Somali Garden Grows Life Lessons

THE LANTERN
Michelle Mocnik
Monday, April 14, 2008

Matt Critton/The Lantern Volunteers Thea Hischak and Lori Black make garden boxes for the Horn of Africa Community Garden Saturday morning as Child Development Council Head Start students look on.

The arrival of spring inspired some Ohio State students to spend their time outdoors performing community service in a local community garden Friday.

OSU Kid Corps, a program assisting preschoolers and their families in low-income areas, volunteered at the Horn of Africa Community Garden located in Capital Park housing project. The garden is run by volunteers and members of the neighborhood, which is home to 97 percent Somali refugees.

"I love kids and when I found out about the job… I was like 'Oh that seems like a really cool job, and a scholarship. Why not?'" said Lori Black, a sophomore in Spanish and volunteer with OSU Kid Corps.

Aaron Robertson, OSU Kid Corps manager, said students are required to volunteer around 11 hours per week for a total of 300 hours in one year to receive a $1,000 education award. The work-study program is funded through AmeriCorps, the College of Education and Human Ecology and a grant from Fifth Third Bank.

Matt Critton/The Lantern Volunteer Leah Smith helps a Child Development Council Head Start student plant vegetables at the Horn of Africa Community Garden Saturday.

To Robertson, the experience is the real reward. He said it is a good chance for students to get involved in their community. Furthermore, they perform services for those who need it most.

"We want to be in centers that just need additional resources," he said.

Other people involved in the garden said they are pleased to have OSU Kid Corps collaborating with them.

"This year is the first year that, because of Kid Corps coming out and helping us, we're able to have more space and involve the Head Start preschool program," said Leah Smith, a volunteer with the garden who also is a graduate student in rural sociology.

For the most part, Somali residents cultivate the garden themselves.

"Members of the community will take ownership of these boxes," Robertson said. "They'll water, they'll weed… they'll use the food and they'll pass it around the community."

Genia Blount-Hendrix, Capital Park CDC Head Start center coordinator, said children who live in the neighborhood and attend the center nearby engage in planting seeds, watering plants and recording plant growth.

Volunteers with OSU Kid Corps work with the kids to enhance their understanding of concepts learned in class.

"(OSU Kid Corps) have all these organized things for (the children) to do in the classroom to help further reinforce things they're taught in the classroom," she said. "So they're a great benefit to us."

OSU Kid Corps is open to all majors and is looking for students interested in putting forth the time and effort to give back to the community, Robertson said.

"They don't have to be experts in early childhood development and education," he said. "They just have to be willing to do it."

Michelle Mocnik can be reached at [email protected].

Source: THE LANTERN, April 14, 2008