Team News:
Roll of Honour
Thank you to all our friends!
The diversity and spread of ABALIMI’s friends is the result of 15
years of relationship building. This list covers the reporting period
of October 05 – March 06.
NOTE: if there is anyone who should be mentioned, or anyone
who no longer wishes to be mentioned, we will make amends.
We are deeply grateful for your partnership and commitment.
Every cent is efficiently utilised to deliver results. Audited financial
statements are available on request.
DONATION CERTIFICATE
PLANT A TREE OR A
GARDEN IN THE TOWNSHIPS!
Surprise your friends or relatives
with a unique present!
We can issue this certificate for any occasion,
e. g. to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or
in memory of a dear one. We can send it to
you or a person you nominate with the
inscription of your choice.
See the “Join as a Friend or
Donate to Abalimi” form enclosed.
Abalimi team: (second row from left) Ruby Sigila – Assistant to the
Management Team, Rob Small – Resource Mobilisation Manager,
Christina Kaba – Operations Manager, Roland Welte – Financial
Manager, Nyaniso Matwa – Assistant Field Support Worker, Bridget
Impey – Organic Special Advisor; (first row from left) Nolubabalo
Mzamo – Bookkeeper, Lovinia Mangcotywa – Field Support Worker,
Vatiswa Dunjana – Urban Agriculture Fieldworker, Liziwe Stofile –
Urban Agriculture Fieldworker, Nosisa Merile – Urban Greening
Fieldworker, (sitting) Mandy Qamata – Administrator.
Staff Training:
Abalimi continues to support its staff in developing
their skills and capacities:
Letter of appreciation to all at Abalimi
Nolubabalo Mzamo (Bookkeeper) attended a Report Writing Course.
Hym and Jen Rabinowitz hold an open day every year and sales
of coffee, tea and cakes come to Abalimi. This has amounted to
many thousands over the years. Hym and Jen also promote the
work of Abalimi, and here is what they say of us…
Mandy Qamata, Liziwe Stofile, Vatiswa Dunjana and Bridget Impey
attended a workshop on Quality Control Training at Elsenburg
College, Stellenbosch, which was conducted by HIVOS.
“To use a very well used cliché – the work that Abalimi does is
very close to our hearts; and to quote another cliché, those hearts
bleed with every destructive fire in the Cape and further afield.
And so, the restorative work, constructive and far reaching, that
Abalimi so actively pursues, we see as absolutely vital to health
and well being of our environment and society.
We feel strongly that much praise is due to them for their
outstanding contribution to our community. Our contact with
Abalimi, I think, came through Simon Egert, who in 1993 had
approached Abalimi with the preposition to establish a special
Tree Planting campaign in the townships. This made one aware
how necessary it was to support Abalimi’s practical ideal, which
is now flourishing through the dedication and direction of all its
personal.
We wish them well in all their future endeavours.”
Jen and Hym Rabinowitz
Fieldworkers continue attending the Agriplanner Training course
and will become accredited trainers in due course.
Special Mentions – Volunteers
Julia Troch – SMS Marketing
pilot project
Julia arrived from Germany in
November with a marketing
degree and offered her services
to set up a SMS cell phone
marketing system. The system
allows urban agriculture groups
with excess organic vegetables to
SMS through to a central point
the quantities of vegetables
Julia interviewing potential SMS available. The produce can then be
marketing clients at Matthew
collected efficiently and sold on
Goniwe Clinic in Khayelitsha
to potential buyers, thus saving
both time and money. Julia worked until the end of February collecting
information from groups and researching various marketing outlets.
She also volunteered for some backbreaking gardening work at
Fezeka in Guguletu. With her sunny disposition and energetic
approach Julia is very much missed.
Christoph Becher –
Architectural measurements
Cristoph Becher, a German
student of architecture at the
University of Aachen, assisted
Abalimi voluntarily in January
and February. He measured up
the Greenhouse and Pack Shed
premises and created technical
d r aw i n g s , t h u s s av i n g u s
thousands of Rands. Thank you,
Cristoph!
Christoph during his work in
the Greenhouse
Hym Rabinowitz, leading South African potter and anti-apartheid
activist, in his studio
We would dearly like to thank the following people
for their wonderful donations-in-kind
The Volunteer Plant Growers Group organised by Clare Lindner
for 50 trees which were used in our urban greening projects.
Linzi for 45 cement rings which were distributed to our urban
agriculture projects.
Maureen Lawrence for a stove, which was installed in Khayelitscha
Garden Centre and will be used to prepare food for workshops
and training courses.
Mrs Feinhaver for 30 slabs that are very useful for the Khayelitscha
Garden Centre.
Rosarium Nursery for 100 trays of seedlings which were used in
our urban agriculture projects.
Results of our newsletter
and website survey
In our newsletter No 31 we included a short questionnaire
concerning the contents and the design of our newsletter and
website. Thank you very much, all of the dozens of respondents,
for giving us your feedback, we have carefully examined all of your
answers and comments!
We are very glad about the positive results from the survey, which
reward our efforts to constantly improve our public involvement.
The fact that all of the respondents were satisfied with content of
the Abalimi Newsletters ensures us that we provide you with
relevant information on our activities. What is more, 95% of
respondents told us that they liked the newsletter design and would
not suggest any changes.
We are also happy, that your answers indicate a good quality of our
website: all of you, who had an opportunity to use or check it,
found that it provided relevant information and had a nice design.
The survey showed that most of you came to know Abalimi by
word of mouth or the newsletter itself. This encourages us to keep
on our hard work on this important publicity tool and to heartily
thank all of you, who promote the work of Abalimi in your networks.
