Where most simply saw a pile of trash, a group of Chatty residents saw opportunity, and together with their sponsors have successfully started a thriving vegetable garden.
This week, the garden in Mdlebe Crescent was officially handed over to the community following weeks of work and the assistance of nonprofit company Do4SA and the South African National Petroleum Company (SANPC).
Soknamai Fall of Do4SA summed up the initiative through the popular idiom of “giving a man a fish …”
“That is exactly what we are trying to teach the people here.
“We taught them some skills. They can get involved in their community and become self-sustainable.
“This is a new skill to them and they are adapting very fast.
“This community garden is also established to be a feeder to the soup kitchen in the area.”
Fall urged the community to look after the garden and to make it flourish.
A variety of vegetables are being grown, including peppers, onions, cauliflower, cabbage, beetroot, spinach and carrots.
“We believe that this vegetable garden will instil pride in the community and they will take ownership of it.”
Dladlakazi Ntloko of SANPC said they were empowering the community in many ways and giving them the tools to improve their lives.
“This is a sustainable project and ultimately our hope is that some of them will earn a living from the garden.
“Families will be fed from this project and we will make funds available again to clean up the piece of land adjacent to the garden so that the project grows even bigger.
“I take courage in what I see today.”
One of the residents tending to the garden is Thobeka Memani, 90, who said she opted to work in the garden for her family and the community.
“It keeps me busy and fit.
“I am here every day early in the morning to work. I may be 90 years old but there is still a lot of strength in these arms,” she said.
Another helper, Patricia Maqubele, 78, said she did it for the sake of her children but also her sanity.
‘I have four kids and four grandkids.
“This is like relaxation. We don’t get tired.
“When we work in the garden we forget about all our troubles. It really is soothing to the mind.”
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