Friton leads gardening seminars in D.C. and around the world through his organization, Can YA Love. The group teaches people how to grow gardens in small spaces, which become a source of income in places like the Kawangware slum in Nairobi, Kenya. Friton is also working on a vertical garden at Wangari Gardens in Northwest D.C. that will be accessible to seniors and people with disabilities.
Why did you start Can YA Love?
I started to study the famines that were hitting the Horn of Africa, and I was really inspired by what, in particular, the women living in the slums of Kenya were doing to alleviate massive food shortages. … I decided to start using agriculture as a means to have consistent funding for all kinds of what I see as the most important things happening in community — whether it be orphanages, schools, youth groups [or] women’s groups.
Why do you focus specifically on urban gardening?
I’d say that that’s going to be a focus for the foreseeable future, only because the human population, for the first time in our history, has now more people living in urban areas. … We have to figure out ways for people to buy food right where people live.
What does your work look like when you come into a community?
We hold a seminar with leaders from all of these [community] groups. … We teach them not only how to grow using these [garden] systems, but also we teach them the basics, really simple concepts around soil microbiology.
Closer to home, are space-saving gardens like your Wangari Gardens project common in D.C.?
Can YA Love is not solely a space-saving mechanism. It’s also remarkably simple for people with physical disabilities. So what we’re doing at Wangari Gardens is building an accessibility garden. … Growing food, not only for the nutritional aspect, is quite therapeutic.
– April Burbank