Ackerman Pick’n Pay Foundation
Australian High Commission
C a p e Ve g e t e r i a n S o c i e t y
City of Cape Town LA21
Dangwen Trust
Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry
Erica Glyn-Jones
Eskom
Famsa
Feedback Food Redistribution
Friends Individual (81)
Friends International (15)
Friends Stop Orders (27)
Garden Africa (SEED)
Green Trust - WWF SA
JDI Foundation
Je n a n d H y m R a b i n ow i t z
Jewish National Fund (SEED)
KPMG
Lisa and Max Hopfl
Miriam and Michael Gigliotti
Misereor
N DA v i a W C - N A C O S A
Consortium
Nedbank
Oeser N/O Fund
Old Mutual
Silwood Book Club
Smith M&S Charitable Trust
(SEED)
St Ola’s Trust
S y n c h ro n i c i t y Fo u n d a t i o n
T h a t u ( Ke r r S E ) ( S E E D )
The Cold Chain
Tracker
US Aid (SEED)
Our “Extra Mile” stop-order friends
Though few, your impact is great. We feel you should be honoured,
but have taken precaution to exclude your initials to protect your
privacy.
Abrahams
Addington
Ashton
Been
CCA Environment (Pty) Ltd
Crida
Dawkins
Euvrard
Fife
Garber
Graves
Green
Hammer
Hodgetts
NEWSLETTER
NO 33
OCT 2005 - MARCH 2006
TO OUR FRIENDS
ABALIMI
015-337 NPO W/Cape suppliers Database No: ABAL001TRW
Co-ordinating Office Physical Address:
C/o The Business Place Philippi
Cwango Cresent, (Cnr New Eisleben Rd and Lansdowne Rd,
behind Shoprite Centre)Philippi, 7785
NEW tel / fax: 021 371 1653
Postal Address: PO Box 44 Observatory, 7935
Khayelitsha Garden Centre tel / fax: 021 361 3497
Nyanga Garden Centre tel / fax: 021 386 3777
email: [email protected] web: www.abalimi.org.za
Dear Friends, in this newsletter to you we would like to present more extensive articles – stories with deeper insights into the lives, thoughts and
problems of the community-based projects we serve, and the people who run them. Also, we would like to honour the Abalimi Fieldworkers – the
“hands of Abalimi”, by telling their stories to you. In all of this we see a positive future – a future that is being built by goodwill, collaboration and
courageous commitment, no matter what the odds. This is our gift to you. We hope that you will feel renewed, and welcome as a trusted member of
“team Abalimi”. Only together can we continue to do what many consider impossible, small step by small step – transform poverty into prosperity,
desert into sustainable green. Thank you for everything you do, with sincere regards, Rob Small – Resource Mobilisation Leader.
URBAN GREENING PROGRAM
Legum
Mouton
Mudie
Muller
Richardson
Robinson
Smythe
Technical Finishes
Timms
Tullie
Van Essen
Wilson
Worthington Smith
Notice Board:
A list of wishes from the Fieldworkers and office staff:
Bookshelves
– for our new offices in Philippi
Big enamel pots – to cook our own organic meals at the training
courses
Carpet
– for the Nyanga Garden Centre
Vacuum Cleaner – for our new offices in Philippi
Fan
– to keep cool in the hot months
Fridge
– for the Nyanga Garden Centre
Weed eater
– to keep the garden centre tidy and trimmed
Chairs
– for courses in Khayelitsha and Nyanga Garden
Centre
Change of address? Should your addresses / contact details
change, please notify our admin office so we can rectify our mailing list.
Cheques should be made out to ABALIMI BEZEKHAYA
otherwise they are not bankable.
Volunteer Plant Growers Group: Clare Lindner continues
to coordinate volunteers who wish to donate plants. Please remember
we only accept indigenous and non-invasive plants. Contact Clare
at (021) 671 93 23.
Volunteers are welcome!
We welcome all volunteers – for example, there are plenty of
community gardens who need extra hands on a regular basis to help
with weeding and other laborious tasks! In particular, we seek selfmotivated volunteers who are looking to commit for longer periods.
At the moment, we especially seek the following skills:
Librarian – to assist us with restructuring our resource library.
Social impact researcher – to articulate and document the most
powerful results of our work.
Drip irrigation specialist – to finalise our field tests and set up a
special drip-irrigation training and deployment project.
Legal eagles who like to give ongoing pro-bono support (as if it
was paid for) to highly effective social profit agencies.
Highly skilled black professionals who love gardening and nature and
who would love to sit on our Governing Board.
Editor:
Producer:
Photo’s:
Reports:
Design/print:
Rob Small
Lina Tolvaisaite
Rob Small, Lina Tolvaisaite, Nosisa Merile,
Amy Rosenthal, Bridget Impey
Lina Tolvaisaite, Rob Small
ONEWORD design
This Newsletter is designed and printed with the kind support of:
Agora Flats project members during the preparation work on one of the squares (before) and Sophie Matanjana in the same square (after)
AGORA FLATS GREENING PROJECT, Kuyasa, Khayelitsha
Agora Flats greening project, which united 5 women from a variety of African origins to green their
surroundings, was presented in our last issue under the name of Khanyo project. Abalimi’s Nosisa
Merile rejoices that during one of her last follow-up visits she found that the project had impacted
its members and the whole neighbourhood more than anticipated.
All of the five women, who attended her horticultural training in 2004, also became interested in
vegetable growing and lately participated in Abalimi’s agricultural training. Supported by Abalimi’s
Fieldworker Liziwe Stofile they have just started preparation work for a community garden at
Bulumko School. This takes up most of
their time and keeps the formerly
unemployed women occupied. They are
enthusiastic about their new idea, which
was inspired by the successful greening
of Khanyo streets. The group also wishes
to turn a big empty abandoned area in
the middle of the settlement into a green
community park and is currently
wrestling with the funding question.
Sophie Matanjana, the initiator of the
greening in Khanyo, tells that even though
funding remains unsolved, the vision of
the women to improve their environment
is becoming true as more and more
neighbours, inspired by the results of
their project, start their own indigenous
gardens. We found her neighbour
Vusumzi Majebe working in his new
beautifully designed garden together with
his grandson Mvuseni. The pensioner is
passionate about his new activity as well
as his neighbour, Matthews Bhartman,
who was enjoying the recently planted
green lawn in front of his house.
