Urayeneza Leonile is a proud mother of four: two older boys and a pair of twins- one boy, one girl. When they were quite young, Urayeneza started to worry about her twins. They were listless and didn’t seem interested in playing with other children. When she took the children for immunization at the local health center, the doctor told her that her twins were dangerously underweight for their age.

In Rwanda, malnutrition is arguably the most significant public health challenge facing the nation. A staggering 38% of children under five are malnourished. Lack of essential nutrition knowledge and access to nutritious foods are the primary drivers of malnutrition in Rwanda. Through support from IZUMI Foundation, Gardens for Health International (GHI) provides lasting agricultural solutions to chronic malnutrition. GHI’s program seeks to fundamentally change the clinical treatment of malnutrition by supporting families in establishing nutritious kitchen gardens at their homes, while also equipping them with the knowledge they need to keep their children healthy in the long-term.

Saddened by the news, Urayeneza enrolled her twins in GHI’s nutrition program, and she also started attending group trainings to learn how to improve nutrition for her whole family.

Urayeneza planted vegetables like dodo, carrots, and beets. She began to cook her harvest for her children, preparing nutritious meals that she learned how to make in her GHI trainings. Along with improving her general health, using the garden has improved her self-sufficiency. Now, she only buys a few vegetables that she doesn’t grow at home. “If I grow more vegetables like beets and dodo, I can even sell some of them and get money. I don’t have a job, but if I put more effort into farming, I can get more food and money to support my family.”

Visits to the health center have markedly changed in tone. Now, when Urayeneza brings her twins, the doctors remark on how healthy and playful they are. Their health has dramatically improved with their weight gain.

For this mother, the benefits of what she has learned at GHI trainings will extend beyond her own family. “Now I can teach other mothers how to take care of their families. I have learned that if we give maximum care to our gardens, we can yield more from them. The vision I have for my community is to make an exemplary garden that every person in my community will learn from and do the same to develop.”