Hello, my name is Modester and I am 10 years old. Since starting school at the age of six, it has been hard for my grandmother to provide me and my siblings with breakfast.Â
My grandmother has some papaya trees which grow very tall. These were hard to harvest because of their height and more often than not, the fruit would be damaged as it fell so she was unable to sell the fruit.
Now though, my grandmother is a member of a Fruit Tree Club and she grows hybrid papaya trees. These grow shorter than the traditional varieties so we can harvest papayas without causing damage to the fruit. This means we can sell the surplus fruit but more importantly, my siblings and I can pick the fruit and have it before school.Â
By planting fruit trees with Ripple Africa, you can help children, and their families, like me to have access to nutritious fruit and a way to make money.
We support 100 community groups to grow lemon, orange, mango, guava, papaya, tangerine and avocado trees. We work with each group for two years and each year they raise and plant out between 1,500 and 2,000 fruit trees.
The variety of fruit trees being grown produce fruits at different times. Papaya and guava are quick producers and we are proud to know that this project means children are receiving breakfast before school. We also plant trees with 21 schools and three health clinics.
Each Community Club has 10 members and each member plants more trees than they will be able to eat the fruit of. This means that they not only benefit from the fruit to eat but can sell any surplus at local markets and raise an income.
