Tending to our Gardeners

Our community gardens have been very successful this year as we have both increased participation and also more closely integrated the community garden in Zandspruit, which we call the Kopano Garden Project, with the rest of The HOPE Centre. After our gardening participants received training from the Northcliff Rotary and JAM (Joint Aid Management, Int’l) earlier this year, the garden took off and attracted the attention of both our patients and a local restaurant. As a result, gardeners recently began selling part of the produce from the garden to patients which both gives patients access to affordable healthy vegetables and also generates income for our gardeners which they save through our VSL program. Similarly, gardeners will begin selling produce to the local restaurant later this year.  

However, 26 June was a particularly special day in Zandspruit as we went beyond caring for the health and growth of our vegetables and concentrated on the health and personal growth of our gardeners.

Testing of our gardeners for diabetes and blood pressure.

With the help of Refilwe and Lebo from our community outreach and programs team, we arranged for Portia Zulu, the newest member of Project HOPE South Africa, to address the group. Portia is a professional nutritionist/dietitian and succeeded in involving the group in a lively discussion about healthy eating patterns and fitness. Diabetes and blood pressure tests were done and the group will now partake in an 8 month health and fitness programme and then be retested. Around 95% of the group suffers from high blood pressure, and this intervention will contribute greatly to the general well-being of our gardeners.

A very special thanks to Refilwe who has been the backbone of our gardening project and communicator par excellence. Her leadership qualities has contributed greatly to the success of this project.

Refilwe in action!

The team from Project HOPE were presented with bunches of freshly picked spinach from the Kopano gardens as a token of thanks for their support.

Portia Zulu gets her 'thank you' bunch

 Emily and Tiny from Kopano thanking Project Hope Peer Educator, Molly

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Vegetable Gardens

Drew Wallace, a volunteer from the US posts his final blog before going back home...

Time goes by way to fast. It feels like I just got here in South Africa, and already its three weeks later and I’m leaving. I’ve learned so much while here, it’s been an experience completely unlike anything I have ever done before. My whole life has been spent inside the U.S. and this is the first time I have ever been outside that shell of American middle class comfort. As much as Project HOPE and South Africa has given me in terms of experience and unfailing hospitality, I hope I was able to give back just as much of my time and effort to help get the HOPE center ready to see patients, and start to make a positive impact in this community.

While here, I was able to finish up a few different types of gardens, and make instruction booklets for each one. With luck and a little sunshine, the plants will take root and grow, and start producing healthy foods, and maybe inspire some of the HOPE center’s patients to try making their own gardens, and be able to eat a little healthier, and manage their conditions a little better. I wish I could stay around just a few weeks longer, and get to see the fruits of our labor here in South Africa, see the first patients walk through the doors of the clinic, hopefully see the first vegetable gardens start to pop up in the township, but life and school gets in the way, as it so often does.

Anyways, so long South Africa, I hardly knew ya but you taught me so much, I hope I was able to give a little back. Maybe someday I can return, time willing. I know I certainly want to.

 Project HOPE is an amazing organization, and I’m proud and ever grateful that I got the opportunity to volunteer with them. I’m certain that they will make a gigantic impact for the better in this community and I wish them all the best in the future operations of the HOPE center.        

Thanks Drew for all your hard work! If anyone would like to come and volunteer with Project HOPE here in South Africa please contact me on slawson@projecthope.org

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