December’s Gifts
What happens when children carry learning back home.
“You’ve brought something new that has opened their minds.”
You know that moment when you look back and suddenly realize how much progress you’ve actually made?
In December 2023, the name BODY&SOIL came to me. I knew I wanted to build something that connects soil health and nutrition. But apart from a handful of wonderfully “crazy” people who believed in me, I was pretty much alone.
For those of you who are new here, this is where we are today.
I’m sitting on the window ledge of my little home that I renovated this year, writing while watching the much-needed rain fall onto the fields of the newly established permaculture demo garden at the RUCID Organic College in Mityana.
Children celebrating the first BODY&SOIL competition.
Three weeks ago, we held the very first BODY&SOIL competition. More than 150 schoolchildren from a primary and secondary school participated, together with 10 RUCID students. They competed in their clubs for the best permaculture beds in the agriculture club, the best hygienically processed foods in the processing club, and the healthiest recipes in the nutrition and cooking club—practical education we’ve been teaching throughout the year.
Fifteen first-prize winners received their next trimester of school fees covered by BODY&SOIL.
This is huge. Not only for the parents, who struggle with these costs every single day, but also for me as the founder of BODY&SOIL, because it means I managed to inspire enough people to believe that this is a cause worth supporting.
The event itself was more than a success. Parents showed up, tasting newly developed dishes—from pumpkin chapati to pounded greens—prepared by the children.
They bought healthy flour blends, dried greens, and mixed spices processed by the students.
The permaculture gardens were full of diversity. Teachers were involved, guiding the younger children. Self-made garbage bins had been built and installed by the children themselves in the schools. Greens are now eaten twice a week, grown by the children themselves. Medicinal herbs, with their health benefits written next to them, are planted between the beds.
Together with RUCID, we’ve only been teaching children since March this year!
When we started, there was garbage everywhere in the fields. Teachers were spraying chemicals. There were no vegetables. But there was always maize meal porridge and beans for a handful of children who could afford to pay.
We haven’t reached our goal of changing school diets or transforming a system—not yet. But there has been a clear shift in mindset, both among the children and within our team. Something has begun to move, slowly but surely.
I’ve always known I couldn’t do this alone. Partnerships are key—especially with like-minded people pushing together.
My main partner is the RUCID Organic College. Together, we’ve built a strong team. Outside experts join us, bringing fresh knowledge and passion. Everyone adds their ideas and energy, helping us grow naturally. No one tells us what to do or who to work with—we decide that together.
What I noticed in the years before officially establishing BODY&SOIL in 2024 as a non-profit enterprise was this: people around me were dying from preventable diseases, soils were degraded, and markets were flooded with imported goods. And I realized these challenges are deeply connected.
More than half of Africa’s population is made up of farmers, yet most small-scale farmers I speak to can’t grow enough to feed their families.
So how do we change that?
How do we get healthier foods onto people’s plates, foods that are connected to culture?
What do the communities around us actually need?
What do schools need to change in their gardens and on their plates?
And how can we support that change through self-motivation rather than force?
This first competition proves that it can be done.
Above: From building garbage bins to mixing their own spice blends and drying greens — children bringing what they learn in their clubs back home.
Just this week, we visited a handful of children from the schools we work with in their homes.
What we witnessed was powerful: the children had taken what they learned back to their parents. They are insisting on eating vegetables with their meals every day. They are teaching regenerative planting methods and making their own garbage bins. They’ve stopped buying Royco (the Ugandan Maggi), which is full of preservatives, and instead are making the spice mix they learned in the nutrition and processing clubs. The recipe for our VePa-Mix you can find HERE.
Parents told us their children are busy and purposeful, with girls not getting distracted by boys. One girl from the processing club has even started teaching other children how to preserve local greens through dehydration. She’s even begun selling them to neighbors, generating income to help her family pay school fees. How crazy is that? The whole holistic approach is actually working.
What touched me most was that we didn’t need to pull words from anyone. In every family we visited, parents spoke freely, openly, honestly, from the heart.
My eyes filled with tears more than once. It was the best Christmas gift I could have received.
Ian standing with his father in their mulched coffee fields.
Two stories I want to highlight:
One farmer with four acres began mulching his coffee fields a year and a half ago. At first, he felt foolish—no one else was doing it. Then his son Ian came home this year, sharing what he was learning at school through RUCID and BODY&SOIL about the importance of mulching.
The father continued. What he noticed: greener coffee plants for longer, better yields, higher profits. Now he even grows plants specifically for mulch.
“Having my son talk about these things has been a big motivation. I’m very proud of him.”
He told us. Ian added that he now wants to teach the neighbors whose soils are dry and exposed.
At the home of the small scale farmer Steven and his family.
“For over 100 years, school has been nonsense. You learn things you can’t use. We pay school fees for nothing. I used to ask my daughter, ‘If you stopped school today, how would you live?’ She had no answer. Now we see a difference. You’ve brought something new that has opened their minds. We see changes in our community. She has learned a real skill. She could even start a small local business. She can stand on her own feet. We truly appreciate the work you’ve done.” Steven, a father and small-scale farmer whose 16-year-old child Harriet, won first prize in nutrition and cooking, told us.
Words like these make all the hard work worth it. My heart feels full.
In November, we also had the privilege of learning from Dr.Bärbel Reckhardt and Prof.Markus Reckhardt from i-Med Vision. Combining their medical knowledge, with 30 years working in Africa, with our locally sourced wisdom, we’re now developing a small assortment of plants as a home pharmacy. More on that in 2026.
We also launched our educational YouTube channel From Soil to Plate. Alongside our daily work, this was a huge achievement for such a small team. The goal is to scale what we’re learning, not just through a manual or market-oriented curriculum one day, but also through accessible online education via social media. Take a look and feel free to subscribe; much more is coming.
And of course, there is now the BODY&SOIL podcast where you can hear not only our personal journey but also the voices of people working on solutions to heal both the body and the soil.
I could go on and on, but I’ll stop here. This year has taken just as much from me as it has given.
Just know this: BODY&SOIL has become a small movement. A spark has been lit in people’s hearts, in their fields, and on their plates.
I want to close by thanking the incredible BODY&SOIL team:
Samuel Nyanzi, Elisha Ssebadduka, Stuart Nyanzi, Marion Bierling, Bonny Kalungi, Clinton, Nina Karungi, Francis Kluivert, Ben Opio, Joshua Semaganda, Gideon Ssebadduka, Joseline Ninsiima, and Jennifer.
And to those of you who believed in me and in an idea and helped me not give up, thank you.
If you’d like to support, here are the details.
Wishing you a magical Christmas.
May your heart feel full of joy, and may the stars shining above you guide your path into 2026.
With love from Uganda,
Maria