Cross-cultural Connections: How Key Hole Gardens Link Two Schools

Iowa State University (ISU) College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS) administers two collaborative school-garden, service-learning programs: 1) Uganda, initiated in 2006, is a partnership between ISU, Makerere University, local non-governmental organizations, and the Ministry of Education, with five schools in the Kamuli district, including Namasagali Primary School (NPS). The Ugandan school gardens produce crops and poultry for school feeding programs, and provide propagation materials for students’ home gardens. 2) The EARTH Program (Education and Resiliency Through Horticulture) is on St. John U.S. Virgin Islands and began in 2010. EARTH is a partnership between ISU and Gifft Hill School (GHS), a private school and the only complete k-12 school on St. John. The focus of GHS’s school garden is reconnecting children with their environment and food system, and teaching families to provide some of their own food, thereby lowering the cost of living. Both programs create and utilize outdoor learning laboratories and include hands-on learning experiences for school children and service-learning experiences for undergraduate students. These two programs are connected through ISU. To take advantage of this connection we have developed five cross-cultural learning experiences, enhancing the education of school children in both GHS, and NPS: 1) 6^thgrade pen pal program, 2) GHS National Honor Society fundraiser for school supplies for NPS students, 3) ISU program staff exchange and guest lecture, 4) Ugandan keyhole gardens at GHS, and 5) GHS high school students plan a future service-learning trip to Uganda. Ugandan keyhole gardens are circular raised beds with a central compost bin. Compostable materials and gray water are added to the bin, watering the garden with compost leachate via capillary action. In Uganda keyhole gardens are common as a kitchen garden and made with local hand-made bricks. At GHS a keyhole garden was constructed from local, sustainable products, including recycled glass bottles and papercrete, a mixture of 25% shredded paper and 75% mortar by volume. These gardens and pen pal letters provide a lasting link and physical symbol of the relationship between the schools. Keyhole gardens, used as kitchen gardens, are suitable for culinary herbs and many vegetables, and are used for both education and demonstration purposes. Tropical gardens and African heritage provide a shared experience between the students from which discussions in lessons and pen pal letters can be built. They also allow students to compare garden types, and management practices across different physical and cultural situations.