Mrs Matanjana chuckles when she reveals
that the community plots, which the women
greened, have also become an attraction
for the local people, who often come here
with their visitors in order to take
photographs.
NOSISA MERILE, Urban Greening
Fieldworker, all areas.
“Greening changes lives!”
Nosisa Merile has been with Abalimi since 1999,
when she joined the organisation as a volunteer
after finishing her 4-year horticulture studies
in South African Technical College. Nosisa
became a Fieldworker in 2000 and has
contributed to the activities of the organisation
not only with her profound theoretical
knowledge but also practical know-how, which
she gained during her one-year internship in
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
Nosisa co-launched Abalimi’s horticultural
training course and has become the principle
Fieldworker of its greening programme. She
also successfully implemented a cost-saving idea
to grow many of Abalimi’s own plants from
seeds, seedlings and plant divisions involving
trainees from the horticultural course. The plant
stock grown by the trainees then supplements
the general Abalimi nursery stock, creating a
more sustainable re-stocking cycle for the
greening programme.
Nosisa has always enjoyed being in nature and working with plants. She is very satisfied that in
Abalimi she is given the opportunity to influence many people’s lives by doing the job she loves.
“People in townships used to think that greening is only for rich people, but I try to change their
minds, saying that green environment is for everyone. Eventually I see the changes in people’s minds,
they tend to care more about their environment outside their homes”.
The Agora Flats project inspired Vusumzi Majebe, a
neighbour, to green his home environment
The years of work with the local township people, in which Nosisa observed many social problems,
led to a new idea that she would like to implement in the future. Nosisa noticed that more and
more women from different African origins, Zimbabwean, Nigerian, Angolan and others, are coming
to live in Cape Town, but are mostly isolated from society due to the inability to speak the local
language and general distrust and suspiciousness between them and the local women. Nosisa is
aiming to set up greening projects, which encourage South African women to work with the
newcomers in order to ease their integration. She is sure that the South Africans would also greatly
benefit from the projects by exchanging experiences on different topics as well as fighting their
groundless stereotypes and fears.
KHAYELITSHA SPECIAL SCHOOL GREENING PROJECT, Khayelitsha
The pupils of Khayelitsha special school enjoy the changes in their school yard
There are 300 children with development disorder
problems aged between 6 and 18 attending Khayelitsha
Special School. The school’s greening project was
implemented within the Bauwagen (literally translated
as “build-wagon”) partnership between Abalimi/ SEED
and the Stadtoasen (“City Oases”) NGO of the City
of Aachen in Germany, which was presented in our
newsletter No 31.
Abalimi’s Nosisa Merile and SEED’s Mzukisi Zele in
cooperation with two German volunteers soon
turned the sandy surroundings of Khayelitsha Special
School into a green oasis. First, an international team
conducted a workshop to find out the needs and
wishes of the children and the teachers. Based on
that, they started a food garden, covered the ground
with lawn and indigenous plants, built benches and
repaired the playgrounds. Several high beds were
built next to the vegetable patch for the learners in
wheelchairs to be able to work in as well.
Nosisa tells that the greening project improves the
environment, provides vegetables for the school’s
soup kitchen and even serves educational purposes.
“Children like to work practically in the garden
because they have difficulties concentrating in a
classroom.Working with vegetables and other plants
increases their creativity, so teachers are happy and
enthusiastic about the green surrounding”. She adds
that some children got so interested in agricultural
and horticultural activities that they started gardens
back home and are considering the opportunity of
getting more involved in gardening in the future.
Nosisa regrets that she does not have enough
capacities to comply with the teacher’s request to
give lessons about gardening. SEED, however, has
already invited the interested teachers to attend
their trainings about environmental education (see
SEED newsletter insert).
The food garden
MRS SINDISWA MATSHONA’s HOME GARDEN, Khayelitsha
Sindiswa Matshona is step-by-step implementing
her dream to motivate Khayelitsha residents to
improve their environment through greening and
one of the means she uses for this purpose is
her own flourishing front yard garden. Originally
coming from Transkei with years of farming
experience Sindiswa kept on working with plants
in different commercial nurseries and is currently
employed as a sales expert in DeLaRey nursery.
She laughs when she describes her passion for
plants, “When I moved here I used to grab nice
wild plants and put them next to my house,
because I missed the nature so much in the sandy
township”.
Abalimi’s Nosisa Merile was surprised by an
unusual green oasis in front of Sindiswa’s home
at the time she began the first greening activities
in this area and invited her to help Abalimi to
encourage people to follow her example. Sindiswa
gladly accepted Abalimi’s offer as it corresponded
to her own vision and provided her with
necessary resources to approach and motivate
the residents, whereas Abalimi benefited from
h e r c l o s e c o n t a c t t o t h e c o m m u n i t y,
communication skills and profound gardening
knowledge. Despite her busy schedule Sindiswa
supported Abalimi for 6 months spreading
g r e e n i n g i d e a s d o o r- t o - d o o r i n h e r
neighbourhood, training the interested, doing
demonstrations as well as follow-up consulting.
However, she feels that it is only the beginning
of this challenging work, “I see that many people
still don’t understand the purpose of plants, so
they break trees and pull flowers out. I want to
explain to them the purpose of gardening and
nice environment.” In order to do this more
effectively she would like to open a community
garden centre with a nursery where she would
train and employ several local people to grow
and to sell indigenous plants to the community
at reasonable prices. In this way more residents
would afford gardening, it would be easier to
propagate greening ideas and transfer the knowhow to all the interested.
Abalimi appreciates its cooperation with Sindiswa
very much and wishes her all the best in realising
her undertaking.
