The small gardens shine green in front of the huts of 30 families in the Valle Hermoso district. In fact, this is an unusual sight in Potosí: the city is located at 4,000 meters in the high mountain steps of the Altiplano.

Children and adolescents put on small gardens here in front of his own front door. This brings fresh organic vegetables to the table-versatile and healthy diet that families in the poor mining city could not afford. The Terre of the Hommes partner organization Pasocap has called "life plants". The 15-year-old Eliana participates: »We created our garden last year and were able to harvest from January. It's great! You go out the door and get fresh salad or radishes! «In the so -called cold tropics, the temperature difference between day and night is great: during the day it is warm, at night the temperatures even fall below zero degrees. A profitable agriculture is not possible here, but the home gardens thrive.

The gardens shine green in the inhospitable high mountain steppe

And Eliana now knows why: "The house wall holds the warmth so that the plants do not freeze to death at night." Eliana has learned a lot in the Pasocap garden group - how to create and irrigate beds, make compost or win seeds for the next sowing. They have just built plant boxes themselves that are hung on the house wall.

In this way, the few square meters of garden can be used even better. The children recycled old plastic tubes because the families do not have money for planters or tools. The vertical gardening with these recycled plant boxes creates more acreage. At the beginning, the parents of Eliana were skeptical, now they are thrilled. “We harvest something almost every day. The fact that our family gets healthier food makes me happy. And it brings me respect, ”says Eliana. If there is a lot of harvesting at the same time, it sells to the neighborhood. She can buy school books and books from the money. And finally the garden ensures good conversations in the family. It is one of the positive topics, beyond concerns and needs.