Jun 24, 2011 / ENERGY GLOBE Award
Project presentation - "Learning from and with nature"
The rural community of La Soledad in the province of Salsa in northwest Argentina is battling poverty and malnutrition. It is not easy to learn with an empty stomach.
Teachers at the school La Soledad know this as well. Therefore they want to provide food for their pupils. However, the school and its dormitory are quite remote and everything has to be delivered on horseback. The solution is farming as part of the curriculum. Under the title “Learning from Nature” the school became nutritionally self-sufficient.
The school’s own farm now grows fruits, spices and vegetables, raises seedlings and keeps honeybees and livestock (pigs, poultry, rabbits, …). The students also handle processing of the foods together with their teachers and project initiator Ana Trabucco. Other elements of the project include recycling of biowaste as fertilizer and solar energy production.
Thus the children learn by experience how biological systems work and simultaneously create the basis for successful graduation: Regular, balanced school meals have profoundly improved school performance.
More information: www.ciudadaniasolidaria.org