Vanuakula Women Thrive Through PTC Young Academic Project
by gppirsa
A project organised by a 23-year-old member of the Pacific Theological College’s Young Academics Programme on the importance of backyard gardening for food security is now thriving in Vanuakula village.
Eva Rasuaki became a Young Academic in 2021, training in critically analysing development issues and creating solutions for them.
He identified the increasing consumption of processed foods in his community led to poor dietary habits and the rise of non-communicable diseases in his community.
Rasuaki bought vegetable seedlings with his money and set up a backyard garden model. The Ministry of Agriculture then supported him with free seedlings under the food security scheme, all of which he then took back to his village home.
Within two months, all women in the village have gardening areas behind their homes. Cash crops like cabbages, beans and chillies are now sources of quick but healthier meals in their homes and school lunches for children. The women are also earning income from the gardens.
When the PTC Institute for Mission and Research team visited the village, some women had now extended their tiny gardens to much bigger means of investment. Some women have taken a further step, joining the South Pacific Business Development Microfinance.
Timaima Tinai's total earnings since she joined Rasuaki’s food security program have reached over $100. She is now one of the women investing with the SPBD Microfinance scheme.
Rasuaki’s second project is the replanting of trees to combat deforestation devastations. He includes the village children in this project.
Working with children has reminded him of his village upbringing. His grandmother raised him before her untimely death when he was still in primary school. He then moved in with his aunt, who he lives with today. The hardship he faced during those days had been the strength of his resilience. “It is why I choose to be what I am today.”
