Under-resourced and over-burdened as a laborer in Odisha, India, Ravi* was struggling to provide for his family when he connected with the Church of the Nazarene’s Kitchen Garden Project. The program, a church WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene) project, supplies startup seeds and basic agricultural education. 

Ravi was equipped with the materials and training needed to cultivate a robust home garden. He started small, growing foods like tomatoes, chili peppers, cauliflower, and potatoes for his family. His children began eating nourishing meals. As he developed his agricultural skills, Ravi realized that he could expand his crops and sell the produce. 

He cultivated more land and gardened on a larger scale. He sold vegetables locally, setting up a booth in a nearby market. Eventually, Ravi left his day-laboring job for full-time farming, which enabled his children to begin attending a higher-quality school. Through the Kitchen Garden Project, Ravi drastically improved his family’s quality of life, and he’s not alone.

Since 2019, more than 2,000 men, women, and children in rural India have benefitted from the Kitchen Garden Project, and church leaders believe it is only the beginning.

“We are encouraging villages to start something, to grow your own things,” says India Field Compassionate Ministries Coordinator Trisha Baran Das. 

According to Baran Das, it takes time. But eventually, many beneficiaries take their vegetables to the local market and sell them, creating a self-sustaining career out of the simple seed packets.

Like Ravi, mother and newly widowed Roopa* was also under great stress to provide for her two children on a limited income. When her husband passed away and Roopa was unable to work, she began receiving rice from the Indian government.

“But rice is not enough,” says Kitchen Garden Project Manager Pratik Zombade. “[My children] were starving for nutritional food.” 

The Kitchen Garden Project supplied Roopa with multiple seed packets and basic gardening education. One day, Pratik revisited Roopa’s village to check in on program participants. Roopa approached him, wearing a huge smile and hauling an overflowing bucket of tomatoes. 

“She was very happy,” Zombade said. “The Kitchen Garden Project will help them to eventually be strong and healthy.”

--Church of the Nazarene Eurasia Region