Rooting For Our Communities

“We currently have 5 projects running,” Michelle says. “One at Masuwe Primary School in Zimbabwe, one at Heuningvlei Primary School in Limpopo, one at Motshabaesi Primary school in the North West, one at Henna Preschool and The Beginning in Mpumalanga, and hopefully soon we will have one at Jabez Preschool.”

Some of these gardens are fully functional, with netting installed and all plants growing well, while others need a bit more work.

“Henna has been up and running forever. At Heuningvlei and Itekeng, we have just installed tunnels so the teachers and schools are still receiving seeds to plant. At Jabez we have nothing aside from a few fruit trees, so we need funding to install everything else,” Michelle explains.

“At Masuwe, we have everything aside from the tunnels so it would be great to get them installed to protect the veggies from elephants and insects. At the site of our old New Beginnings school we’ve built The Beginning, which will be a skills and development campus. Once we get our enterprise projects stabilised there, we’ll get donations to fix the nets and get the gardens running again. Then hopefully we can look at selling the veggies to help with running costs at the centre.”

Once the vegetable gardens are completed, they become the school’s gardens and can be used for whatever is needed. The veggie gardens often become a source of income for the schools and are also used to supplement the meals that the children are given.

Says Michelle, “We often find that the meals provided by the Department of Social Development and Department of Education are very carb-based, with very few fresh green vegetables. The gardens give the schools the amazing opportunity to bring in all the vitamins and minerals that the children need. It makes such a difference to the way they learn and think.

“At Henna, the vegetables are sold and this has enabled them to become autonomous. As we slowly step away from Henna, we can focus our attention on Jabez. And essentially, once Jabez needs us less and less we can focus on another school. So each veggie garden becomes critical as a source of income. It really is such an important project.”

“From what I understand, they just get grains for the schools that haven’t been processed, and I think the teachers still need to grind them down. So in order for them to get any vegetables that garden is essential. The volunteers from the Nakavango Conservation Programme are heavily involved in working in the garden and it is flourishing,” Michelle says.

The next project on Michelle’s list for Zimbabwe will be getting farmers up and running in the area.

“We already have two farmers in Mpumalanga, and one is already supplementing Lion Sands River Lodge with fresh produce. We want to grow both of them to the point where they can supplement all of Lion Sands’ lodges,” Michelle enthuses.

“It’s also critical to understand that without water we can’t do any of the veggie garden or farming projects. Our priority is to get funds to finish the boreholes in Zimbabwe. We’ll need about $22 000 to complete them. I can’t overemphasise how important this is. Of all the places we work, Zimbabwe is the place we've seen the most dire effects of COVID-19 on the community.”

If you would like to make a donation to vegetable garden project, visit https://morecommunityfoundation.org/donations/mct-general-donations

Donations for the borehole projects can be made at https://morecommunityfoundation.org/donations/woodlands-water-project

*More Community Foundation (MCT) is MORE Family Collection's corporate social investment organisation

Words by: Michelle Loewenstein
Images by: Ingrid Nemorin & Warren Khosa