Fresh Food Near Ormoc City
The home-cooked Filipino meal was also homegrown.
Squash, okra and a spinach-like vegetable called kangkong sprouted out of neat rows and in terraced planters.
Homegrown vegetables and animals raised on site make a hearty stew, one of many dishes, for Water, Agroforestry, Nutrition and Development Foundation volunteers. (Photo by Neil Bedi)
The pigsty was nearby, but it didn’t smell, and the pen of piglets was silent.
Everything but the noodles was grown on site at the Water, Agroforestry, Nutrition and Development Foundation farm.
WAND Foundation workers wear many different hats in their humanitarian work, but in Leyte, one of their primary roles has been as a resource for locals to learn how to grow their own food.
The area around Ormoc City was hit by heavy winds and rain that damaged roofs and knocked down several homes during Typhoon Yolanda.
The storm damaged many of the local crops and fields as well, stripping the area of valuable resources and many livelihoods.
But now people are finding a new livelihood in growing their own vegetables.
WAND teaches people to raise their own livestock, including pigs, ducks and goats, to produce a sustainable source of meat. (Photo by Neil Bedi)
The fresh food made a delicious lunch in the middle of our day touring the WAND Foundation’s beneficiary sites all around the countryside outside of Ormoc City.
And that’s the point of the gardens that the WAND Foundation helped typhoon survivors plant all over Leyte and Samar. Once families start farming their own produce, they can stop spending their pesos at the market.
One of many farms sponsored by the Water, Agroforestry, Nutrition and Development Foundation is located in a community built on a mountain outside of Ormoc City. (Photo by Neil Bedi)
The gardens that the WAND Foundation sponsored brightened up the bunk houses where Ormoc City’s displaced residents are living temporarily.
With all the new vegetation popping up out of the soil, the area around Ormoc City is ripe with regrowth.