THE Durban Child and Youth Care Centre hosted a project for a group of Post-Graduate BTech Nursing Management students this year, and part of this project was to refurbish the jungle gym, which was done in collaboration with the Rotary Club of Durban.
Another part of the project has been to revive the disused vegetable garden in the yard. Mr Lawrence Maduramuthu from the Department of Agriculture visited to teach the team how to start off the garden and under his tutelage, they dug over the weeds, spread compost and then began planting.
A work party was set up for a Saturday morning and the group set to work, together with the Rotary Club of Durban. The Rotary club took seedlings, tools, varnish, ladders, willingness and expertise. The DUT project group toiled on under their guidance, until it had achieved the goals for the day.
“This has been a labour of love since April, and we are happy to say that the Centre is able to harvest fresh vegetables from its own garden. This project has now been officially handed over to the Durban Child and Youth Centre, for them to continue to maintain the vegetable garden going forward. We are hoping that some of the children housed there will gain life skills, which will assist them in their future,” said Sandy Moller from DUT.
She sent a big thank you to both the Rotary group of 'amazingly helpful people' and to Lawrence from the Department of Agriculture who donated garden tools, as well as the initial compost and seedlings.
“We are still looking for someone in the area to oversee the vegetable garden, on a voluntary basis, so that it is sustainable and remains successful,” she said.
