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Posted By THE AMAZWI VILLAGER
May 8th, 2008 | Published in Green Talk
Written by Bongekile Mhlanga & Thandi Mkhatshwa
On 30 April 2008, at Mdluli High School, in Hluvukani, Buffelshoek Trust and Food & Trees for Africa launched a permaculture garden. Permaculture is an organic, environmentally friendly, and inexpensive form of sustainable land design and food production. A year ago, the two organizations began helping the school with their gardening. On this day, they were officially giving the permaculture garden to the school, so that the school would be able to sustain the garden on its own.
The project started in February 2007 when Food & Trees for Africa was approached by the Buffelshoek Trust to facilitate the development of a permaculture garden. The whole of 2007, students were taught permaculture: designing different shapes of garden beds for vegetables, conserving water, managing soil, harvesting and plant propagation—creating a new plant from another plant using branches.
Wednesday, 30 April, was a windy day, but a large tent provided relief. The launch was a big event: Local school principals, and the circuit manager from Manyeleti circuit attended, as well as teachers and learners from Mdluli. Different leaders spoke at the even, including the circuit manager, the principal of Mdluli High School, Mr. Chitungo—the Project Officer of Food & Trees for Africa—and a representative from Buffelshoek Trust.
“We encourage people not to use fertilisers bought from the shops as they have toxic chemicals in them, but to use animal manure, excluding human, dogs and cats, as these animals have fats in their droppings,” Chitungo said while speaking to the crowd, and waving his hands in the air. When it comes to permaculture design, he explained, vegetables are planted together in a specific way, so that they can repel insects with their different smells. “Insects are like human beings, they have different tastes,” Chitungo said, laughing. The vegetables in the garden include green peppers, chilies, spinach, tomatoes, cabbages, lettuce, onions, and different types of herbs like thyme, basil, and mint. Chitungo explained that water-retaining crops, like beans and lentils which also grew, were very necessary.
The speakers motivated the members of Eco club, a group made up of Mdluli High school students and members of the surrounding community who plant trees and tend vegetable gardens. Chitungo said that Mdluli High School was fortunate because it was the only school in Mpumalanga that is currently benefiting from the permaculture project created by the Food & Trees for Africa organization. Other schools, he explained, don’t have enough water to sustain the project. He said that hopefully there would be more schools involved in the future, pleading with the Buffelshoek Trust to extend the same gesture to other Manyeleti Circuit schools, which could get water if assisted.
He explained the importance of the project is that people start eating healthily when they eat food that they grow themselves. “We must have a culture of producing our own food. Remembering our body is knowing what we put into our mouths,” Chitungo said to the crowd.
After the speeches, Mr. Chitungo and two teachers from the school handed out certificates to the school learners and the women from the community who volunteered to participate in creating the garden, since any person from the community willing to help work in the garden can do so. Afterwards, it was time for the ceremonial tree planting. The mango tree was planted firmly in the ground with the help of the learners, the teachers, the principals, the circuit manager, as well as Mr. Chitungo. It was then off to item number seventeen—food. All the food that was served, including the spinach and the chillies, had been grown in the garden.
Mdluli is not the only school that is busy creating sustainable living. Funjwa, a primary school in Acornhoek, has a permaculture garden along with a few other energy-saving projects. The permaculture garden started in 2003, and is now growing well. Upon beginning as principal in 2003, Mrs. Mhaule, saw there was a big chunk of unoccupied land next to the school buildings. Since a lot of school learners are orphaned due to AIDS related illnesses, she took it upon herself to provide healthy food for them.
Teachers Elmon Malapane and Patrick Madibe facilitate learners’ activities in the garden. The vegetables, they said, are planted all year round. “By doing this we are trying to sustain the garden,” said Madibe. When planting, the crops are covered with grass to prevent excessive evaporation, and grass is used as compost after it begins to breaks down. The vegetables in the garden are the same as in Mdluli’s garden: green pepper, onion, cabbage, spinach, chilies and tomatoes, though lettuce and herbs don’t grow at Funjwa. All the food from the garden is used in the feeding scheme at the school.
Funjwa projects do not only consist of planting vegetables. The students also collect cans, which they sell to a recycling company in Bushbuckrigde. Sometimes the kids make the cans into candleholders and plastic bottles for irrigation. They punch holes in the bottom of the plastic bottles, fill the bottles with water and put them in a hole in the dirt in between the vegetables. This kind of method is used to conserve water. The school also does water harvesting during the rainy season, so they can use it during the dry season. A pipe is connected to the roof, and goes straight to the tank, so that when it rains, the water can flow straight into the tank.
With this kind of produce in our communities, who needs to go and buy food contaminated with chemicals? Why not start your own permaculture garden, and start eating healthily?
How to start your own permiculture garden:
• Before planting, do soil management by adding compost and mulch, which consists of grass cuttings, leaves, newspapers and cardboards.
