A Story from our Community Development Programme
An important part of the agricultural training we give in our Community Development Programme is education on nutrition, and with it, the production of vegetables.
In one of the villages we are working in, there was a villager who had seen vegetables grown in Iran. However, he didn’t know how to grow them at this altitude (roughly 3000 metres). The agriculture team taught the villagers about the benefit of vegetables and how to grow them, and set up a demonstration garden on this man’s land.
He shared: “During this time my old uncle came to visit. When he saw me working in the garden, he laughed, saying, ‘I am 66 years old and have never seen vegetables grown here; those people are just telling you stories!’
Some time passed, and my uncle came to visit along with some other guests. When dinner was ready, I spread the tablecloth and served the food. I brought out plates of fresh radishes and lettuce to eat along with the other foods. When my uncle ate some of the fresh produce that was laid out, I smiled and asked him, “Now how old are you?”
My uncle said, “66 years old, why?”
I said, “Thanks be to God, now at 66 you have tasted vegetables, grown here in this village!”
My uncle laughed, “They are truly delicious!”
After that, whenever my sons harvested vegetables from the garden, my uncle would also take some of them to his own home.
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