Food security was what we chose to focus on in terms of making a difference because we believe that all other efforts relating to education, health care, economic development and even democracy are futile without this. Inadequate nutrition is linked to delayed brain development, an impaired ability to learn and a lack of academic achievement. Attaching a means of addressing this issue in a long-term and sustainable way to institutions of education thus seemed a logical link. Achieving a successful and sustainable garden is not as easy as simply arriving one day, planting some seeds and leaving...we know because we've done it before.
Once the garden was planted the easy bit was done! Now that seedlings were in the ground we needed to set up a network of volunteers, a task list and then match the volunteers to the task list. We then had to add timelines so everyone knew when they had to do what and here's where the secret ingredient was added: love. The group of dedicated volunteers - young, old and from all walks of life - tend to the garden daily, water it and carefully watch for any changes before then educating themselves on what these could mean and how to best deal with them.
So why am I telling you this? In October this year we will be heading off from the southernmost to northernmost points of the African continent and as we pass through the 24 countries en route, create 45 more gardens like this. To this end we are currently crowdfunding for seedlings, hosepipes and organic fertilizer on Africa's very first crowdfunding platform Thundafund (www.thundafund.com/t2tafrica). Since we're asking strangers to back our venture we thought it only fair to provide a little more background to prove our credentials. If you would like anymore information or even to visit the first garden featured give us a shout! We'd love to hear from you
In 2005 the T2T team became involved with the Nkanyezi Stimulation Centre for children with multiple disabilities in Soweto (South Africa). The centre's major issue was a lack of funding and this affected everything from the crafts that could be done, state of the buildings, adaptive equipment available and even quality and quantity of food served. We started where we could with what we had available which was land, a few seedling donors and some willing hands. After consultation with the staff, parents & volunteers we established which space would be best to use (so as not to impact on any of the centre's other activities as well as what sorts of fruit and vegetables would be most desirable. We then spent some time doing a bit of research and speaking to a few experts to establish which of these would grow in the environment we were in. Once this list was created we took a Saturday to clear the ground, a Saturday to prepare the ground and another Saturday to plant the seedlings. These pics are from the seedling planting day in 2005:
Once the garden was planted the easy bit was done! Now that seedlings were in the ground we needed to set up a network of volunteers, a task list and then match the volunteers to the task list. We then had to add timelines so everyone knew when they had to do what and here's where the secret ingredient was added: love. The group of dedicated volunteers - young, old and from all walks of life - tend to the garden daily, water it and carefully watch for any changes before then educating themselves on what these could mean and how to best deal with them.
Fast-forward to 2013 and the garden has flourished! It is now 4 times the size of the one first created in 2005, has a Green House (kindly donated by the City of Johannesburg) and creates enough produce to provide food to the centre on a daily basis . The garden yields peas, onions, cabbage, tomatoes, carrots, cauliflower, broccoli, pumpkins, lettuce, beetroot, spinach, potatoes to name a few!
So why am I telling you this? In October this year we will be heading off from the southernmost to northernmost points of the African continent and as we pass through the 24 countries en route, create 45 more gardens like this. To this end we are currently crowdfunding for seedlings, hosepipes and organic fertilizer on Africa's very first crowdfunding platform Thundafund (www.thundafund.com/t2tafrica). Since we're asking strangers to back our venture we thought it only fair to provide a little more background to prove our credentials. If you would like anymore information or even to visit the first garden featured give us a shout! We'd love to hear from you
By Tracy Angus-Hammond (@T2T_Trace)
No comments:
Post a Comment