Every dollar saved on campus is a dollar that gets put back into the classrooms and the girls’ education.

With the current economic situation in Kenya, the price of food has gone up substantially – with some staple foods nearly doubling in price. To help save money on food, Daraja volunteers and staff expanded the campus garden fivefold, from a ¼ acre to 1 ¼ acres, and added a greenhouse in June.

Lillian, Daraja's garden prefect

Form 3 student, Lillian, was appointed garden prefect when it became apparent that a lot more student energy would be required to keep the space thriving. She organizes a group of girls to water the garden and keep the weeds under control on weekends. During the week, full time staff members work the garden.

It didn’t take long, with some hard work and the help of some good compost from the kitchen scraps, for the garden to flourish and become a reliable source of fresh vegetables for school meals. Ruth, Daraja’s head cook, says she didn’t have to order kale for weeks because enough was being harvested from the garden.

Some of the vegetables grown in the garden that go into regular Daraja meals are zucchini, onions, kale and spinach. Butternut squash, beets and French beans are also grown and mixed into the menu to give the girls some healthy variety.

Every Daraja meal starts with a pile of vegetables. With some of the produce coming from the garden, we can save money and add more variety to the meals