'Plant It Forward' helps refugees become entrepreneur farmers

If you speed by too fast, you may miss the small farm at the corner of Fondren and Willowbend in southwest Houston. There's everything from corn to okra growing on the small farm. The farm is one of four run by the non-profit organization "Plant It Forward."

Nine refugees, hailing all the way from the Congo, work the fields. What makes the program unique - the refugees are essentially entrepreneurs. They sell what they harvest to local restaurants and at farmer's markets.

Christine Kengue is one of those refugees. She's spent the past 4 years growing crops.

"Every day, I'm here," said Kengue. "My children are helping me every day. I like my job. I love my job."

Randi Rogers with Plant It Forward said this is about giving newcomers to our country the opportunity to succeed.

"Every refugee is just like every other human. They have a totally, different personal story of their own. Some of the people were custodians before they worked here. Some worked in kitchens. Some were farmers in other countries. Some were preachers," said Rogers. "The people who work here work incredibly hard. Harder than anyone I've ever met and their hard work only is repaid whenever they get support from the community. They can grow as many vegetables as they want but it's up to the community to have interest and eat the vegetables so we can keep the cycle going."

If you want to purchase some of the produce, you can find more information out on Plant It Forward's website and Facebook page.