“To help relieve food insecurity in Rwanda, the nonprofit Humanity Unified worked with a local NGO to plant the country’s first “food forest”. Part of a 13-acre organic farm located behind the University Teaching Hospital of Butare, the food forest nourishes hospitalized women and children, along with their caretakers. But there’s a long-term goal, too. A food forest mimics the wild forest model, which creates an edible garden paradise that requires much less upkeep than the traditional farm model. The goal of the project is to spark a movement towards sustainable farming, both country-and continent-wide, that can help transform a broken food system. The farm features 120 fruit-producing trees along with a range of vegetables and medicinal plants. A community outreach “teach one to teach another” program trained 44 locals to teach people how to create organic permagardens as a sustainable way to grow food using only a small piece of land.”

From National Geographic, April, 2020 (two images from this collection were published).