Pupils, teachers and parents are enjoying the benefits of permaculture, writes Grace Black
Schools are able to grow vegetables to feed themsleves and their surrounding communities, and their work with nature is showing added benefits.
Mentally handicapped children from the West Park School in Malvern, Durban, have started showing improved social behaviour since they started a gardening project in February this year. Teacher Bharathi Tugh says that even the most difficult children are showing behavioural changes.
She tells the story of a boy who just a few months ago would not interact with anyone and would lash out, biting and kicking if anyone approached him. Now he spends hours watering the garden and his behaviour has improved dramatically.
Pupils are showing improved motor skills, better attention spans and an overall calmness, Tugh says.
Pupils from the Piet N Aphone School in the Northern Province have planted fruit trees and are supporting a nearby hospital, old-age home and several pre-schools. Mmabhato Lekqwathe, a grade 11 learner, says all 300 learners, 10 teachers and 20 unemployed parents are involved in the project. “Our community is poor. They don’t have food, so we are helping them,” she says. Excess fruit and vegetables are sold to the community and the money raised is used to buy equipment for the school.
Another school which has seen the benefits of permaculture is the Matlhari High in Tzaneen. Learners have planted indigenous trees which help to cool down classrooms in summer, when temperatures reach up to 40¡C.
The school and the community funded the sinking of a borehole so that there would be water for the plants and vegetables.
Excess crops and the money are donated to two nearby creches and clinics. Learners have also adopted a Mirage plane at the nearby Hoedspruit air force base. They spend their weekends cleaning it, and are taught piloting and ground control skills. They have also adopted an elephant at the Pretoria Zoo.
The pupils have applied to a local chief for adittional land near a dam to extend their gardening project.
– The Teacher/M&G Media, Johannesburg, November 2001.