Mrs Matshona in her flourishing garden, which looked exactly the same as the yard of the neighbouring
house when she moved in
URBAN AGRICULTURE PROGRAM
VATISWA DUNJANA, Urban Agriculture Fieldworker,
Nyanga, Guguletu, Philippi areas.
“Community building through self empowerment!”
courses on HIV/AIDS nutrition, in which she would especially like
to learn how to prepare and combine vegetables to fight the lifethreatening illness.
Vatiswa Dunjana came to Abalimi as a volunteer in Feb 2003 with
lots of gardening skills and passion obtained through her voluntary
gardening activities in Quaker Peace Centre.Very successful application
of her previous experiences to Abalimi’s projects led to her
employment as a Fieldworker in just 4 months. Vatiswa counts that
since then she has already trained about 370 people: 250 individuals
and community project members and 4 organizational and
governmental groups each of about 30 participants. She has supported
various types of gardens: backyard, community and institutional ones,
and is currently busy with 17 micro farming projects. She is very
proud of the Fezeka and Masithandane community gardens in
Guguletu, which won the “Female Farmer of the Year” award as the
best gardens in the Western Cape Province in the year 2005 and
2006.
Vatiswa adds “Abalimi helps me to be somebody in my family and
community, to be respected. It brings me a secure, satisfying life”.
Her new activities helped her to contradict a community stereotype
of a single mother. Through the new experiences and useful contacts
in the community as well as governmental institutions she has become
well known and authoritative. Vatiswa tells that she is particularly
satisfied that the gained status and skills empower her to address
and solve community problems more effectively.
MASIBANBANE COMMUNITY GARDEN
at Siyazaka Primary School, Philippi
The members of Masibanbane community garden were teamed up
by an ex Abalimi Fieldworker Maureen Onceya (who now works for
the Department of Agriculture). Maureen noticed their beautiful
home gardens and encouraged the residents to join their forces and
experiences for the benefit of the whole community in 1999. The
principal of the Siyazaka primary school was convinced by this
initiative and offered the group a big plot, which they have turned
into a very nice flourishing community garden. The efforts of 6
project members, 5 of them women, were rewarded by the
Department of Agriculture, which has already provided them with
support for three years. As a part of it the team has recently got a
very needful water tank and tunnels, used to protect the plants.
Vatiswa enjoys her position very much as it involves many diverse
duties such as assessing the land for the future projects, implementation
and follow-up of gardens, planning the project work, record keeping,
training and demonstrations for the project members as well as
caring for the sustainability of the implemented gardens by teaching
them techniques to make their own compost, manure and seedlings.
She is also very passionate about a new interesting challenge brought
to her by Abalimi, which empowers her to address herself to one
of the major community problems, HIV/AIDS. Recently the organisation
encouraged her to attend an HIV/AIDS course in order to become
a certified trainer to raise people’s awareness about this hot issue.
Vatiswa is very glad that it is much easier to access the residents
through the networks she made while working with Abalimi and
therefore she can perfectly supplement her current schedule with
this challenging activity: she has already trained 69 people about
HIV/AIDS, most of them members of her gardening projects. In order
to incorporate both of her duties even more, Vatiswa plans to attend
Masithandane garden project (its Xhosa name means let’s love each
other) was started in 2002 in Guguletu in the dumping place for old
cars by Christina Madalana and her husband Herban Madala. They
decided to transform the dumping ground where violence
often took place into a safe, clean and green community area, which
would also help to support its poor members with fresh vegetables.
For this purpose a project team of their 6 neighbours and 8
unemployed people from nearby squatter camps was formed.
In 2003 the Department of Agriculture helped the project to establish
the first contact to Abalimi. Abalimi’s Fieldworker, Vatiswa Dunjana,
trained the project members, all with no previous farming experience,
how to produce fresh vegetables. Since then Abalimi has also supported
the project with various gardening resources. The success of this
long-term cooperation and the project members’ effort was soon
acknowledged as the Masithandane garden won the “Female Farmer
of the Year 2005” award in the category “Top producer for Household
Use” in the whole Western Cape province, beating 14 other
participants.
The income and vegetables provided by the project is a great help
for the families of its 9 current members, all unemployed or pensioner
women. They are also happy that through gardening they gained
useful farming skills, improved their nutrition and physical health.
The women emphasise the importance of the project to their mental
health as well: most of the family problems are shared and discussed
while working in the garden, which is often a place to relax from
noise and routine at home. Christina admits that the project has
helped the women to develop very close relationships which ensure
the necessary support in critical life situations.
She is proud that the constantly growing garden not only directly
supports the families of the project members but also provides many
advantages to the whole community. First of all, Masithandane donates
the surplus of organic vegetables to a local old aged home, HIV/
AIDS support group, several crèches, as well as to the poor from
the squatter camps. What is more, the project contributes to
community building as the people get to know each other while
coming to buy vegetables or asking for advice about gardening. The
Masithandane women are very happy to transfer their gardening
know-how and to provide seedlings to all those who are interested.
Moreover, the group makes efforts to reduce poverty in the community
by hiring unemployed squatters whenever the women need help.
Vatiswa Dunjana consulting Masithandane Community Garden members
“Abalimi brings to me a new life”, tells Vatiswa when she describes
the benefits provided by the organisation. She sees her personal
development as one of the biggest achievements. Encouraged by
Abalimi she gained many new skills through a variety of courses such
as the “Agriplanner”, record keeping, report writing, fundraising,
project and cooperative management and registration, organic
certification, business plan writing etc. Currently Vatiswa is ambitious
about getting a driver’s license, which would increase her mobility
and access to the projects, situated in different townships.
MASITHANDANE COMMUNITY GARDEN, Guguletu
In order to provide even more support to their needy community
the project members plan to establish a soup kitchen. The group has
just started the application process to the Department of Social
Services in order to get the necessary funds.
