In the US: COMMUNITY GARDENS AND URBAN AGRICULTURE
The South Side Community Gardens and Urban Agriculture Working Group has several related aims. We enable residents of South Bethlehem and members of the Lehigh community to gain access to convenient, inexpensive plots of land for gardening. By fostering community gardens, we aim to increase access to high quality, affordable fruit and vegetables on the South Side. Through the cultivation of these gardens, we promote forms of community that will encourage new patterns of social interaction and integration, and enable all of us to learn more about our neighbors. Through the expansion of the gardens – and through related educational programming in South Side public schools and at Lehigh – the gardens project fosters several kinds of knowledge: about environmental sustainability, about healthy eating, about the many challenges facing local and global systems of food production, and about the rich and varied food ways of our diverse community. Finally, as the gardens project expands, we hope that urban agriculture may ultimately provide employment opportunities and new sources of income for people living and working on the South Side.
In Cambodia: A gift of a garden grows health
Gardens are a major key to improving nutrition and eliminating hunger for rural Cambodian families. Many families traditionally subsisted on rice, without the knowledge, seed or irrigation needed to grow alternative crops. The addition of vegetables gives the children and families much-needed vitamins and minerals to improve and sustain health.
Notice that when describing school garden projects in the United States the goals are to increase nutrition, build community, and reconnect students with nature. When discussing a seemingly similar project in Cambodia the purpose changes; now the focus is on eliminating hunger and malnutrition.
Both mention nutrition, so it could be argued that there is not a significant difference between the two programs. I think this misses the point. I think there is a significant difference between saying “we want kids to eat better” and “we want kids not to starve.”
So why the difference? The two sites do not have the same goal, one describes an academic research project and the other is soliciting for a gift. Did Sustainable Cambodia “make the case” for a donation by increasing the stakes?
Or maybe the difference in language represents the different realities facing students in Bethlehem, PA and Siem Reap, Cambodia. Gardening is seen as a way to restore lost bonds with neighbors and nature in the US. In Cambodia it’s a way to provide materially for the family.
Questions I’m thinking about today:
