The charity Seeds For Africa has stared its first prison vegetable garden at Kabwe prison in zambia.
There are 500 prisoners at Kabwe prison and the prisongarden will give them fresh vegetables to eat.
More importantly, the prison staff hope that the garden will increase the prisoners self-esteem.
The Kabwe prison garden was inspired by Nelson Mandela who spent twenty-seven years in prison in South Africa .
Gardening helped Mandela to increase his self -esteem.
The Kawbe prison garden was my way of escaping what surrounded us.
I looked at all the empty space we had on the roof and how it got sun the whole day.
I decided Id like to start a garden and after years of asking, I recived permission.
I asked for sixteen large oil druns and asked the staff to cut them in half for me.
They then filled each half with soil, and created thirty-two gaint flowerpost.
A garden was one of the few thing in prison that I could control.
It gave me the simple but important satisfaction of planting a seed watching it grow, waterning it and then harvesting it.
It was a small taste of Freedom.
In some ways, I saw the garden as being like my life.
A leader must also look after his garden, he too, plants seeds and then watches, cultivates, and harvests the result.
(adapted from Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela)
To find out more about the prison garden and other projects go to www.seedsforafrica.org
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