From the Backyard to the Table: How Kitchen Gardens Are Changing Lives in Kabondo East
When the rains came late last year, Adhiambo did what she had learned to do — she checked her kitchen garden first.
Behind her home in Kabondo East Ward, she tends a small plot no bigger than a living room floor. Kale, sweet potatoes, onions, and cowpeas grow in neat rows. It is not a farm in the traditional sense. But for her family of five, it is the difference between a meal and an empty plate.
“Before, if the market prices went up, we simply ate less,” she says. “Now I don’t wait for the market.”
A Simple Idea With Deep Roots
Kitchen gardens are not new to Homa Bay County. But for many households in Kabondo East, they had faded over the years — pushed aside by changing land use, dry spells, and the assumption that food comes from shops, not soil.
Mwangaza Integrated Project has been working to change that thinking, one household at a time. Through our food security programme, we support community members — especially women and young mothers — with seeds, composting guidance, and practical training on growing drought-resistant crops suited to the local climate.
The goal is not to turn every family into a farmer. It is to give every family a buffer.
What We Have Seen
Across the households we have supported, the change is visible — not just in the gardens, but in the families. Children are eating more vegetables. Women who once spent a significant portion of their household income on food have more flexibility. A few families have even begun selling small surpluses at the local market.
One of the things we hear most often is this: “I feel less afraid.”
Food insecurity carries a particular kind of anxiety — the low hum of worry that follows you through the day. A kitchen garden does not eliminate poverty. But it removes one source of that daily fear.
The Bigger Picture
Food security is connected to everything else we do. A child who is well-nourished attends school more consistently. A mother who is not stressed about the next meal has more capacity to attend a health screening or a rights awareness meeting. A community that can feed itself is more resilient when drought, illness, or economic shocks arrive.
This is why we do not treat food security as a separate programme — it is a foundation.
How You Can Help
This season, we are expanding our kitchen garden initiative to reach 50 additional households in Kabondo East. We need support for seeds, training materials, and follow-up visits to ensure the gardens are thriving.
If you want to contribute — whether through funding, volunteering, or simply sharing our work — we would love to hear from you.
Reach us at mwangazaintegratedproject@gmail.com or visit our contact page.
Together, we build communities that do not just survive — they grow.
