Social inclusion through work, healthy eating awareness and obesity prevention

Inclusion through work and occupation of vulnerable people in a situation of precariousness or exclusion is an important part of Caritas Luxembourg's work. In 2019, gardening workshops were launched at Caritas Luxembourg's Centre de l'Oseraie in Kopstal: a team of people, employed under an activation measure and supervised by professional gardeners, grow mainly vegetables and some fruit.

A new stage began at the beginning of 2022: the opening of the workshops to children and other vulnerable people to raise awareness of healthy eating and the fight against obesity. Caritas Luxembourg wants to give more value to the work done in its gardening workshops while raising awareness of healthy eating and preventing obesity. Several actions have been launched:

• The crops are sold locally to the neighbouring community, in particular to the Bridel-Kopstal halfway house, run by Caritas Jeunes & Familles.
• The children attending this centre are invited to participate in all the important stages of the production of vegetables without pesticides.
• The children can participate in the preparation of a healthy dish using the harvested vegetables. The gardening teams, which are formed by vulnerable people, have the opportunity to show their work to the children and to work together with them. It is therefore also a social inclusion project.

The children are made aware of the origin of products that are important for healthy eating: how to produce them themselves and how to use them to have a balanced and healthy meal.

    "We're taking it one step at a time. After the installation of the garden and the teams, the awareness-raising workshops with the children represent an important next step, for the children and for the people in precarious situations" ...This requires investments, certainly. But the value of the project goes beyond the simple production of vegetables. Andreas Krzykowski, head of the Centre de l'Oseraie of Caritas Luxembourg.

This new programme is financially supported by BNP Paribas Cardif.

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