THE MIDLANDS MEANDER ASSOCIATION EDUCATION PROJECT

MMAEP and Thatu

In 2008 Thatu began the relationship through funding three 'Gardening Workshops' for teachers from our Small Grants Fund.  We provided funds for four further workshops in 2009 with a view to activities being extended to other schools so that more children can be fed.

From January 2009 Thatu funded intensive work in 'Cedara and Carshalton Schools' with the aim of establishing sustainable food gardens. They were selected from 12 schools, in which the MMAEP was already working. They are facilitated by permaculture experts and by the project volunteers. The project runs in parallel with intensive work in two other schools in the area which is being funded by SEED.

In 2010 we funded the same intensive work at another school – 'Sifisesihle School' – for one year.  Our funding has enabled MMAEP to monitor and support our original schools – 'Cedara and Carshalton' – whilst giving ‘start up’ assistance once a month to two other schools – Triandra and Yarrow.  Sifisesihle is significantly different to our first poor rural schools, being in a township and with 576 pupils, many of whom are orphans.

In January the MMAEP team were shocked to find that Sifisesihle school, with more than 500 pupils had no toilets at all. The port-a-loos which had been there had been removed in the holidays and not replaced. As a result the school was closing at 12.30 every day. It is such happenings which highlight the difficulties the education system in South Africa faces, and the need for the help of volunteers like MMAEP.

Pupils welcoming MMAEP

The work with teachers and pupils to create a sustainable organic food garden at Sifisesihle then took an interesting turn as there were also 10 or more community gardeners ready to work there, as part of a separately funded ‘poverty relief’ programme . In their enthusiasm these community members had cleared most of the preparatory planting done in December by the MMAEP team and the children. Luckily the compost heap assembled by the children remained.

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Adding dry leaves                                       Adding the green layer

Grade 7 girls mulching

Work continued at the school with both the learners and teachers, and with the community members. But both parts were proving to be challenging for the MMAEP facilitators.

The community gardeners are paid per day as part of a Poverty Relief Programme, [in which they work from 8-3 for R50 [£4-£5] per day]. Their interest is not therefore necessarily in growing things but in earning money. And they tend to drift away when the funds for the project run out. A meeting between the community coordinator, MMAEP and the school principal hopefully clarified the situation, but when a third lot of ‘poverty reduction’ community members arrived this time no attempt was made to try and train them as the other two had disappeared when long term income did not eventuate.

The children’s garden grew, and they were involved in tidying, and in watering.the plants. Watering, essential in the heat, is hard work as there is no nearby water supply, and the promised taps, along with the promised tools have not been supplied. But individual children have taken on the task of becoming garden monitors, whose job is to be in charge both of the watering and general care of the gardens.

Debate at Sifisesihle

It was never easy to develop food gardens in Sifisisihle School. After fire destroyed much of the produce, frost and goats destroyed almost all that remained. But replanting began with pupils from classes where the teachers were taking an active interest. So some crops flourished.

And then came the general strike in 2010 which shut schools. Plants were not watered or mulched, and seasonal rain was late.

Meanwhile at Cedara School the World Cup was celebrated with a competition to clean up the area and 138 large bags of rubbish were collected and sorted by ‘international teams’ of youngsters. This was followed by games and quizzes, and the competition was won by the ‘Netherlands team’ whose prize was a book in Zulu on Wildlife and the garden.

Holiday club caring for burnt garden	Soccer Celebration

2010 was been a challenging year. All kinds of extreme weather – rain, drought, heat, cold [snow, ice]; fire, vandalism, chickens and goats eating the crops because promised fences have not been erected, teachers not getting involved as promised, strikes, and the obstacles can seem daunting.

But the photographs below show just how much has been achieved. The gardens at Cedara and Carshalton continue to produce well, and even at Sifisesihle the garden looks healthy. And the children are being introduced to unusual healthy food, and even enjoying it.

Cedara garden still flourishing	Carshalton garden
Sifisesihle garden	Imifino (wild green vegetable and herbs) lesson
Preparing a healthy lunch

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