly and frail, symbolizes the loss and suffering of a generation caught in the chaos of war and displacement. Achebe captures the emotional weight on the mother as she witnesses her child’s suffering, feeling helpless and powerless. The poem portrays the mother's internal conflict — her love for her son and her inability to provide the necessary care for him in the refugee camp.

3. Contrast between hope and despair: While the mother shows profound love and care for her son, there is an undercurrent of despair. The camp represents a site of violence, disease, and loss. Yet, the mother’s gestures toward her son — as she gently holds him or attends to his needs — show that there is still hope and maternal affection despite the overwhelming difficulties. The mother’s love, though overshadowed by the dire situation, provides a semblance of comfort amidst the grim reality.

4. Desperation and helplessness: Achebe emphasizes the mother's sense of helplessness in the face of her son's suffering. There is a tragic futility in her actions, as the poet suggests that even her best efforts may not be enough to save her child. The mother's vulnerability is heightened by the harsh conditions of the refugee camp, which leaves her without any real means of providing adequate care.

5. Symbolism of the child’s illness: The child's frailty and illness serve as metaphors for the larger suffering and deprivation experienced by those in the refugee camp. The sick child represents a generation destroyed by war, violence, and displacement. The mother’s inability to cure or alleviate her son’s condition is symbolic of the helplessness felt by refugees, who are often powerless in the face of broader socio-political forces.

Through A Mother in a Refugee Camp, Achebe explores the deep emotional and physical toll on a mother trying to care for her son amidst an environment of violence and deprivation. The poem offers a powerful reflection on the personal and collective suffering in war-torn regions, highlighting the resilience and tenderness of a mother’s love, even in the most desperate circumstances.