Maggie Bakeni, Happines Mgweba, Evelina Mzilikazi and Abalimi’s
Fieldworker Vatiswa Dunjana are glad to harvest big beautiful broccoli
Maggie Bakeni, who participated in the project from the very beginning,
tells “a big garden not only provides our families with food, as the
home gardens did, but also with income. I use that to pay my electricity
bills. We also donate vegetables to poor children from the school
and sell them to teachers and community members”. Evelina Mzilikazi,
another project member, who has been involved in sports most of
her life and is now a part of old age athletic group, is especially
satisfied that in addition to the mentioned benefits, gardening lets
her exercise in fresh air and keep in shape. The energy and good
mood, which she gains outdoors, are helpful for her second project
– making traditional Amakhuko art work.
Abalimi’s Fieldworker Vatiswa Dunjana, who has supported the
gardeners since 2003, tells that the garden was expanded as the
project members learned about different herbs and started to
cultivate them. She hopes that the group will get funding to realize
their plan to establish a soup kitchen, which would be a great help
for the community.
Masithandane gardeners and their helpers are proud of the “Female
Farmer of the Year 2005” award
LIZIWE STOFILE, Urban Agriculture Fieldworker, Khayelitsha.
“Breaking the stereotypes!”
Liziwe Stofile has been with Abalimi since
2001. She was attracted to the organisation
by her curiosity:“I did not expect that the
sand of the townships could be turned into
a flourishing garden which yields nice big
cabbages, onions, potatoes and other
vegetables”. Her successful contribution to
the development of Siyazama, one of
Abalimi’s biggest community gardens,
encouraged Liziwe to deepen her farming
know-how and get involved in gardening
full-time. After more than 2 years of helping
Abalimi in busy seasons and working as a
trainee with experienced staff members,
Liziwe has developed into her current
position of Fieldworker.
Liziwe is very happy with her job. After being
unemployed for a long time she enjoys an
opportunity to develop her personality. She
names different gardening trainings,
communication and computer courses,
driving lessons and various other workshops
which were provided by Abalimi and helped
her to develop many new skills and
capacities. “It is also very important to me
that I got a chance to help others without
having much money, it makes me feel better!” she says. She helps mostly underprivileged people to
start new activities by leading the gardening training as well as supporting and following up the
establishment of their home or community gardens. Liziwe also provides fresh vegetables and useful
farming advice for her big family, friends and neighbours.
ESAM ESAKO COMMUNITY GARDEN AT IMPENDULU SCHOOL, Khayelitsha
Esam Esako (“mine and yours”) community garden has been supported by Abalimi with training and
resources for more than 3 years and currently unites 11 members. The garden production is not
only used for the families and neighbours of the members but is also donated to the nearby HIV
clinic and poor children of the Impendulu School.
Liziwe Stofile, Abalimi’s Fieldworker supporting the garden, is very pleasantly surprised by the
enthusiasm and activity of the gardeners. In addition to the fact that each of the members cultivate
an own home garden, by using Abalimi’s networks the group also joined several other projects, which
keep the former unemployed occupied full time. For example, in association to a nearby poultry
project the team members started small home henhouses to raise chickens for food. They also
contribute to the a community henhouse, which provides low priced poultry for the residents.
The second project in which the members got involved is the herbal garden project, organized by
the Women for Peace Centre. Within it various herbs are grown in a big community plot and home
gardens in order to produce medicine and spices. In the Centre the women of Esam Esako learned
to make different crafts: wine glasses from recycled cider bottles, bead work, sewing and baking.
Ntomboxolo Elisabeth Skey, one of the main organizers of the Esam Esako community garden, adds
that Abalimi has served the project members as a stepping stone for even more activities. Recently
the City of Cape Town got familiarized with their beautiful food garden and offered the team to
apply their gardening skills to develop a big community park in the suburb of Makaza. The park will
not only serve for leisure but also provide the residents with many useful services. One of them is
a community vegetable garden, for which the Esam Esako team is now responsible. The garden should
be used not only for vegetable sales but also for transferring farming knowledge and demonstrating
the gardening process for all those interested. Ntomboxolo tells that the team is very enthusiastic
about this new project and has
already started the necessary
preparation work.
Zuziwe Lillian Rotho, another
m e m b e r o f E s a m E s a ko,
mentions that the team is also
h ap py t o e x c h a n g e t h e i r
experiences with other
gardeners in the Vukunzezele
Urban Farmers Association,
which was established with
Abalimi’s support. United forces
help the projects to attract
funding and stick up for other
common interests.
Liziwe is especially proud that Abalimi empowered her to break the stereotypes in her community.
“People here used to think of gardening as a waste of time, as an occupation for old or uneducated
people in rural areas, so they saw no employment possibilities here and were also depreciating my
involvement”, she tells. She remembers that even her family was ashamed of her farming activities.
However, her example of becoming a successful and independent community leader, who is making
many useful contacts and improving many other lives made the local people change their opinions.
More and more of them reveal that gardening offers good chances for their own businesses. Even
her sister, who was especially skeptical, expressed interest to join one of the community garden
groups. Liziwe is glad that urban gardening has been recently recognized by the local Government
and is getting officially supported, thus allowing many more residents to become occupied in this
interesting field.
Mr Gcakasi, Mrs Skey and Mrs
Rotho in Esam Esako community
garden with the pupils from
Impendulu School
LET OUR TRAINED ORGANIC GARDENERS TURN
YOUR YARD INTO A HEALTHY FOOD PANTRY!
A story of Joyce Nkwali and Hugh Tyrell
Since summer 2005 Hugh Tyrell, a professional copywriter and editor,
father of two children, has enjoyed picking fresh organic vegetables
in his own backyard in Canal Walk, Cape Town. After getting acquainted
with the activities of Abalimi, he approached the organisation asking
for qualified support to start and maintain his own vegetable garden.
