Area 25 Hospital Permaculture Fund
Donation protected
I am currently working for Baylor College of Medicine in Lilongwe, Malawi where I have spent the last 18 months working to improve women's health at one of the largest public health centers in the country. Malawi is a small, densely populated country in southeast Africa and is one of the poorest countries in the world with 75% of the population living on less than $2 per day. Significant nutrition-based diseases and deficiencies within the Malawian population stem from an inconsistent agricultural sector which is caused by changing climatic patterns and poor food distribution. The typical Malawian diet is based upon maize and is severely lacking in a well-rounded array of nutrients and proteins.
Since most of our patients live far from the hospital, they come stay with us for 2-5 weeks while they wait to deliver. Our facility provides a safe and supportive space for them during this critical period. This includes 24 hour access to clinical and clinical support staff. Ensuring expectant mothers are happy and healthy is our way of making sure they leave with healthy babies.
One of our goals at Area 25 hospital is establish a permaculture garden which will provide local vegetables year round rich in key nutrients (especially for pregnant women) such as vitamin K, vitamin A, iron, folic acid, and essential B vitamins. The garden adjacent to the maternity waiting home provides fresh fruits and vegetables including papayas, bananas, mangoes, pumpkins, beans, tomatoes, onions, and leafy greens; we also have fresh eggs daily from our chicken farm which we distribute to the women regularly. The pregnant women staying with us also have access to our daily menu which serves nutritionally dense foods six times a week.
Additionally, the garden serves as a space for education where we teach sustainable agricultural practices, principles of permaculture, and the importance of diversity in the diet and the ecosystem. We hold weekly workshops which include topics such as making compost, home gardening, water management, nutrition, soymilk making, and charcoal briquette making. Women who stay will us are empowered with these skills and are encouraged to implement what they learn when they return home. Soon we will be doing follow-up visits to households of discharged patients for follow-up sessions to see how they are integrating what they have learned with their community.
Beginning in January 2019, we will launch our Twin Seedlings program which will allow each woman leaving the maternity waiting home to take with them a tree seedling; these trees will be planted near their homes where they can see their child and tree grow together. Additionally, for each women leaving the waiting home, we will also plant a tree at the hospital facility. The trees planted at the facility will become a woodlot to be used as a sustainable source of firewood for the hospital residents and staff. Each tree planted will come from our tree nursery where we grow all kinds of fruit trees and indigenous hardwoods.
All donations will go towards the Permaculture program and will specifically be used to support the Daily Menu feeding program and the Twin Seedlings program. All of the support will directly benefit women and children from Malawi. To anyone who can donate any amount, thank you so much! Zikomo Kwambiri!
I will to my best to post updates and photos as we progress!
Anyone with questions can reach me through Facebook or my GoFundMe account.
Since most of our patients live far from the hospital, they come stay with us for 2-5 weeks while they wait to deliver. Our facility provides a safe and supportive space for them during this critical period. This includes 24 hour access to clinical and clinical support staff. Ensuring expectant mothers are happy and healthy is our way of making sure they leave with healthy babies.
One of our goals at Area 25 hospital is establish a permaculture garden which will provide local vegetables year round rich in key nutrients (especially for pregnant women) such as vitamin K, vitamin A, iron, folic acid, and essential B vitamins. The garden adjacent to the maternity waiting home provides fresh fruits and vegetables including papayas, bananas, mangoes, pumpkins, beans, tomatoes, onions, and leafy greens; we also have fresh eggs daily from our chicken farm which we distribute to the women regularly. The pregnant women staying with us also have access to our daily menu which serves nutritionally dense foods six times a week.
Additionally, the garden serves as a space for education where we teach sustainable agricultural practices, principles of permaculture, and the importance of diversity in the diet and the ecosystem. We hold weekly workshops which include topics such as making compost, home gardening, water management, nutrition, soymilk making, and charcoal briquette making. Women who stay will us are empowered with these skills and are encouraged to implement what they learn when they return home. Soon we will be doing follow-up visits to households of discharged patients for follow-up sessions to see how they are integrating what they have learned with their community.
Beginning in January 2019, we will launch our Twin Seedlings program which will allow each woman leaving the maternity waiting home to take with them a tree seedling; these trees will be planted near their homes where they can see their child and tree grow together. Additionally, for each women leaving the waiting home, we will also plant a tree at the hospital facility. The trees planted at the facility will become a woodlot to be used as a sustainable source of firewood for the hospital residents and staff. Each tree planted will come from our tree nursery where we grow all kinds of fruit trees and indigenous hardwoods.
All donations will go towards the Permaculture program and will specifically be used to support the Daily Menu feeding program and the Twin Seedlings program. All of the support will directly benefit women and children from Malawi. To anyone who can donate any amount, thank you so much! Zikomo Kwambiri!
I will to my best to post updates and photos as we progress!
Anyone with questions can reach me through Facebook or my GoFundMe account.
Organizer
Nicholas Twyman
Organizer
Bellaire, TX