thika hospital kitchen garden Thika lies an an area that is rather dry for much of the year, and this challenges farmers to grow vegetables rather than stables such as maize - which fits well into the rainfall patterns, can be stored, but which provides few vitamins and micro-nutirents.

thika hospital rainwater tank

Now with the RealImpact tank and drip irrigation, vegetables can be grown year-round and a much wider range of foodstuffs can be introduced into the diet.

Thika District Hospital

Thika District Hospital houses over 250 beds and a range of in- and out-patient services from Antinatal to Tuberculosis. 'A nation free from preventable disease and ill health' is its vision, and with that aim the District Public Health Officer Julius Inyingi has enthusiastically supported the construction of a Nutrition Garden within the grounds of the hospital.

The hospital is situated with several hectares of land earmarked for eventual expansion but which are currently unused. The Nutrition Garden has been located next to a clinic used for HIV+ mothers and babies.

The produce from the garden is used for the mothers, but overall its role is primarily educational - a facility for beginning a process of teaching local communities the value of improved nutrition, and ultimately to extend the use of the basic horticultural techniques into the towns and villages in the hospitals catchment area.

Education

The role of the project in the eyes of the District Health Officer is multi-facited and fits well into the overall programme for public health improvements:

to see and learn the techniques that families and small groups can use to grow good food themselves and not rely on cash and markets for subsistence
to learn to cook nutritionally. Understanding the value of fresh produce and how it is good for health, understanding the relationships between the growing of crops in cycles and a healthy menu. Seeing that people can get what their bodies need by growing it themselves.
to understand the economic rationale for growing your own food - growing your own not buying in shops. Not only this but the possibilities of a modest income stream from the sale of excess produce.
to understand how to make compost by the use of organic waste and of work composting. Using kitchen waste reduces environmental pollution and adds to the fertility of the kitchen garden.
to obtain food from the garden and to demonstrate tangibly the link between year-round vegetable growing and good food to eat

Grace Xxxxxx the hospital nutritionalist, pictured above left, is passionate about the need for good food to help prevent illness and help in recovery for patients.

Listen now as Grace talks about the role of the garden for the hospital.

The garden at Thika General Hospital has a planting programme that specifically takes into account the nutritional needs of HIV+ patients. Washington, its full-time gardener, keeps it neat and tidy and shows round parties of staff and visitors.

A sustainable package

The RealImpact package consists of

year-round irrigation
low or no-cost soil fertility through worm compost
germination started in propagation unit not in the soil, leading to greater seedling survival
nutritional and growing advice from RealImpact experts
weekly support from a visiting Real Impact farm manager

Soil fertility is maintained by making compost from the worm unit and by using waste from hospital kitchens to generate compost in heaps. Both of these methods are demonstrate to visitors.

Extending the message

The hospital's remit for hygiene and nutrition extends all over the local area around Thika, and the next stage in their programme is to work with RealImpact to bring in and train their whole network of rural health visitors so that they in turn can take the message to local communities. We will also work to build a further three kitchen gardens in outlying rural clinics where land and water is available, as further demonstration and teaching centres.

Funded by US AID.