Letters to Seeds for Peace
Letter 11: Elaine Pers Hickey, Engeye Scholars, Uganda contact, February 2010
I wanted to email you to let you know that the seeds you sent were so appreciated. We gave a few packs out while I was there. Things were very busy with the medical team and scholars so John (our Uganda contact) is going to identify some families in the village that are most in need of the seeds and who will tend to them. I did give some to Joseph, he served as my interpreter while I was there and he is very excited to plant some of the new vegetables. Especially since the new growing season was going to start after I left. I visited another clinic and community garden while I was there and they are doing amazing things with their gardens. The founder (Bridget) of that organization (Takera) shared some of her experiences and also encouraged us to consider another option available to help our villagers - Which is to harvest and sell some of the more unusual vegetables (unusual for them) to the tourist hotel in Masaka which is about 20 miles away. Bridget said they are able to earn so much more for their community by selling lettuce and tomatoes to the hotel. So that may also present some great opportunities for our villagers.
I had an amazing trip, as you can imagine based on your own personal experiences. I did not make it to Jinja, but I plan on going back to Uganda next year. Maybe I can visit your gardens in Jinja then.
I fell in love with the kids we are sending to school. I got to take them shoe shopping and I miss them already. If you want to check out any pictures I put some on our website: http://www.engeyescholars.com/
I attached the picture of Joseph from Ddegeya with some of the seeds you sent and your brochure. They are going to try and keep taking pictures as they plant and grow. Hopefully I will have some great photos for you.
Letter 10: Kathy Eikost, Kakanj, Bosnia contact, February 2010
We received our first box of seeds from you today. Thanks so much! We will be sharing some of these seeds with a refugee camp in southwestern Bosnia where it is already warm enough to plant. Our national colleagues there are visiting some families regularly with food packets. I am sure they would be interested in the seeds.
Letter 9: Julie Lokken, Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, February 2010
Greetings from Lesotho! I just wanted to send you some photos of the community gardens that have been established as a result of the seeds you donated. The support groups have been working very hard over the past few months to clear the fields and to prepare the plots (all by hand). At the moment we have 4 different community gardens in 4 different villages. Two of the gardens are run by a LENEPWHA (Lesotho network of people living with HIV/AIDS) support groups. They intend to sell some of the harvest as income generation to raise money for transport to the hospital and to buy certain medications and the rest of the harvest they will plan to divide amongst themselves as a source of good nutrition and food security. The third community garden is at a local clinic. The beneficiaries will be People Living with HIV/AIDS and the local orphans and vulnerable children. The fourth garden is going to be used to help the orphans and vulnerable children of that village. Everyone is very happy to be working and doing a project to benefit many people in the community and they send their thanks to you and those at Seeds for Peace. I hope you enjoy the pics and I will send more as we start to harvest the gardens. I hope all is well back in the states and we all thank you again for making these projects possible.
Letter 8: Lynn Minderman, Peace Corps volunteer in Lesotho, February 2010:
What a wonderful newsletter. I appreciated you mentioning Likiting Village and the AIDS orphans. I just returned from working there for a few weeks and it was great to be back "home". We had raised enough money to build a water storage tank for the orphan's garden. During the summer it dried up and was not producing enough food for the kids. Now, they don't have to walk 1 and a half miles each way to bring back buckets of water. there was great celebrating by all! We (my two sisters-in-law) and I have established a high school scholarship program, connecting sponsors here in the US with a boy or girl there at Qholaqhoe High School. We exchange pictures, letters and students must send their grades and school reports to the sponsor. The personal connection between people has been motivating for everyone. I think, besides the money, that having the student realize that someone across the ocean cares about them and their education is the greatest benefit. Cheers to you and to your good work!
Letter 7: Julius Lwanga, Executive Director/Founder of Uganda Children's Hope Foundation, August 2009:
I am really grateful to write to you and am proud to inform you that I have had a smile on my face for the last 3 weeks, a smile from my heart!! You made me smile!
Thank you a lot for the seeds and the clothes. I, my wife and the children were very very happy.
As regards to the house, we have got almost enough funds for the first 6 months and we will be moving soon. Our new landlord is making some finishing inside the house, immediately after he is done we will move in asp. Thank you for the donation, it made a huge difference. May the Lord bless you a million"! and may the Lord extend your prosperity boundaries and fill your wallets with lots and lots of $$$$$.
Pass our Thanksgiving and Love to Hank
Letter 6: Pastor Mujo, community garden in Kakanj, Bosnia, May 2009:
Thank you because you think about us and help us in our work in community garden! Thank you because you talked to other people about us and our work, organized collecting of seeds and other things that you sent us!
Of all heart we send thank your parents Mrs. & Mr. Johnson, and Mr. Hank Labarba, because they invested a lot for us!
Best regards for your community in Saratoga Springs! Best wishes for you! We hope you are coming in Bosnia & Herzegovina again!
Gardeners of Association "small garden", Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Letter 5: Davor, project contact in Bosnia, June 2007:
Our gardeners and their children were very happy when received your last package with seeds, tools, and sweets. Children were glad especially. One of them called Kristijan said: "Thanks to children who sent us sweets. They are good souls. I would like that they come in Bosnia." All other kids also were thankful and enjoyed sweets.
One part of sweets we gave to children home "Bjelave" in Sarajevo which was burn in recently fire. Unfortunately, in that fire five babies were died. Each warm word, smile, candy or any kind of present are important to those children.
With warm regards from all gardeners of "Community garden" project and AFSC staff Sarajevo!
Letter 4: From a 2007 article describing the AIDS Orphans Education Trust (AOET) program in Uganda:
In 2002, Jean and Paul Phillips made their first trip to Uganda, to volunteer for three months, assisting AIDS orphans and widows. The Phillips worked with a small indigenous organization, AIDS Orphans Education Trust-Uganda. Little did they know at the time what an impact that trip would have on them and others.
During the five year period since their first trip, AOET-Uganda's services have grown significantly, commensurate with the continuing ravages of AIDS.
AOET'S primary mission is to enable AIDS orphans to attend school through sponsorships, primarily from the United States.
Additionally, AOET provides vocational training to the caretakers of the sponsored children, enabling them to become self-sufficient.
The increased activities have given new hope to many Ugandans, especially AIDS orphans.
Letter 3: Davor, project contact in Bosnia May, 2007:
...Whoever express a wish to sow flower or some kind of vegetables, we take seeds from our Sue and glad people.
The situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not too good. We have so much applications of people for participation in gardens.... Everybody need a help and want to get away of usual problems, to forget all bad things staying and working in nature, watering garden and talking about nice things.
Letter 2:
All of us want to thank you for your efforts of collecting seeds and other presents for gardeners.... The most part... were distributed in our two gardens. One is in settlement Otes near Sarajevo (50 families, about 150 persons, mostly retired people and unemployed) and the second one is in village Putovici near Zenica town in central part of Bosnia and Herzegovinia (25 families, about 80 persons, very very poor community, mostly young people with children without job, education, social security and place for living. They are living in the former refugee camp which were built in 1992. These are wooden cottages in very bad conditions, without water, toilet and bathrooms).
Letter 1: Belma, describing some basics about what the American Friends Service Committee "Peace Garden" program is doing:
"Almost all of the participants of this project are social cases. They live from social help ($30 a month). If the "Community garden" project did not exist, they would eat in the Public kitchen of the Red Cross. This project gives them the opportunity to eat the different kind of vegetables.
The vegetables that were requested the most were those: potato, onion, stone leek, garlic, leek, carrot, parsley, spinach, Swiss chard, pepper, potato, eggplant, corn, green lettuce, cabbage, kale, red beet."