Help pours in as youth initiative cleans up Kenneth Gardens
Municipal departments chipped in to help at a major clean-up and revamp at Kenneth Gardens on Friday.
DOORS are opening and offers of help have poured in following an article in last week’s Berea Mail on the initiative taken by the Kenneth Gardens Youth Society, to clean up the property.
The group hosted a massive clean-up of the grounds last week after ward councillor Mmabatho Tembe got involved and requested the presence of municipal departments to help the group.
Councillor Tembe said she had been impressed by the men’s passion to make a change at Kenneth Gardens and contacted the South Durban Basin, Umbilo Business Forum, Parks Department, DSW and the Health Department to lend a hand. Representatives of these departments attended the clean-up on Friday, 9 December, much to the delight of the youth society members.
Chairperson of the society, Mo Msibi, said: “Following the article in Berea Mail, things started happening! We had a lot of people calling to ask how they could help, and we are grateful to have these departments here to help us finish what we started. Parks Department has brought seeds and plants for us and created a vegetable garden, and the piles of rubbish have been removed. It looks positive,” he said.
Msibi said the group now needed to come up with a plan to sustain the project and to see how they could sell crops to raise funds.
“A lot of the youth at Kenneth Gardens are unemployed. We aim to help them make money through selling vegetables grown here. Everything must be sustained and the grounds maintained to make this work. We are registered, and we are ready, we just need the service providers here to help keep this going,” he said.
Jennifer Rampersad from Parks said workers had also helped create flower beds, do major pruning on the property and remove illegal dumping.
Msibi said: “Currently there is an ongoing project every Saturday and Sunday where we will be fundraising by selling muffins and rotis. The money raised will go towards fixing the play area for the children since it is the holiday season.”
He said the group would be grateful for any contributions such as paint, wood, chains and some eco-friendly benches.
If anyone is interested in helping the society to further their goals, they can contact Mo on 079 192 3162 or Andile on 083 733 1491.
