Elderly will benefit from vegetable garden

The Tsakane Society for the Care of the Aged will soon have a sustainable supply of fresh vegetables to prepare nutritious meals for the aged in its care thanks to Carnival City and the Afrisun Community Trust.

July 25, 2015

Phoko Mongale (Director of the home) with members of Carnival City’s CSI Committee, residents of the home and representatives from other companies that helped make the event possible.

A team of volunteers rolled up their sleeves and got digging to establish the vegetable garden on Thursday, July 16.

The project, part of Carnival City and the Afrisun Community Trust’s Mandela Day efforts, also saw the home’s window frames get a much-needed coat of paint. In addition, the residents each received a warm blanket to help ward off the winter cold.

Residents of the Tsakane Society for the Care of the Aged get comfortable under their new blankets.

Carnival City’s Nontsikelelo Gaushe gives the window frames at the home a fresh coat of paint.

The Tsakane Society for the Care of the Aged provides geriatric care, including in-home services, homemaker services, transport facilities, recreation, meal programmess and other services geared towards senior citizens in the underprivileged Tsakane area. The organization relies on the donations and support it gets from the public and corporate sector to keep operating.

“We are delighted to bring this vegetable garden to fruition in time for International Mandela Day on Saturday, 18 Jul,” said Annemie Turk, the General Manager at Carnival City.

“We consider this vegetable garden to be an extremely beneficial initiative because serves to address the very real and practical nutritional needs of the aged in the care of the home.

“Once the vegetable garden is properly established, it will provide a source of healthy vegetables, which the home can use for preparing nutritious meals. This will help to alleviate some of the challenges the home faces in providing warm, healthy meals for the people in its care.”

Sister Verginia, from the clinic at the home, prepares the soil for the new vegetable garden at the home.

In addition to building the vegetable garden and donating blankets at the Tsakane Society for the Care of the Aged, Carnival City and the Afrisun Trust also donated much-needed groceries, toys and necessities to Maria’s Home and Mpumelelo Day Care Centre in the Windmill Park informal settlement to mark Mandela Day.