Mertuto (Ermera)

Students take turns to water the vegetables at this school garden in Mertuto, Ermera.

This garden was established a couple of years ago, as can be seen by their established living fence made with cassava shoots, and garden beds made with local bamboo.

Permatil has successfully introduced a sustainable food program to approximately 180 schools in Timor-Leste with a team of dedicated and highly skilled volunteers and with the support of a range of mostly small NGO’s from around the world.

The program teaches students techniques for sustainable food growing and is based on a new way of learning and teaching via observation and exploration. A holistic approach, the program reaches across many disciplines in the curriculum including culture, art, maths, science language and more.

It inspires collaborative critical thinking and problem solving towards real outcomes with better relationships and respect between teachers and students. As a result the health of the students improve by introducing fresh, nutritious vegetables in to the school food program.

Finally, the program helps the students reconnect with Traditional culture, develop community knowledge and improved nutrition levels, share sustainable living techniques and improved food growing capacity.

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