Life has been tough for Mikilina Kangachepe, a young mum who lives with her four children on a remote hillside village in southern Malawi.

But Mikilina’s situation has improved, and it’s in large part thanks to a bountiful bag of vegetables that’s she’s been growing using an innovative ‘sack gardening’ technique, in the backyard of her home in Mtemwende village.

Mikilina is amongst a group of women villagers who have been supported by Self Help Africa with backyard sack gardens – raised sacks containers of soil in which she’s been growing tomatoes, cabbage, greens and sweet potatoes in her homestead backyard.

130 local women like Mikilina have been supported with sack gardens, introduced as part of Self Help Africa’s Women’s Food Security Project in this part of southern Malawi.

The women received training, seed and other materials to get them started, and have been reaping the rewards of the initiative since they started sack gardening, two years ago.  The produce is being grown without fertiliser, and needs less water than traditional gardening.

“I’m so happy that Self Help Africa equipped us with skills in backyard gardening. I started with a small garden, but am now growing more vegetables using sacks and my family is growing stronger and happier”, she says.

“Self Help Africa equipped us with skills in backyard gardening. I started with a small garden, but I am growing more vegetables using sacks and my family is growing stronger and happier”.