• When the soil is rich with nutrients, plant the seeds.
• Mix the crops when planting them, so they can help and protect each other.
• In winter, don’t water the crops in the morning, or late in the evening, as they will freeze and not grow well.
• In summer, water plants in the morning to prevent evaporation, which happens in the afternoon.
Plants that grow well together:
· Beetroot with onions
· Carrots with peas, lettuce, onions, or tomatoes
· Onions with beetroots, strawberries, tomatoes, or lettuce
· Eggplant with beans
· Cabbage with potatoes, beetroot, onions
· Green peppers with all vegetables
· Lettuce with carrots, radishes, strawberries, or cucumbers
· Pumpkin with mealies
· Swiss chard with strawberries, spinach
· Tomatoes with onions or carrots
· Mealies with peanuts, peas, beans, cucumber, pumpkins, or potatoes
· Sunflowers with cucumbers
· Beans with potatoes, carrots, cabbage, or most other vegetables
September 22nd, 2008 | Published in Green Talk
Written By Linky Matsie
The sun shines and a soft wind blows. The students run up and down screaming at each other. A big tent is placed in front of the principal’s office. Loud music flows around the school and nearby places. Behind the tent and in front of the classroom, there are three holes. Next to them are buckets of water and fertilizer.
Every year from 1-7 September is Arbor Week; trees are planted as a sign of celebration. Mahlekisana Primary School in Welverdiend is one of the schools chosen by Food and Trees for Africa to participate in their permaculture project. The school celebrated Arbor week on 4 September, with teachers from different schools and Daniel Chitungo, project officer of Food and Trees for Africa, in attendance.
M. K. Dzamukeri, the principal at Mahlekisana, thanked Daniel for all the great things Trees for Africa has done for their school. “It is a pleasure today; I don’t know how to express my happiness. Since we are celebrating Arbor Week at our school, we see it as a great opportunity to say thanks to Brother Daniel,” said Dzamukeri. The principal said that the project started in November 2006 with funding from Africa Foundation, Old Mutual and other donors. Food and Trees for Africa has provided permaculture skills training and development.
According to Dzamukeri, the community of Welverdiend has learned to make their own medicine with the leaves of mango, guava and pawpaw trees through Daniel Chitungo. “Our children have their own small gardens of vegetables at home,” she said. She continued to explain that Welverdiend is below the poverty line. “There are no jobs for the people to look after their family, but through the vegetable garden that BrotherDaniel helped us to make, we no longer have a high rate of sick learners at our school. Thanks, BrotherDaniel,” said Dzamukeri.
The principal was not the only person to thank Chitungo. Women in the community, as well as learners, from Mahlekisana did a drama about the workshop Chitungo gave at the school. They also sang some songs about Chitungo, others about the importance of ploughing vegetables and trees.
“I don’t know what to say,” said Chitungo, laughing. He asked the learners what the importance of planting trees is. Chitungo said that there are many reasons to plant trees: they serve as food, furniture, medicine and also protection from the wind. “Every year there is a slogan for Arbor Week. In 2007 it was ‘Plant trees, grow our future’ and this year it is ‘Plant trees, save our planet’.” According to Chitungo, every year there are three trees of the year. This year they are Markhamia Zanzibarica, Harpephyllum caffrum and Diospyros Whyteana. “Diospyros,” he explained, “is a Greek name meaning divine pear and Whyteana comes from the name of a Scottish plant explorer.”
The entire group of guests went out of the tent and to the hole that was dug to plant a tree. Half of the people surrounding the hole participated in planting the tree. Chitungo explained that “The hole must be 5 meters long and watered with a 20-liter bucket” when planting a tree.
Trees save our planet by producing oxygen; they also make effective sound barriers, fight soil erosion and provide protection. Trees shade and cool people, and some vegetables need shade to grow. They clean the air. Trees give people, insects and animals food and fruit. Some people make a living by selling fruit from the trees. They provide people with firewood, homes for birds and decorate the world. This is why planting trees during Arbor Week is so important for the planet.
Posted by FTFA News Letter
Where unemployment is rife in a hot, isolated region of Mpumalanga, a food gardening project is making a difference in the lives of local community members.The Mahlekisana Permaculture Project at Mahlekisana Primary School is in Welverdiend Village on the border of the Ngala Private Game Reserve and Kruger National Park. The project was initiated in November 2006 with funding from Africa Foundation, through Old Mutual and other donors, and training and development provided by FTFA.
“This is a wonderful project and it is already bearing fruit. We have even been distributing vegetables to terminally ill community members, orphans and vulnerable children”, said Ms MK Dzambukeri, the school principal. Permaculture skills training conducted by FTFA in 2007 has involved the learners, 15 educators and six community members. The project serves as a shining example to other schools in the region that, as a result, have begun to initiate their own Permaculture food gardens. Thanks to further funding received from the Desmond Leech Bequest, the Mahlekisana Permaculture Project received additional plant material and has also established a propagation nursery.
