Scout Garden - Milo Scouts
In March 2023, Tropical Cyclone Freddy struck Malawi hard, and our area in Blantyre suffered severe damage. Floodwaters swept away food supplies, homes, and tragically, lives were lost. Through Food for Life initiative we started a scout garden. The goal was to create a space where young people could grow food and gain practical skills to become more self-sufficient. The scouts have gained hands-on experience in food production and learned how to apply those skills in their own communities.
We rented a small plot of land in the community and turned it into a scout garden. It became both a learning space and a practical project for the young people involved. We trained the scouts in the full cycle of growing food: preparing the field, making planting beds, managing nursery seedlings, transplanting them carefully, and caring for the crops through watering, weeding, and pest control.
I learned that hands-on experience makes knowledge stick in a way that theory alone can’t. Working directly with the land gave the scouts confidence and a sense of ownership that pushed them to care for the garden as their own. It also showed me how one practical initiative can address several needs at once—improving food access at home, creating a small income stream, and strengthening teamwork in the process
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