昔日垃圾场，而今蔬菜园

Thomas Bwire

来自肯尼亚的维克多·艾达利亚，把贫民窟中的一个垃圾场变成了城市蔬菜农场。

In July 2020, the work of Victor Edalia from Kenya was highlighted because he turned a trash dump into an urban farm in Kibera,one of the world's largest slums（贫民窟）.During the pandemic,he began supplying free produce to struggling families.

Once you open the old door, the inside of Edalia's former trash dump now has the feel of a commercial farm. Rows of neatly organized fresh vegetables grow from hundreds of plastic cups on plastic pipes,putting on a show.

In October 2021, an American nonprofit group called the Human Needs Project reached out to Edalia when they were surveying small-scale urban farmers within Kibera. They were impressed by what he had done so far, so the group arranged (安排) for Edalia and his team members to do a two-week training with the East African company Hydroponics Africa.They learned how to preserve vegetables after harvest and, crucially, how to increase the farm's yield(产量)in a small urban space.

Before Edalia improved his farm, he supplied vegetables to about 20 people a month. Now he can supply about 250 families. The World Food Programme and the Nairobi City County are official partners with the farm, too. The new income means Edalia and his team are finally earning money from the vegetables.

One of the new vegetarian beneficiaries(受益者)is Soila Amboi,a 33-year-old clothes seller and a mother of three. She says the regular supply of the vegetables has become a relief.“You know times are tough, my friend. We call him‘olum’,meaning the blessed one,”she says.

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