The principal, Ms Dzambukeri has recently been nominated as a finalist in the Community Development category of the 2007 Women in Water, Sanitation and Forestry Awards. She had been entered into the awards by FTFA project officer Daniel Chitungo for her work in the community. “Brother Daniel, we have qualified and we want our certificates. Look at what we have achieved!” were the words of an excited Rose Maphanga Shabangu a community member who is one of the School Governing Board.
Modimo O' Moholo, a workshop and care centre catering to disabled people residing in Orange Farm in the south of Johannesburg, is growing its own good food and boosting levels of food security for disabled members of the Centre, their families and members of the broader community. Thanks to sponsorship received from HSBC Africa and resulting Permaculture training implemented by environmental public benefit organisation Food & Trees for Africa (FTFA), the Modimo O' Moholo Permaculture Project is due to be launched on the 4th March 2008. Since its initiation in October 2006, the Modimo O' Moholo Permaculture Project has developed into a vibrant Permaculture garden planted with a large variety of vegetables and herbs. This was done with the full involvement of the Modimo O' Moholo project members who underwent highly practical Permaculture training workshops conducted by FTFA Project Officer, Daniel Chitungo. "This project has empowered our residents at Modimo O Moholo to grow their own vegetable gardens and through education we have extended this to the greater Orange Farm community," says Thandi Noge, Caregiver and Project Manager of Modimo O Moholo. Prior to FTFA's intervention, a food garden existed at the project site which had vegetables grown on flat beds and an orchard consisting primarily of peach trees. Since the implemented training the Modimo O' Moholo project members have been made environmentally aware and equipped with Permaculture gardening knowledge and skills. The existing orchard was revamped through mulching and manual irrigation of fruit trees. Excellent achievements made in the project are due mainly to the high levels of commitment to the project made by the members and the generosity and support of the staff of HSBC who physically assisted the disabled project members in both designing their garden and with the planting of the vegetables and herbs. "Modimo O Moholo is a special project. It is a beacon of light in an environment that is difficult and challenging for many people. By providing the people within this shelter with the means to sustain themselves in the future, it offers hope not only to them but also to their families and broader Orange Farm community. It is an important project for HSBC because it makes us aware of the difficulty many people in our society face each day and it allows us to express our humanity." Krishna Patel, Group General Manager, Chief Executive Officer, Africa. Additional funds are being raised by the project members from the sale of surplus vegetables and herbs. These funds are ploughed back into the food garden. Modimo O' Moholo also maintains a number of small-scale industries that include dressmaking, juice production and coffin building that provides the centre and its attendees with additional source of income. The Modimo O' Moholo Permaculture Project Launch is due to take place on the 4th March 2008 at 11h00am. Should you require further information on the launch, please contact Daniel Chitungo on 011 803 9750 or daniel@trees.org.za. For interviews, photographs or additional information, please contact: Lesley Lambert |
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Posted by TEACH South Africa
On September 22, hundreds of children dressed in their smart red and grey school uniforms sat on the playing fields of Phumulani Secondary School in Ekurhuleni South School District – ready to learn about global warming and celebrate the donation of indigenous trees by Barloworld, Food and Trees for Africa (FTFA) and TEACH South Africa.
The school planted two indigenous trees that will provide year-round shade for the learners as well as being hardy and easy to care for.
Richard Masemola, a founding member of TEACH South Africa, said: “This donation is going to help in the motivation of the school and they will see that the partnership [with TEACH South Africa] is working and start believing in the relationship between the public and private companies.
“This also shows the children how to care for the environment, which is a key curriculum issue,” he said.
FTFA is dedicated to teaching South Africa’s children about the effects of global warming and creating environmental awareness and education.
Arbour Month (September) was the perfect opportunity to take this message to children and to give them a practical demonstration of how to offset carbon emissions by planting trees.
Barloworld, a large industrial brand management company, dedicates significant time and resources to supporting educational NGOs and helps to create synergy between various corporate social initiatives.
Thuli Matlala, a Barloworld CSI officer, said: “We provide start-up NGOs with accommodation and help to take that burden off them and we also provide synergy with other organisations that they might find useful.”
Hence the collaboration on this project, bringing together TEACH South Africa and FTFA.
“In Arbour Month we wanted to assist with the greening of the country,” Matlala said.
Deputy school principal Mikes Sepuru said: “We are very proud that you have presented these trees to us today. The biggest challenge facing us is global warming and one way to counter this is to plant as many trees as possible.”
Daniel Chitungo from FTFA said: “Barloworld donated trees and we have worked with Barloworld for a long time to make sure that our environment is clean and green.”
Posted on October 21, 2009
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