Joyce Nkwali, a leader of Abalimi’s supported Siyazama Community
Garden, who was trained by Abalimi and has been involved in organic
gardening for 6 years, helped Hugh to realise his undertaking. She set
up the plots of spinach, peas, carrots, lettuce and onions, which the
family harvests by themselves according to their needs. Thereafter
Joyce has maintained the organic garden once per week and has
occasionally undertaken such gardening tasks as pruning trees, mowing
the grass and cleaning the yard. Joyce is particularly satisfied that she
can apply her gardening skills to support a living of her family. The
R100 she earns per work day in Hugh’s garden is a great help to buy
food and clothes to her 4 children and an unemployed husband.
Hugh is also satisfied with their cooperation “It’s a wonderful idea!
It’s great to have fresh organic vegetables and be sure of their quality;
and at the same time provide employment for the underprivileged”.
He wishes that more residents of Cape Town suburbs would follow
his example. Joyce is very enthusiastic about it as well, “I and another
11 women, who are members of Siyazama Community Garden, have
the capacity to cultivate more domestic gardens.” After making
experience in Hugh’s garden she is sure that the women could also
easily undertake a domestic gardener’s position, which has traditionally
been men’s occupation, “it’s not difficult, we can do that!”.
The staff of the Umzomhle crèche and the Fieldworker Liziwe Stofile (second left) are glad about the new irrigation system provided by Abalimi
UMZOMHLE EDUCARE CENTRE GARDEN,
Khayelitsha
55 children from the Umzomhle crèche and the families of its
staff are glad about the fresh vegetables provided by their garden
every day. Starting from 2003 Abalimi’s Fieldworker Liziwe Stofile
helped the project members to remove their garden from a small
backyard to the bigger area in front of the crèche and trained
them to manage it professionally. Since then Abalimi has also
supported Umzomhle with follow-up consulting, seeds, seedlings
and other necessary resources. Most recently Abalimi provided
the educare with a drip irrigation system, which helps to save
water by keeping up a direct supply to the plants.
Nosiphiwo Menqe (pictured in the middle), one of the 6 crèche
employees caring for the garden, adds that donating and selling
vegetables to the community members, especially to the
unemployed and the sick ones, has become a very important task
for the gardeners as well. This situation and an increasing number
of children attending the educare has led to a fast growing demand
for vegetables. In order to fulfill these needs the project members
plan to enlarge and redesign the farming area. The evident benefits
that the garden provides to the community helped the project
to receive the necessary permission easily. The staff members
now hope that the application for the required funds from the
Department of Agriculture will also succeed and they will be able
to expand and develop their beloved garden soon.
Abalimi is glad to contribute to the women’s empowerment as in all
probability Joyce was hired as the first female community gardener to
run a domestic vegetable garden for a middle-income household in
Cape Town. Please contact us if you are interested to turn your
backyard into a green organic garden as well!
THANDUXOLO SUPPORT GROUP GARDEN,
Khayelitsha
The Group operates from Luvuyo Clinic in Khayelitsha where they
have a small, but very productive vegetable garden, produce beautiful
woven bags made from recycled plastic bags, beadwork and crochet
blankets. Recently the group of senior citizens took part in the Golden
Games at Bellville Stadium and come away with several athletics trophies.
Mr Ruga (pictured 2nd from left), the force behind the vegetable
garden, definitely has green fingers and has planted a hedge around the
garden with cuttings he struck himself.The garden always has a colourful
display of flowering plants. After finishing for the day at Luvuyo Clinic
Mr Ruga piles everything into his wheel barrow and goes off to his
second group garden project Esam Esako, for someone in their 70’s he
puts a lot of younger people to shame.
Members of Thanduxolo Support Group with examples of their
diverse talents
Joyce in Hugh’s garden.
Team News:
Roll of Honour
Thank you to all our friends!
The diversity and spread of ABALIMI’s friends is the result of 15
years of relationship building. This list covers the reporting period
of October 05 – March 06.
NOTE: if there is anyone who should be mentioned, or anyone
who no longer wishes to be mentioned, we will make amends.
We are deeply grateful for your partnership and commitment.
Every cent is efficiently utilised to deliver results. Audited financial
statements are available on request.
DONATION CERTIFICATE
PLANT A TREE OR A
GARDEN IN THE TOWNSHIPS!
Surprise your friends or relatives
with a unique present!
We can issue this certificate for any occasion,
e. g. to celebrate a birthday, anniversary or
in memory of a dear one. We can send it to
you or a person you nominate with the
inscription of your choice.
See the “Join as a Friend or
Donate to Abalimi” form enclosed.
Abalimi team: (second row from left) Ruby Sigila – Assistant to the
Management Team, Rob Small – Resource Mobilisation Manager,
Christina Kaba – Operations Manager, Roland Welte – Financial
Manager, Nyaniso Matwa – Assistant Field Support Worker, Bridget
Impey – Organic Special Advisor; (first row from left) Nolubabalo
Mzamo – Bookkeeper, Lovinia Mangcotywa – Field Support Worker,
Vatiswa Dunjana – Urban Agriculture Fieldworker, Liziwe Stofile –
Urban Agriculture Fieldworker, Nosisa Merile – Urban Greening
Fieldworker, (sitting) Mandy Qamata – Administrator.
Staff Training:
Abalimi continues to support its staff in developing
their skills and capacities:
Letter of appreciation to all at Abalimi
Nolubabalo Mzamo (Bookkeeper) attended a Report Writing Course.
Hym and Jen Rabinowitz hold an open day every year and sales
of coffee, tea and cakes come to Abalimi. This has amounted to
many thousands over the years. Hym and Jen also promote the
work of Abalimi, and here is what they say of us…
Mandy Qamata, Liziwe Stofile, Vatiswa Dunjana and Bridget Impey
attended a workshop on Quality Control Training at Elsenburg
College, Stellenbosch, which was conducted by HIVOS.
“To use a very well used cliché – the work that Abalimi does is
very close to our hearts; and to quote another cliché, those hearts
bleed with every destructive fire in the Cape and further afield.
