New agri-programme to start at NCVO

The National Council of Voluntary Organizations (NCVO) is partnering with the team at Food Revolution, who was sponsored by Cayman Heart Fund, to start a new garden and harvest programme this month at the NCVO elementary school. The aim is to encourage students to not only to eat healthier, but learn a sense of responsibility through caring for the plants they will be tending to.

“The children will be growing their own food, it’s gonna be cooking. We are gonna have a harvest day once they have been doing their gardening for a few months. So it’s really exciting to get the children to see themselves as empowering consumers,” said NCVO Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Miriam Foster.

With nutritional and metabolic diseases among the top five causes of deaths in the Cayman Islands, Ms. Foster said she is trying to do her part to change this. “We know that childhood obesity is a big issue in Cayman we also know the mental health issues in Cayman and we want to look at their mental health so we are going to incorporate yoga and mindfulness,” said Ms. Foster. She said it’s not a matter of looks, but the legitimacy. “Not just to think of eating healthy because they want to look good or be thin, it’s more about how important it is for them to get everything they need because their brains are developing,” said Ms. Foster.

She hopes the students will take what they learn at school into their homes.

“So because it becomes normal to them, then they become empowered and they become health advocates in their homes telling their parents they need more vegetables in their plate,” said Ms. Foster.

The students will plant their first seedlings into the soil this Easter weekend.