Gardens of Hope

In one of the most densely populated neighbourhoods in the world, where there is virtually no greenery, where the bees have stopped buzzing, and there is no space to plant much, a group of women have come together to go against sceptics to do just that. One pot at a time, they are creating the Gardens Of Hope.

Nowadays the basti is buzzing, not just with the curious new bees coming in to check out the pumpkin and bitter gourd flowers, but it is buzzing with other households who are talking about these Gardens Of Hope. They are coming to the change agents to ask them how they can set up their own gardens. Let me take you inside for a walk through….

Our Vision

Our vision is inspired by this powerful motto: ‘Think global, act local’. The global issue of hunger, lack of nutrition and unsustainable agricultural practices is being tackled by the Gardens of Hope at the Nizamuddin Basti.

The vision is to create a model that is centered around a simple but powerful idea which brings the community together, supported by the guidance of an expert and propelled by a small group of inspired change agents to create real impact.

In the case of this neighbourhood it came in the form of kitchen gardens, a gardening expert and a few amazingly enthusiastic mothers.

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Benefits Of A Kitchen Garden

Financial

Our aim is to reduce the grocery bill of the residents by 15-20%. This is already happening as the gardens flourish and more vegetables are being sown and harvested. This allows for great financial empowerment for the mothers of the households.

Nutrition & Wellbeing

This is a powerful double benefit of having agency over one’s own food and nutrition by using organic ingredients and growing local and seasonal vegetables for the family. And while doing that, the tending of these gardens, as is well documented, has great wellbeing benefits.

Environmental

Creating a system by which households can grow a good portion of their food requirements in their own balconies or gardens reduces carbon emissions due to transportation, reduction in packaging and also in chemicals in the form of pesticides released in the environment.

If Your Garden Could Speak...