And so, the restorative work, constructive and far reaching, that
Abalimi so actively pursues, we see as absolutely vital to health
and well being of our environment and society.
We feel strongly that much praise is due to them for their
outstanding contribution to our community. Our contact with
Abalimi, I think, came through Simon Egert, who in 1993 had
approached Abalimi with the preposition to establish a special
Tree Planting campaign in the townships. This made one aware
how necessary it was to support Abalimi’s practical ideal, which
is now flourishing through the dedication and direction of all its
personal.
We wish them well in all their future endeavours.”
Jen and Hym Rabinowitz
Fieldworkers continue attending the Agriplanner Training course
and will become accredited trainers in due course.
Special Mentions – Volunteers
Julia Troch – SMS Marketing
pilot project
Julia arrived from Germany in
November with a marketing
degree and offered her services
to set up a SMS cell phone
marketing system. The system
allows urban agriculture groups
with excess organic vegetables to
SMS through to a central point
the quantities of vegetables
Julia interviewing potential SMS available. The produce can then be
marketing clients at Matthew
collected efficiently and sold on
Goniwe Clinic in Khayelitsha
to potential buyers, thus saving
both time and money. Julia worked until the end of February collecting
information from groups and researching various marketing outlets.
She also volunteered for some backbreaking gardening work at
Fezeka in Guguletu. With her sunny disposition and energetic
approach Julia is very much missed.
Christoph Becher –
Architectural measurements
Cristoph Becher, a German
student of architecture at the
University of Aachen, assisted
Abalimi voluntarily in January
and February. He measured up
the Greenhouse and Pack Shed
premises and created technical
d r aw i n g s , t h u s s av i n g u s
thousands of Rands. Thank you,
Cristoph!
Christoph during his work in
the Greenhouse
Hym Rabinowitz, leading South African potter and anti-apartheid
activist, in his studio
We would dearly like to thank the following people
for their wonderful donations-in-kind
The Volunteer Plant Growers Group organised by Clare Lindner
for 50 trees which were used in our urban greening projects.
Linzi for 45 cement rings which were distributed to our urban
agriculture projects.
Maureen Lawrence for a stove, which was installed in Khayelitscha
Garden Centre and will be used to prepare food for workshops
and training courses.
Mrs Feinhaver for 30 slabs that are very useful for the Khayelitscha
Garden Centre.
Rosarium Nursery for 100 trays of seedlings which were used in
our urban agriculture projects.
Results of our newsletter
and website survey
In our newsletter No 31 we included a short questionnaire
concerning the contents and the design of our newsletter and
website. Thank you very much, all of the dozens of respondents,
for giving us your feedback, we have carefully examined all of your
answers and comments!
We are very glad about the positive results from the survey, which
reward our efforts to constantly improve our public involvement.
The fact that all of the respondents were satisfied with content of
the Abalimi Newsletters ensures us that we provide you with
relevant information on our activities. What is more, 95% of
respondents told us that they liked the newsletter design and would
not suggest any changes.
We are also happy, that your answers indicate a good quality of our
website: all of you, who had an opportunity to use or check it,
found that it provided relevant information and had a nice design.
The survey showed that most of you came to know Abalimi by
word of mouth or the newsletter itself. This encourages us to keep
on our hard work on this important publicity tool and to heartily
thank all of you, who promote the work of Abalimi in your networks.
Ackerman Pick’n Pay Foundation
Australian High Commission
C a p e Ve g e t e r i a n S o c i e t y
City of Cape Town LA21
Dangwen Trust
Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry
Erica Glyn-Jones
Eskom
Famsa
Feedback Food Redistribution
Friends Individual (81)
Friends International (15)
Friends Stop Orders (27)
Garden Africa (SEED)
Green Trust - WWF SA
JDI Foundation
Je n a n d H y m R a b i n ow i t z
Jewish National Fund (SEED)
KPMG
Lisa and Max Hopfl
Miriam and Michael Gigliotti
Misereor
N DA v i a W C - N A C O S A
Consortium
Nedbank
Oeser N/O Fund
Old Mutual
Silwood Book Club
Smith M&S Charitable Trust
(SEED)
St Ola’s Trust
S y n c h ro n i c i t y Fo u n d a t i o n
T h a t u ( Ke r r S E ) ( S E E D )
The Cold Chain
Tracker
US Aid (SEED)
Our “Extra Mile” stop-order friends
Though few, your impact is great. We feel you should be honoured,
but have taken precaution to exclude your initials to protect your
privacy.
Abrahams
Addington
Ashton
Been
CCA Environment (Pty) Ltd
Crida
Dawkins
Euvrard
Fife
Garber
Graves
Green
Hammer
Hodgetts
NEWSLETTER
NO 33
OCT 2005 - MARCH 2006
TO OUR FRIENDS
ABALIMI
015-337 NPO W/Cape suppliers Database No: ABAL001TRW
Co-ordinating Office Physical Address:
C/o The Business Place Philippi
Cwango Cresent, (Cnr New Eisleben Rd and Lansdowne Rd,
behind Shoprite Centre)Philippi, 7785
NEW tel / fax: 021 371 1653
Postal Address: PO Box 44 Observatory, 7935
Khayelitsha Garden Centre tel / fax: 021 361 3497
Nyanga Garden Centre tel / fax: 021 386 3777
email: [email protected] web: www.abalimi.org.za
Dear Friends, in this newsletter to you we would like to present more extensive articles – stories with deeper insights into the lives, thoughts and
problems of the community-based projects we serve, and the people who run them. Also, we would like to honour the Abalimi Fieldworkers – the
“hands of Abalimi”, by telling their stories to you. In all of this we see a positive future – a future that is being built by goodwill, collaboration and
courageous commitment, no matter what the odds. This is our gift to you. We hope that you will feel renewed, and welcome as a trusted member of
“team Abalimi”. Only together can we continue to do what many consider impossible, small step by small step – transform poverty into prosperity,
desert into sustainable green. Thank you for everything you do, with sincere regards, Rob Small – Resource Mobilisation Leader.
