/ 13 May 2005

Food from the garden

The Green Trust Awards honour pupils who are reclaiming the environment.

THE healthiest-looking plants at Banareng Primary are growing in the Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki gardens. Planting the gardens according to themes is part of the interactive learning experience at the school. The circular Mandela garden features a colourful array of ”Rainbow Nation” plants, with the ”Cabinet” at the centre; the Mbeki garden is divided into nine provinces, with the ”Thabo Mbeki tree” in the middle.

In the past two years, under the leadership of principal Paulina Sethole, this formerly disadvantaged school in Atteridgeville, near Pretoria, has contributed remarkably to the improvement of the lives of the community through environmental education. ”Two years ago I stood on a weed-covered, dusty plot of barren soil and saw a vegetable garden which would feed hungry children and bring in much-needed funds for our school. Today, that vision is a reality,” says Sethole.

Sethole’s ”Feed the child — feed the nation environmental project” has ensured that these days every pupil at the school has at least one healthy meal every day. The idea behind the project, says Sethole, was that ”we would be feeding the child who is hungry, the community that is hungry and thereby the nation. We are empowering people by teaching them sustainable food gardening to overcome malnutrition and hunger.”

The project got off the ground in January 1999, after Sethole approached the BMW Seed Project to provide seeds and training on maintaining gardens, with the emphasis on making the project sustainable and reducing the school’s dependence on food donations.

Pupils, parents, teachers and community members helped remove rubbish and dig up the hard, rocky soil. Deep trenches were filled with manure and biodegradable materials before the planting began. ”The point of the gardens,” explains Sethole, ”is using minimal space for optimum returns.” Surplus vegetables are sold to the surrounding community to raise funds.

An environmental committee made up of 14 teachers, 519 pupils, parents and community members now steers the project. Local community organisations hold meetings, participate in environmental clean-ups and help guard the school. Unemployed parents cook a full meal every day at the school, using vegetables from the garden to supplement the mielie meal and soya received from a government feeding scheme. Community members spend weekends doing the work that the small children cannot do. The project has succeeded as a partnership in education and has encouraged people to become aware of their environment.

Sethole has plans to share the new skills the school has acquired with crèches and other schools in Atteridgeville. The school plans to adopt the local old age home, where they will plant gardens. Says Sethole: ”Now we are satisfied that the child is fed, we are looking at moving on to phase two of the project — a healthy mind in a healthy body.”

Schools Project Award

Winner: Banareng Primary

Prize: R10 000, sponsored by Total

The judges’ comments: ”What we like about the Banareng Primary school’s ”Feed the child — feed the nation environmental project” is that it has combined hard work with the learning experience. Teachers, pupils and parents got down to some serious manual labour to reclaim a barren, rubbish-filled site. And they combined this with an interactive, educational programme.”

Rescuing the river

Finalist: Lyttelton Manor High School

Pupils at Lyttelton Manor High school, near Pretoria, decided to take matters into their own hands when they noticed how the Hennops river, which flows past their school, had turned into a polluted health hazard.

In 1998 they set up an environmental team of 14 pupils and two teachers to tackle the problem.

The team spends every second afternoon testing the river for pollution. It works closely with the Centurion Town Council, which donates the water testing kits. The team has formed a conservancy with youngsters from other schools in the area, and launched a campaign called Schools Project to Love and Save the Hennops river (Splash). Splash members also organise regular inter-school river clean-ups.

The pupils developed a trail along the course of the Hennops, which is now used for school cross-country fitness training, birding, walking and hiking. The trail aims to encourage people to help conserve the river. The Lyttelton Manor environmental team also gives public talks on conservation and has extended its activities to include recycling.

Plant a tree

Finalist: Wilger Veld and Youth Conservation Club

The Wilger Veld and Youth Conservation Club is not a project initiated by a school, but is focussed on schools. Based in Gauteng’s East Rand, it has been running since 1981 under the leadership of Anne Mearns (59).

Club members visit schools and give lessons on conservation topics. The club has provided the funding to plant at least 840 trees at schools and organises to take children to wetlands and nature reserves. ”Conservation begins in my own home and then in my country. What you preach is what you must practise. I feel I can introduce a positive attitude and make a difference,” says Mearns.

Wilger members have also taken environmental education into the arena of community development. They work in areas like Thembaville, Wartville and Daveyton townships. They have supplied various communities with indigenous and fruit trees, and are presently planting some 4 000 trees for rural communities in Witlaagte.

— The Teacher/Mail & Guardian, August 1, 2000.

 

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