Food gardens
In order to combat poverty and malnutrition in the community I work in, we established the first vegetable garden in the area in 2008. Despite poor soil, and water problems this garden proved to be a success. Many more gardens have been established since.
I consider the individual vegetable gardens to be one of the most successful and effective forms of aid. They not only supplement deficient diets, but help to offset the alarming rise in food prices, which is making fruit and vegetables beyond the reach of many in South Africa. Beyond that, they are helping to restore a sense of dignity and pride within families, and instilling a sense of purpose where unemployment and aimlessness are rife. Similar projects in other areas have failed, due either to theft or neglect. This has not been a problem in our area, I think for two reasons. The first is the fact that this community is cohesive and has a sense of cooperation, rather than rivalry. The people are working together with a sense of trust and goodwill. The second factor is probably due to the influence of the Induna, who works carefully with his people and will not tolerate theft. A mitigating factor may also be that there is a lengthening waiting list of people wanting to set up their own gardens. They know I return each year to select more people and would not want to do anything to jeopardize their chance of selection. They have seen what a difference a garden can make to their overall wellbeing. Water is becoming a critical issue in the valley where I work, so fewer gardens were established this in 2013. This concerns me, because the existing gardens are doing well, and the benefit to the families is obvious. We did distribute more tanks to those families who did not have them, and hopefully the summer rains will be sufficient to fill them. A workshop is being planned to teach all the families the basics of water conservation, and composting. Four more gardens were established and more seedlings distributed to all the gardens. There is a waiting list of families wanting gardens for 2014, and this will be an ongoing project for many years to come. |