URBAN GREENING PROGRAM
Legum
Mouton
Mudie
Muller
Richardson
Robinson
Smythe
Technical Finishes
Timms
Tullie
Van Essen
Wilson
Worthington Smith
Notice Board:
A list of wishes from the Fieldworkers and office staff:
Bookshelves
– for our new offices in Philippi
Big enamel pots – to cook our own organic meals at the training
courses
Carpet
– for the Nyanga Garden Centre
Vacuum Cleaner – for our new offices in Philippi
Fan
– to keep cool in the hot months
Fridge
– for the Nyanga Garden Centre
Weed eater
– to keep the garden centre tidy and trimmed
Chairs
– for courses in Khayelitsha and Nyanga Garden
Centre
Change of address? Should your addresses / contact details
change, please notify our admin office so we can rectify our mailing list.
Cheques should be made out to ABALIMI BEZEKHAYA
otherwise they are not bankable.
Volunteer Plant Growers Group: Clare Lindner continues
to coordinate volunteers who wish to donate plants. Please remember
we only accept indigenous and non-invasive plants. Contact Clare
at (021) 671 93 23.
Volunteers are welcome!
We welcome all volunteers – for example, there are plenty of
community gardens who need extra hands on a regular basis to help
with weeding and other laborious tasks! In particular, we seek selfmotivated volunteers who are looking to commit for longer periods.
At the moment, we especially seek the following skills:
Librarian – to assist us with restructuring our resource library.
Social impact researcher – to articulate and document the most
powerful results of our work.
Drip irrigation specialist – to finalise our field tests and set up a
special drip-irrigation training and deployment project.
Legal eagles who like to give ongoing pro-bono support (as if it
was paid for) to highly effective social profit agencies.
Highly skilled black professionals who love gardening and nature and
who would love to sit on our Governing Board.
Editor:
Producer:
Photo’s:
Reports:
Design/print:
Rob Small
Lina Tolvaisaite
Rob Small, Lina Tolvaisaite, Nosisa Merile,
Amy Rosenthal, Bridget Impey
Lina Tolvaisaite, Rob Small
ONEWORD design
This Newsletter is designed and printed with the kind support of:
Agora Flats project members during the preparation work on one of the squares (before) and Sophie Matanjana in the same square (after)
AGORA FLATS GREENING PROJECT, Kuyasa, Khayelitsha
Agora Flats greening project, which united 5 women from a variety of African origins to green their
surroundings, was presented in our last issue under the name of Khanyo project. Abalimi’s Nosisa
Merile rejoices that during one of her last follow-up visits she found that the project had impacted
its members and the whole neighbourhood more than anticipated.
All of the five women, who attended her horticultural training in 2004, also became interested in
vegetable growing and lately participated in Abalimi’s agricultural training. Supported by Abalimi’s
Fieldworker Liziwe Stofile they have just started preparation work for a community garden at
Bulumko School. This takes up most of
their time and keeps the formerly
unemployed women occupied. They are
enthusiastic about their new idea, which
was inspired by the successful greening
of Khanyo streets. The group also wishes
to turn a big empty abandoned area in
the middle of the settlement into a green
community park and is currently
wrestling with the funding question.
Sophie Matanjana, the initiator of the
greening in Khanyo, tells that even though
funding remains unsolved, the vision of
the women to improve their environment
is becoming true as more and more
neighbours, inspired by the results of
their project, start their own indigenous
gardens. We found her neighbour
Vusumzi Majebe working in his new
beautifully designed garden together with
his grandson Mvuseni. The pensioner is
passionate about his new activity as well
as his neighbour, Matthews Bhartman,
who was enjoying the recently planted
green lawn in front of his house.
Mrs Matanjana chuckles when she reveals
that the community plots, which the women
greened, have also become an attraction
for the local people, who often come here
with their visitors in order to take
photographs.
NOSISA MERILE, Urban Greening
Fieldworker, all areas.
“Greening changes lives!”
Nosisa Merile has been with Abalimi since 1999,
when she joined the organisation as a volunteer
after finishing her 4-year horticulture studies
in South African Technical College. Nosisa
became a Fieldworker in 2000 and has
contributed to the activities of the organisation
not only with her profound theoretical
knowledge but also practical know-how, which
she gained during her one-year internship in
Kirstenbosch National Botanical Garden.
Nosisa co-launched Abalimi’s horticultural
training course and has become the principle
Fieldworker of its greening programme. She
also successfully implemented a cost-saving idea
to grow many of Abalimi’s own plants from
seeds, seedlings and plant divisions involving
trainees from the horticultural course. The plant
stock grown by the trainees then supplements
the general Abalimi nursery stock, creating a
more sustainable re-stocking cycle for the
greening programme.
Nosisa has always enjoyed being in nature and working with plants. She is very satisfied that in
Abalimi she is given the opportunity to influence many people’s lives by doing the job she loves.
“People in townships used to think that greening is only for rich people, but I try to change their
minds, saying that green environment is for everyone. Eventually I see the changes in people’s minds,
they tend to care more about their environment outside their homes”.
The Agora Flats project inspired Vusumzi Majebe, a
neighbour, to green his home environment
The years of work with the local township people, in which Nosisa observed many social problems,
led to a new idea that she would like to implement in the future. Nosisa noticed that more and
more women from different African origins, Zimbabwean, Nigerian, Angolan and others, are coming
to live in Cape Town, but are mostly isolated from society due to the inability to speak the local
language and general distrust and suspiciousness between them and the local women. Nosisa is
aiming to set up greening projects, which encourage South African women to work with the
newcomers in order to ease their integration. She is sure that the South Africans would also greatly
benefit from the projects by exchanging experiences on different topics as well as fighting their
groundless stereotypes and fears.